Jennifer F Provencher

Environment and Climate Change Canada · Ecoxtoxicology and Wildlife Health Division

Plastic pollution is omnipresent in the marine environment, including much of the Arctic. Northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) are particularly vulnerable to ingesting plastics floating on the water's surface, and are an international biomonitor of this contaminant. We sampled plastic ≥1 mm in size from the stomachs of fulmars collected by Inuit h...

Incidental catch of seabirds (bycatch) in fisheries has been identified as a major threat to the conservation of seabird populations globally. Acquiring accurate, detailed data on seabird bycatch is an ongoing challenge to effective integrated ecosystem management of commercial fisheries. This is especially true in the Arctic region where different...

Avian influenza viruses (AIVs) regularly circulate between wild and domestic bird populations. Following several high-profile outbreaks, highly pathogenic AIVs (HPAIV) with zoonotic potential have been the subject of increasing attention. While we know that HPAIV is transmitted between domestic birds, wildlife, and the environment, little is known...

To assess the potential risks of contemporary levels of plastic pollution in freshwater ecosystems, a large-scale experiment was conducted over 10 weeks in a boreal lake at the IISD-Experimental Lakes Area (Ontario, Canada). Fragments of common polymers (polyethylene, polystyrene, and polyethylene terephthalate), each with distinct colors and buoya...

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 caused mass mortality of wildlife across the North Atlantic in 2022. Following European outbreaks, the first North American case was detected on the island of Newfoundland, Canada in November 2021, before spreading throughout North America. During the following summer, Newfoundland and surrounding islan...

Arctic biodiversity is under threat from both climate induced environmental change and anthropogenic activity. However, the rapid rate of change and the challenging conditions for studying Arctic environments mean that many research questions must be answered before we can strategically allocate resources for management. Addressing threats to biodi...

In 2022, a severe outbreak of disease caused by clade 2.3.4.4b Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus resulted in unprecedented mortality among wild birds in eastern Canada. Tens of thousands of birds were reported sick or dead, prompting a comprehensive assessment of mortality spanning the breeding season between April 1 and September...

Using 10 m diameter mesocosms in a Canadian boreal lake, we investigated the effects of microplastic (MP) exposure on the body weight and diet of yellow perch (Perca flavescens) and the fatty acid composition of yellow perch and zooplankton. We exposed the aquatic ecosystem within seven mesocosms for 10 weeks to a mixture of polyethylene, polystyre...

Migratory seabirds move across ocean basins and are one of the primary reservoirs of low pathogenic avian influenza virus (LPAIV). This includes the millions of thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia) and common murres (Uria aalge) that are distributed across northern hemisphere oceans. In response to increasingly frequent detections of highly pathogenic...

Several species of loons (or divers; Gaviidae) breed in Arctic Canada, and concern has been raised about their changes in abundance in light of threats such as bycatch and at-sea industrial development. These loons are not well monitored, but we gathered localized count data for three Arctic-nesting loons (Pacific loon Gavia pacifica, red-throated...

Wildlife disease surveillance, particularly for pathogens with zoonotic potential such as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus (HPAIV), is critical to facilitate situational awareness, inform risk, and guide communication and response efforts within a One Health framework. This study evaluates the intensity of avian influenza virus (AIV) surveil...

First detected in Atlantic Canada in December 2021, highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) subtype H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, A/Goose/Guangdong/1/96 lineage, has caused massive mortality in wild birds and domestic poultry in North America. Swallows (Hirundinidae), abundant in North American agricultural ecosystems, have been proposed as possible...

Understanding microplastic exposure and effects is critical to understanding risk. Here, we used large, in-lake closed-bottom mesocosms to investigate exposure and effects on pelagic freshwater ecosystems. This article provides details about the experimental design and results on the transport of microplastics and exposure to pelagic organisms. Our...

Plastic pollution, including microplastics (<5 mm) has been identified as an emerging contaminant of Arctic concern and has been observed in wildlife, water, sediment, air, and snow. Because snow is relatively easy to sample and process for microplastics, it may be a useful compartment to monitor to assess patterns of microplastic contamination in...

Birds are widely used as indicators of environmental contamination because they integrate signals across space and time. However, this advantage also means that locating the source of pollution can be challenging, especially for species that migrate large distances. Historically, the assignment of contaminant burden to particular life stages or loc...

Microplastic contamination is ubiquitous across the globe, even in remote locations. Still, the sources and pathways of microplastics to such locations are largely unknown. To investigate microplastic contamination in a semi‐remote location, we measured microplastic concentrations in nine oligotrophic lakes within and around the International Insti...

