Still, the Acadians saw promise where others had not. Before the land could be successfully farmed however, the tidal floods that continually coated the coast with sea salt had to be controlled. Fortunately for the Acadians, they knew of French dyking techniques, and used them to build earthen dykes to block high tides and sluice channels to allow freshwater drainage during low tides. They turned the north shore of the Bay of Fundy into some of the most productive agricultural land in Atlantic Canada. While the Acadians prospered from the land, the dytankes they built eventually destroyed much of the natural wetland habitats.
Loss of wetlands in the quest for agricultural or industrial gain has been largely ignored until relatively recently. Today, wetlands are known to be environmental sanctuaries that store and purify ground water, provide homes and nutrients for fish and wildlife, act as important repositories for biodiversity, and stabilize the shorelines of coastal rivers. Yet, wetlands are rarely preserved as natural habitats. Organizations such as Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Nature Conservancy of Canada perform a remarkable service in bringing the plight of wetlands ecosystems to light, but much about wetlands remains unknown. That’s where the Mount Allison Coastal Wetlands Institute (MACWI) in Sackville, New Brunswick, comes in.
“MACWI was born from a desire to better understand the many processes underlying the health and functions of coastal wetlands in our broader ecosystem,” says MACWI Director, Dr. Jeff Ollerhead. “From its inception in 1999, the institute’s goal was to bring together students and faculty to study the biological, chemical, and physical processes that allow coastal wetlands to flourish, and to identify processes that might be detrimental to their survival.”
Nowadays, the Tantramar Marshes house the MACWI controlled-environment research facility, and attracts scientists from all over the world. The facility’s digital microscopy and microanalysis equipment allows for the study of marsh organisms and sediment dynamics under laboratory conditions with the greatest of accuracy. In the molecular laboratory, scientists study the population genetics of wetlands organisms to see how they adapt to environmental stresses. Field work or hands-on collection, observation, and experimentation in the surrounding marshes are also vital components of MACWI research. And of course, the centre offers researchers the ever-important ability to readily share their observations and findings.
In the past year, the institute has cooperated in a restoration project with Ducks Unlimited Canada, Environment Canada, the Province of New Brunswick, Saint Mary's University, and others in restoring tidal influence to 38 acres of dyked salt marshes in the Musquash Estuary. The return of the tides gave MACWI a rare opportunity to document the changing physical features of the land surfaces and the ecological variables before, during, and after restoration, and to learn important lessons about the nature and evolution of wetlands.
Benefits
MACWI performs its wetlands research impartially to ensure a balanced and true representation of affected areas. It then provides data and knowledge to governments, corporations, businesses, and organizations—including various conservation groups—to make educated decisions regarding wetlands.
For Deanne Meadus, Manager of Conservation Programs for Ducks Unlimited Canada and Project Coordinator for the Musquash Marsh Restoration Project, “Working with the MACWI allowed us to answer questions of how quickly salt marshes restore to a natural state and, subsequently, the rate of avian community reestablishment.” With the knowledge of how long it takes for a salt marsh to return to its original condition, Ducks Unlimited can then determine the time it would take for waterfowl to return and thrive in that marsh site.
MACWI researchers help with specific goals such as preserving waterfowl, but at the same time, they perform broader wetlands research that brings environmental benefits beyond any single wetlands element. For example, through the Musquash project, researchers measured the release of the greenhouse gases methane and carbon dioxide in the tidal estuary. In addition to a site in the restored salt marsh, they chose a natural salt marsh and a man-made freshwater wetland for comparison. When the sediment on each site was mildly disturbed, the researchers observed large puffs of gases released from the original natural salt marsh, but nothing from the other two sites. This observation suggests that pools of methane have formed under the surface of the salt marsh. Given that methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, proper wetlands management, including the prevention of such gas release, is vital.
MACWI also examined the critical issue of changes in surface elevation of the Musquash marshes. Centuries of dammed tides resulted in coastal areas well below sea level not being immersed by water at all. Researchers looked at how these areas were affected by breached dykes, and the resulting increased salinity and movement of water. The researchers found that salt marshes grow vertically with rising sea levels and adjust naturally to changing environmental conditions while dykes, which often require expensive maintenance and repairs, cannot. Such findings are crucial to the efficient management of wetlands areas.
Environmental indicators have long suggested that New Brunswick’s coastal ecosystem is undergoing changes for which new management strategies are necessary. The health of the coastal ecosystem is central to sustainable fisheries, agriculture, and tourism. By dedicating its research to studying coastal wetlands and monitoring their biodiversity, MACWI provides the vital data needed for making informed decisions about the preservation of wetlands.
Partners
A spin-off company from MACWI’s research, Environmental Proteomics, develops and markets systems and services to monitor key environmental processes. Environmental Proteomics creates antibodies and protein standards used to measure the levels of important proteins in natural samples.
The institute is now home to 10 permanent faculty members, including experts in geography, biology and environmental science, as well as several associates. “Since the beginning of the project, 12 Master’s, doctorate, and post-doctorate students have also used the institute’s infrastructure as a key resource in their research projects,” says Ollerhead.
