QCBS members have access to a unique set of Canadian Foundation for Innovation-funded infrastructure and university-maintained field stations.
Research Facilities
Research facilities currently directed by a QCBS member include:
- Laboratory for Experimental Ecology and Evolution at McGill University (Graham Bell)
- Canadian University Biodiversity Consortium (CUBC) at the Université de Montréal (Anne Bruneau)
- McGill Phytotron and the Molecular Ecological Genetic Analysis laboratory at McGill University (Daniel Schoen)
- ECONET at McGill University (Martin Lechowicz)
Infrastructure directors are developing the access contracts that will enable all QCBS members to use the facilities. User fees will be required of QCBS members using CFI facilities to cover the costs of supplies, replacement parts, and service contracts.
Field Research Stations
| The Wilder and Helen Penfield Nature Reserve | The Limnology Research Centre laboratory for aquatic studies is located at the Wilder and Helen Penfield Nature Reserve on Lake Memprehmagog, 100 km southeast of Montréal. It provides dormitory housing and kitchen facilities for up to fifteen people and laboratories that are well equipped for most routine and some not so routine limnological analyses. Vehicles and powerboats are available. Streams, rivers and over thirty nearby lakes and ponds offer a wide range of study sites. |
| The Gault Nature Reserve | The Gault Nature Reserve covers over 1000 ha of Mont Saint-Hilaire, a plutonic extrusion in the St. Lawrence Valley, just southeast of Montréal. The reserve provides access to an extensive, old-growth beech-maple forest, a small lake, a number of streams and an old-field site for ecological research and teaching. The site is the largest remaining remnant of the primeval forests of the St. Lawrence River Valley. There is a Research Centre on site with laboratory and residence space for up to 24. There is also a dormitory and conference facility suitable for teaching and workshops up to 32 participants. |
| The McGill Sub-Arctic Research Station (MSARS) | The McGill Sub-Arctic Research Station is located in Schefferville, Québec, near the Labrador border. The station offers year-round access to a vast lichen woodland (containing numerous lakes, ponds, streams, and wetlands) and alpine tundra. MSARS has wet and dry laboratories and a small library. Trucks, snowmobiles, boats, and all-terrain vehicles are available for rental. |
| The McGill Arctic Research Station (MARS) | The McGill Arctic Research Station is located 8km inland at Expedition Fjord, Nunavut, on Central Axel Heiberg Island in the Canadian High Arctic (approximately 79º26′N, 90º46′W). Established in 1960, MARS is one of the longest-operating seasonal field research facilities in the high Arctic. The station consists of a small research hut, a cook house, and two temporary structures. MARS can comfortably accommodate up to twelve people. |
| La Station de biologie des Laurentides (SBL) | Fondée en 1963 et associée au Département de sciences biologiques de l’Université de Montréal, la Station de biologie des Laurentides (SBL) constitue un territoire voué principalement à la recherche et à l’enseignement des sciences naturelles. D’une superficie de 16 km2 (Lat 46˚ N, Long 74˚ O), elle est située à Saint-Hippolyte, dans une région boisée et montagneuse caractéristique des Basses-Laurentides et du Bouclier canadien. Avec 15 lacs, des milieux humides, plus de 50 km de ruisseaux, une forêt mature dominée par l’érable à sucre, le bouleau jaune, le bouleau blanc, le hêtre et le peuplier faux-tremble, la SBL sert de laboratoire pour l’étude des écosystèmes naturels. |