We assessed the potential for plastic ingestion in polar bears (Ursus maritimus (Phipps (1774))) using fecal analysis. Two method studies ensured our protocols could effectively recover and identify plastics in feces. First, microplastics (film, foam, or fragments) were intentionally introduced into a model organic matrix. Recovery rates (mean ± st...

The Coats Island field station in northern Hudson Bay, Canada, was established by the Canadian Wildlife Service in 1984 to monitor the thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia, akpa, ) population in the context of harvest management and federal responsibilities under the Migratory Birds Convention Act. The long-term monitoring program has continued annually...

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 caused mass seabird mortality across the North Atlantic in 2022. Following outbreaks in Europe, the first case in North America was detected on the island of Newfoundland (NFLD), Canada in November 2021, before spreading through all North American flyways. During the following breeding season, NFLD expe...

Macroecological approaches can provide valuable insight into the epidemiology of globally distributed, multi-host pathogens. Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan that infects any warm-blooded animal, including humans, in almost every habitat worldwide. Toxoplasma gondii infects its hosts through oocysts in the environment, carnivory of tissue cysts wit...

The research station at Prince Leopold Island (PLI), initiated in 1975, was the first seabird monitoring site created in the Canadian Arctic. The island supports 150 000 breeding pairs of seabirds, principally thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia Linnaeus 1758), black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla Linnaeus 1758) and northern fulmars (Fulmarus gla...

In 2022, a severe outbreak of clade 2.3.4.4b Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus resulted in unprecedented mortality among wild birds in eastern Canada. Tens of thousands of birds were reported sick or dead, prompting a comprehensive assessment of mortality spanning the breeding season between April 1 and September 30, 2022. Mortali...

Following detection of novel highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b in Newfoundland, Canada in late 2021, avian influenza surveillance in wild birds was scaled-up across Canada. Herein, we present results of Canada's Interagency Surveillance Program for Avian Influenza in wild birds during the first year (November 2021...

In Atlantic Canada, the breeding population of Leach’s storm-petrels (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) has declined by about 54% since the 1980s. This decline is likely due to the combined effects of climate change, community modifications, and light and chemical pollution. Concerning the latter, the exposure of these seabirds to polycyclic aromatic compound...

During 2021 and 2022 High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) killed thousands of wild birds across Europe and North America, suggesting a change in infection dynamics and a shift to new hosts, including seabirds. Northern Gannets ( Morus bassanus ) appeared especially severely impacted, but a detailed account of the data available is required to...

Sea ice plays a fundamental role in Arctic marine environments, by driving primary productivity and sustaining ice-associated ecosystems. Simultaneously, sea ice influences the contamination of Arctic marine organisms, by modifying contaminant cycles or their bioavailability. Changes in sea ice conditions could therefore profoundly impact the funct...

Plastic pollution is a growing threat to our natural environment. Plastic waste/pollution results from high emissions of both macro (>5 mm) and microplastics (MPs; <5 mm) as well as environmental fractioning of macroplastics into MPs. MPs have been shown to have a range of negative impacts on biota. Harmonized methods to accurately measure and coun...

A Eurasian lineage highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) of the clade 2.3.4.4b (Goose/Guangdong lineage) was detected in migratory bird populations in North America in December 2021, and it, along with its reassortants, have since caused wild and domestic bird outbreaks across the continent. Relative to previous outbreaks, HPAIV cases amo...

Abstract When brought together, Indigenous and Western sciences offer holism that can strengthen research and monitoring, yet the practices and processes of bridging these sciences are not well understood. We sought to elucidate bridging through a systematic realist review of coastal and marine research and monitoring studies that use methods for g...

Application of treated sewage sludge (biosolids) from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to farmlands is an important pathway through which microplastic particles (MPs) enter terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, microplastic concentrations in Canadian biosolids have only been estimated in samples from four WWTPs previously. We aimed to fill this knowledge...

Plastic pollution is ubiquitous, and the Arctic is no exception. One important step to understand the extent of the problem, and to monitor its impact is to have repeatable, comparable, and relevant measures across time and space that allow for the detection of marine litter trends. Arctic shorelines are a critical part of monitoring efforts. Pan-A...

Oil production activities have remained contentious in Canada due to the risk of contaminant exposure and environmental impacts. However, despite recent advances in monitoring, there is a lack of information on contaminant exposure and its associated impacts for many species at risk. The threat from contaminants to wood bison (Bison bison athabasca...

