Past Thesis Projects

Undergraduate 4th Year Thesis Projects

The Honours Research Project is a key component of the fourth year of the program and provides the opportunity to do original research in Environmental Science.

Conservation Science

• Characterizing the Alvars of the Stony Swamp Conservation Area, Ottawa, ON
• Development of a national fish passage inventory for Canada: Rationale, Approach, Utility, and Potential Applicability to other regions
• Is the Beaufort shelf of value to a foraging gray whale?
• Biological effectiveness of an inexpensive nature-like bypass for passage of warmwater fish in a small Ontario stream
• “Airing on the side of Caution”: Linking the Physiological Status of Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides)With Behaviour and Fate Following Catch-and Release Angling
• White Spruce Establishment and Regeneration in the Mackenzue Delta Region, NWT
• Do Body Size and Fecundity Predict the size of a Landscape?
• The effect of shoreline recreation angling activities on aquatics and riparian habitat within an urban environment: implications for conservation and management
• Movement Patterns of Downstream Migrating Eels near hydroelectric dams in the lac des chats stretch of the Ottawa River
• Understanding the consequences of lost or discarded soft plastic lures on fish and aquatic ecosystems
• Role of predators and post release predation of the fate of animals discarded by commercial and recreational fisheries
• Does the provision of basking platforms assist the recovery of the turtles captured as bycatch in a ryke net fishery? An evaluation using blood physiology and a reflex impairment index
• The influence of hook size and style on the survival of  bluegill when the line is cut for deeply hooked fish

Air, Water and Soil Pollution

• Evaluating the effects of Noise disturbance from recreational boating activities on the cardiovascular physiology of largemouth Bass (Micropterus Salmoides)
• Effect of agricultural land-use on the water quality of the Bonnechere River Watershed
• The Chemistry and toxicology of nitric oxide, nitrogen oxide and ozone and their impacts on the health of the population in Ottawa

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

• The effect of temperature and moisture on carbon and nitrogen mineralization in permafrost affected peat soil from Norman Wells, NWT.
• James Lake and Northland Pyrite Mine Site Re-Assessment: An analysis of Benthic Sediments and Water Chemistry
• Heavy metal accumulation in the common cuttlefish (Sepia Officinalis) and environmental science in a developing country
• A preliminary environmental assessment of a parcel of land located in ottwa, Ontario, owned by Carleton University, to initiate research into its possible uses for pedagogical purposes
• The influence of fluctuating ramping rates on aquatic invertebrate feeding fish species on boreal rivers
• Mercury concentrations in the eggs of four Canadian Arctic-Breeding Shorebirds show no relationship to their population status
• Stable Isotope Analysis of Water Seepage in the O-train Tunnel, Ottawa, Canada
• Urbanization’s hydrological impact on local rivers in Ottawa, Ontario Canada
• The impact of white-tailed deer (Odocoileu Virginianus) on herbaceous Understorey Vegetation in Murphy’s Point Provincial Park
• Early Succession on Tailing Sites in Cobalt, Ontario
• A 2900-Year record of forest fire history from macroscopic charcoal preserved in lake sediment, Southern Yukon Territory
• Characterization of Field DNAPL from a Contaminated Site in Ottawa, ON
• Is nutritional condition in the fall correlated with over wintering activity of wild largemouth bass, Micropterus Salmoides?

Climate and Atmospheric Research

• Climate change and its Relation to Carbon Dioxide
• Evidence and Impacts of Climate Warming in Arctic Regions
• The urban heat island in the city of Ottawa
• Northern Circumpolar communities managing and responding to Climate Change in the arctic
• Analysis of long-term carbon accumulation in an arctic fen
• The Paleolimnology of Haynes Lake, Ontario: Tracking land-use and climate changes
• Climate growth response of Sugar Maple (Acer Saccharum) and Red Oak (Quercus Rubra) Trees in Gatineau Park, Quebec
• The Climatic Signal preserved in early and latewood ring width of Jack Pine (Pinus Banksiana) in Yellowknife, NWT.

Water Science

• Determination of Free Nickel Ion in water by Ion-Exchange Technique
• The camoebians (Arcellaceans) as indicators of Land-Use change in Teapot Lake, Brampton, Ontario
• A comparision of freshwater fish communities in three watersheds of the Lake Huron drainage basin
• Is evaporation a viable technique for sufficiently concentrating Pb and Zn in waters to enable isotpe analyses:  a test using Bog waters from McIlevena Bay Mining Site
• Hydrogeological characterization of a glaciofluvial aquifer near Joe’s Lake in Lavant Township, Ontario
• Thecanoebians (arcelleceae) as low pH indicators in a pyrite mining contaminated lake, Northeastern Ontario

Energy and Mineral Resources

• Volcanology and geochemistry of Soda Lakes Maar Volcanoes, Fallon Nevada
• Characterization of the groundwater Geochemical Signature of Rock Formation in the Lachute and Laval Regions, QC. Canada
• History and Statistical Analysis of Gasoline Prices
• Identification of the Cavern Thermal Energy Storage Potential in Cobalt, Ontario
• Potential of the Stellarton Basic for the Application of Cavern Thermal Energy Storage
• Hydrogeological analysis of the Central mineralized zone of the Yava Deposit, Cape Breton County, Nova Scotia
• The Biometeorology of an Oilsands reclamation site, Fort McMurray, Alberta
• Biofuel powered micro cogeneration: Is it a suitable means of household energy production in Canada?
• Wind speed trends and implications for wind power potential in the southern Canadian provinces

Agroecossytems and Food Security

• Host Plant Recognition of the Lily Leaf Beetle Lilioceris Lilli
• Potential Application of Molecular Imprinting Technology for Online Micro-Solid Phase extraction of Four Estrogenic
• Compounds Through Analysis by High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Fluorescence Detection
• Assessing DNA damage in Frogs Inhabiting Agricultural Areas of Southwestern Ontario, Canada
• One Potato, Two Potato: A comparative Energetics Lifecycle analysis of frozen and homemade french fries
• The Effects of the Fungicide Azoxystrobin on Four Non-Crop Terrestrial Plant Species
• Effects of Residue Input on the Microbial Activity in Tilled and No-Till Soils
• The response of moss carbon dioxide exchange to fertilizer treatments in a drought year
• The relationship between weeds and arthropods in conventional crop field in Eastern Ontario
• Conparison of tractor fuel consumption with different biodiesel blends
• Assessing the reliability of Farmers’ Perceptions of Crop Loss to Estimate White-Tailed Ddeer (odocoileus Virginianus) Densities in Lanark County
• Effect of organics and inorganic dispersant on rheological behaviour of Champlain sea clay at different range of pore water salinities