Nicolas Fournier - MSc candidate

Experimental evaluation of coarse wood addition to boreal lakes as a habitat restoration tool

The addition of coarse woody habitats is a commonly used management tool in lakes and reservoirs to compensate for habitat loss, with the aim of increasing fishery success by concentrating fish and increasing their production. However, it remains uncertain whether these additions actually result in an increase in fish numbers, as is often assumed, or whether the apparent increase in fish simply results from increased attraction or concentration around these artificial habitats. My project aims to assess the extent to which the addition of coarse woody habitats, in an artificial reef context, influences the distribution and abundance of fish in small boreal lakes in Quebec via eDNA. This approach will determine the value of this type of structure in the context of aquatic habitat restoration or compensation, as well as validate the use of eDNA to assess fish distribution and abundance..

Codirection avec Olivier Morissette, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi