The ECAB Team

Josh Kurek, Principal Investigator

I’m an Associate Professor at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. I lead the Environmental Change & Aquatic Biomonitoring (ECAB) Laboratory in the new Gairdner Building. My research program includes aspects of aquatic science, paleolimnology, and monitoring of ecosystems. I am interested in studying the responses of lakes, rivers, and wetlands to environmental stressors, such as pollution and climate change. This often involves understanding how the ecological structure and overall function of freshwater ecosystems has changed across time. I enjoy mentoring students within my research program and helping to develop their abilities, knowledge, and interest related to environmental science.

Email: jkurek@mta.ca
Phone: 506-364-2390
Office: #305 Avard-Dixon
Links: [Google Scholar] [Twitter]

Norma Fernanda Charqueño Celis, Post-doctoral fellow

I´m passionate about the study of paleoecology. I started my academic journey at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where I pursued a Bachelor's and Master's degree focusing on modern ecology, studying macroinvertebrates and microcrustaceans in the lakes of the Yucatán Peninsula. Then, for my PhD in Comahue University in Bariloche, Argentina, I directed my research on the paleoecology of two bioproxies (Testate amoebae and Chironomids) in lakes of southern Patagonia, Argentina. During my career, I have become increasingly aware of the importance of examining the interplay between environmental variables and bioindicators. For this reason, I´m continuing my journey at the ECAB LAB analyzing the relationship between bioindicators and dissolved oxygen in the Wolastoq watershed. My research aim is to achieve better reconstructions that help us to understand the watershed responses to environmental changes.

Links: [Researchgate] [Google Scholar] [LinkedIN]

Branaavan Sivarajah, ADJUNCT ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

I am currently a Fisheries Management Biologist (Arctic Region) with Fisheries and Oceans Canada based out of Inuvik, NT. I also occasionally teach GENS 3491 Global Environmental Change at Mount Allison University during the spring academic term. Prior to my position with the federal government, I was a Mitacs-Accelerate Postdoctoral Fellow in the ECAB Lab examining the environmental legacies of historical gold mining activities on lakes in Nova Scotia, Canada. You can see more on this research here. I used biological and geochemical proxies preserved in lake sediments (field of paleolimnology) to assess the long-term ecological consequences of anthropogenic activities. I also served as a regional coordinator for the Blue Futures Pathways program (Students On Ice) while at Mount Allison. My undergraduate and graduate training were completed at Queen’s University.

Email: bsivarajah@mta.ca
Office: #326 Avard-Dixon
Links: [Google Scholar] [Twitter]

Katlyn Morrow, MSc Biology student, 2023-2025

As a recent graduate from the University of New Brunswick Saint John with a BSc in Biology, I am passionate about recovering and protecting our freshwater ecosystems here in Canada. I am from Saint John, New Brunswick, but I have spent a lot of time in Rowley, NB where I have had the opportunity to grow up enjoying nature at our family home on a lake. Working with the Belleisle Watershed Coalition during my undergrad is what really inspired me to continue working on freshwater ecosystem conservation and rehabilitation. I am eager to work on my MSc project that will be looking at invertebrate responses to historical DDT inputs, as well as potential lake recovery from this legacy stressor using lake sediment analyses and invertebrate bioindicators.

Ilya Dimitrovas, MSc Biology student, 2023-2025

I am from Pickering, Ontario, and completed my BSc in Biological Sciences while specializing in environmental toxicology at Ontario Tech University. While working on my undergraduate thesis, which focused on using macroinvertebrates as bioindicators of stream health, I knew then that I wanted to continue in this field. My MSc project will examine legacy DDT pollution and benthic invertebrates in remote lakes across New Brunswick. Using lake sediments, I aim to determine how legacy pesticides and other environmental stressors have influenced lake ecosystems and their recovery from historical pollution.

Catherine minnaar, BSc Hons student, 2025-2026

I’m a 4th year environmental science major with a minor in GIS working in the ECAB Lab this summer. I’m from a rural area near Moncton, New Brunswick, and growing up in that environment gave me a love for all things environmental. My honours research will focus on examining trends of dissolved oxygen in a low-nutrient New Brunswick lake by investigating chironomid abundance and diversity changes in a dated lake sediment core. Chironomids are bioindicators responsive to dissolved oxygen conditions at the bottom of lakes. In doing this research, I hope to learn more about how low-nutrient lakes respond to long-term environmental change and explore what environmental factors could be causing observed algae blooms and low oxygen concentrations at Yoho Lake.

Brenell Enman, BSc Hons student, 2025-2026

As I enter my fourth year of studies in a BSc of Environmental Science with a minor in GIS, I am looking forward to gaining experience in the world of research with the ECAB Lab.  Growing up on the water in Fall River, Nova Scotia, fostered an appreciation and interest for freshwater environments which has inspired my university education to date.  My Honours project will investigate long-term trends of dissolved oxygen within remote lakes in New Brunswick, and attempt to understand the impact of large-scale climatic trends on such systems.

Marissa emberly, BSc Hons student, 2025-2026

Growing up near the ocean in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I have always been fond of aquatic ecosystems. To explore this passion further, I am pursuing a BSc in Environmental Science (Aquatic focus) and Biology. In the ECAB Lab I will be researching the impacts of environmental changes on a remote lake in Northern New Brunswick. Lakes are not only beautiful and biodiverse but tell us a lot about the health of freshwater ecosystems and the climate. I aspire to one day research climate change as a career, so I am thrilled to be a member of the ECAB Lab where I can develop the skills I need to be successful in this field. My lake of interest has experienced late-summer algal blooms, which is unusual for a low-nutrient lake in a protected area. I am investigating how climatic warming and shifts in zooplankton community composition have influenced algal abundance and diversity since ~1900 CE. 

William Chapman, RESEARCH ASSISTANT, May-Aug 2025

I recently graduated in spring 2025 and earned a BSc (Hons) degree in Environmental Science. I am excited to return to the ECAB Lab for my third summer (!) to continue my research aiming for a publication of the major findings. I will also help out with fieldwork and training of other summer students. My research involves the pathogenic Vibrio spp. bacteria in shellfish in the Northumberland Strait and PEI's North Shore. Specifically, I am interested in how ocean conditions affects bacteria counts, and how marine conditions that favour Vibrio spp. will evolve over the next few decades as sea surface temperatures rise. Please see www.wills-corner.com for more information.