As plastic pollution continues to persist at a global level, the Arctic has drawn increased research interest as a possible sink for marine pollutants. Plastic and microplastics are highly durable and can be transported across vast distances. To date, only a handful of studies have directly assessed microplastics in Arctic mammals. In Canada, it is...

Since first being introduced for public use in the 1960s, plastic has become one of the most pervasive and ubiquitous forms of pollution globally. The potential fate and effects of plastic pollution on birds is a rapidly growing area of research, but knowledge of terrestrial and freshwater species is limited. Birds of prey have been particularly un...

Microplastics (MPs; <5 mm) are a growing concern and a poorly understood threat to biota. Despite a recent spike in research on MPs, most of this work has focused on marine systems, and less is known about interactions between terrestrial organisms. We used a generalist insect (a cricket; Gryllodes sigillatus) to examine whether individuals would i...

In the Arctic, chemical contaminants, shipping, oil pollution, plastic pollution, changing habitats in relation to climate change and fisheries have been identified as environmental stressors to seabirds such as Fulmarus glacialis (northern fulmar; qaqulluk; ᖃᖁᓪᓗᖅ), but rarely have these stressors been considered within a cumulative effects framewo...

During 2021-22 High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) killed thousands of wild birds across Europe and North America, suggesting a change in infection dynamics and a shift to new hosts, including seabirds. Northern Gannets (Morus bassanus) appeared especially severely impacted, but limited understanding of how the virus spread across the metapop...

Due to their relatively high trophic position and importance as a food source for many communities in the circumpolar north, seabird eggs are an important matrix for monitoring contaminant levels. In fact, many countries, including Canada, have established long-term seabird egg contaminant monitoring programs, with oil related compounds a contamina...

Western-trained, non-Indigenous researchers in Canada have an ethical responsibility to collaborate with Indigenous Peoples and to re-envision the scientific research process through the lens of reconciliation. The health of the natural environment has long been a concern to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples, and weaving different ways of...

Microplastics contaminate environments worldwide and are ingested by numerous species, whose health is affected in multiple ways. A key dimension of health that may be affected is the gut microbiome, but these effects are relatively unexplored. Here, we investigated if microplastics are associated with changes in proventricular and cloacal microbio...

The GsGd lineage (A/goose/Guangdong/1/1996) H5N1 virus was introduced to Canada in 2021/2022 through the Atlantic and East Asia-Australasia/Pacific flyways by migratory birds. This was followed by unprecedented outbreaks affecting domestic and wild birds, with spillover into other animals. In the current study, we report sporadic cases of H5N1 in 4...

The braiding of Indigenous knowledge systems and Western-based sciences offers insights into ecology and has emerged as a way to help address complex environmental issues. We reviewed the publicly available ecological research involving the braiding of Indigenous knowledge systems and Western-based sciences to support collaborative work in the Albe...

Gulls can be particularly vulnerable to ingesting plastics when using anthropogenic food sources, with potential consequences for survival and reproductive success. Although birds are known to switch foraging habitats over the breeding season to provide higher quality food for chick provisioning, it is unclear what this means regarding the ingestio...

Plastic pollution is a growing threat to our natural environment. Plastic waste/pollution results from high emissions of both macro (> 5 mm) and microplastics (MPs; < 5 mm) as well as environmental fractioning of macroplastics into microplastics. Microplastics have been shown to have a range of negative impacts on biota. Harmonized methods to accur...

Environmental impact assessments (EIAs) aim to assess the predicted effects of future projects on the environment, human health, and the economic potential of a region. They are an instrumental tool for sustainable development and to reduce the impact of large-scale industrial projects on biodiversity. The accurate assessment of the effects of proj...

Cadmium (Cd) is a trace element of toxicological concern that has been monitored in marine birds inhabiting the Canadian Arctic since 1975. Despite nearly 50 years of monitoring, research to date has largely evaluated single species, locations, or time points, and there is as of yet no holistic overview that jointly considers all available Cd data....

Since the 1990s, scientists and Indigenous peoples have worked together across Inuit Nunangat (Inuit homeland in Canada) to conduct research on contaminants in ringed seals (Pusa hispida; natsiq, natchiq or ᓇᑦᓯᖅ in Inuktut), a species of high cultural, economic and nutritional importance among Inuit. Developing innovative ways of engaging Indigenou...

Ultraviolet (UV) absorbents and industrial antioxidants are contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), but little is known about their distribution in Arctic wildlife, as well as how these contaminants vary over time, across regions, and between species. We used archived egg samples to examine the temporal patterns of 26 UV absorbents and industrial...