Biography
I was born and raised in Mattawa Ontario, in the Ottawa River Valley.
My interest in hydrology and water quality issues sprung from growing
up in an environment where much of my well-being was dependant on the
flow and quality of the Mattawa River. I obtained my undergraduate degree
in Geography from the University of Western Ontario (B.Sc. H. 1996). After
completing my B.Sc., I pursued additional undergraduate training in Geology
at the University of Ottawa (1996-97). Through these undergraduate experiences
I gained an understanding of, and curiosity for, the relationships that
exist between the quality and quantity of water, the earth it flows through,
human activities, and climate. This led me to the Rocky Mountains and
the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of
Alberta where I studied the role of glaciers in pesticide contamination
in alpine lakes (Ph.D. 2003). I spent 7 months as a post-doctoral fellow
and sessional instructor at the University of Alberta, before joining
the Department of Geography at Queen’s in July 2004.
Teaching Interests
I currently teach undergraduate courses in water resources (GPHY103),
geomorphology and pedology (GPHY 208), watershed hydrology (GPHY 312),
and biogeochemistry (GPHY 411). I also teach a graduate course in biogeochemistry
of cold regions (GPHY 823). For course descriptions please visit the departmental
website or my personal web site: http://geog.queensu.ca/Lafreniere.
Research
My research interests lie in the area of climate change and human impacts
on the hydrology and biogeochemistry of alpine and arctic environments.
Climate warming and human activities (e.g. urbanisation, forestry, energy
production, and agriculture) are altering and will continue to alter global
biogeochemical cycles (e.g. atmospheric CO2, nutrients, and contaminants)
and hydrological processes. Alpine and arctic environments are particularly
sensitive to climate change due to feedbacks involving the cryosphere
(snow, permafrost and glacier ice) and the cycles of energy and water.
High rates of deposition and accumulation of atmospherically-transported
chemical also make many cold environments sensitive to anthropogenically-driven
changes in atmospheric chemistry. Current research interests include investigating
the influence of anthropogenic inputs on nitrogen deposition and export
in alpine catchments, and describing how the biogeochemical cycles of
DOC and N in arctic catchments vary with changes in climatic, geomorphic
and hydrological variables. These investigations involve a combination
process studies and experimentation in the field, and laboratory analyses
of surface water chemistry.
Graduate students under my supervision can expect to pursue a range of
research interests related to climate change and biogeochemistry (nutrients,
contaminants, metals) in arctic and alpine environments.
Publications
Lewis T., Lafrenière, M. J., and S.F. Lamoureux (2011) The impact of permafrost disturbances and climate on runoff chemistry of two High Arctic rivers. Hydrological Processes, Online Sept 29, DOI:10.1002/hyp.8335.
Woods, G.C., Simpson, M. J., Pautler, B. G., Lamoureux, S.F., Lafrenière, M.J. and André J. Simpson (2011) Evidence for the enhanced lability of dissolved organic matter following permafrost slope disturbance in the Canadian High Arctic, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 75(22): 7226-7241, DOI:10.1016/j.gca.2011.08.013.
Lafrenière, M.J. and K.E. Sinclair (2011) Snowpack and precipitation chemistry at a high altitude site in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, Journal of Hydrology, 409:737-748, DOI10.1016/j.hydrol.2011.09.007.
Boyd, E. S., Lange, R. K., Mitchell, A. C., Havig, J. R., Hamilton, T. L., Lafrenière, M. J., Shock, E. L., Peters, J. W., Skidmore, M. (2011) Diversity, Abundance, and Potential Activity of Nitrifying and Nitrate Reducing Microbial Assemblages in a Subglacial Ecosystem, Applied Environmental Microbiology, doi:10.1128/AEM.00376-11
Lamoureux, S.F. and M.J. Lafrenière (2009). Fluvial impact of extensive active layer detachments, Cape Bounty, Melville Island, Canada, Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research, 41(1):59–68.
Dugan, H., Lamoureux, S.F., Lafrenière, M.J. and T. Lewis (2009). Major hydrological and sediment yield response to summer rainfall in a small High Arctic watershed, submitted to Hydrological Processes, 23:1514–1526.
Lafrenière M. and S. F. Lamoureux (2008). Seasonal dynamics of dissolved nitrogen exports from two High Arctic watersheds, Melville Island, Canada, Hydrology Research, 39 (4): 324-335.
Lafrenière, M.J., Sharp, M.J., Blais, J.M. and D.W. Schindler (2006) Organochlorine pesticide and polychlorinated biphenyl concentrations in snow, snowmelt, and runoff at Bow Lake, Alberta. Environmental Science & Technology, 40(16): 4909-4915.
Lamoureux, S.F., McDonald, D., Cockburn, J., Lafrenière, M. J., Atkinson, D. and P. Treitz (2006). An incidence of multi-year sediment storage on channel snowpack in the Canadian High Arctic. Arctic, 59(4): 381-390.
Lafrenière, M.J. and ,M. J. Sharp (2005). A comparison of solute fluxes and sources from glacial and non-glacial catchments over contrasting melt seasons. Hydrological Processes, 19: 2991-3012.
Lafrenière M.J. and M.J. Sharp (2004) The concentration and fluorescence of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in glacial and non-glacial catchments: interpreting hydrological flow routing and DOC sources. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 36(2):156-165
Lafrenière M.J. and M.J. Sharp (2003) Wavelet analysis of inter-annual variability in the runoff regimes of glacial and nival stream catchments, Bow Lake, Alberta. Hydrological Processes, 17:1093-1118.
Blais J., Schindler, D.W., Sharp, M.J., Braekevelt, E., Lafrenière, M.J., McDonald, K., Muir D.C.G. and W. M. J. Strachan (2001) Fluxes of semi-volatile organochlorine compounds in Bow Lake, a high altitude, glacier-fed, sub-alpine lake in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, Limnology and Oceanography, 46(8): 2019-2031.
Blais J., Schindler, D. W., Muir, D.C.G., Sharp, M.J., Donald, D., Lafrenière, M.J., Braekevelt, E., Strachan, W.M.J., Comba, M. and S. Backus (2001) Melting glaciers dominate sources of persistent organochlorines to subalpine Bow lake in Banff National Park, Canada, Ambio, 30(7):410-415.
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Dr.
Melissa Lafrenière 
Biography