Olivier MorissetteUniversité du Québec à Chicoutimi | UQAC · Département des sciences fondamentales
Olivier Morissette
Ph. D. in Biology
About
60
Publications
10,514
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323
Citations
Introduction
Assistant professor of fish ecology at Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. Specialized in aquatic invasive species, otolith microchemistry, sclerochronology, stable isotopes and genomics. Also research interests in ichtyology & fish biodiversity, evolution, intra-specific variation and wildlife management.
Twitter: @OMorissette
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=xcVx9r4AAAAJ&hl=fr
Additional affiliations
April 2017 - March 2020
Ministry of Forestry Wildlife and Parks
Position
- Division Chief - Aquatic invasive species
Description
- I'm a researcher on aquatic invasive species (AIS, fish and invertebrates) for the Quebec Ministry of Forestry, Wildlife and Parks and head of AIS division. Our work is around monitoring, managing and data acquisition on Quebec AIS.
Education
August 2013 - December 2018
August 2011 - May 2013
Publications
Publications (60)
La production du maïs à ensilage dans la région du Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean (SLSJ) est limitée en raison du faible nombre d’unités thermiques maïs (UTM). Pour pallier cette contrainte, plusieurs producteurs utilisent un film de plastique translucide dit « oxo-biodégradable », permettant ainsi de devancer la date de semis et de bénéficier d’hybrides...
Models are needed to predict changes in game fish abundances with respect to climatic factors undergoing change, but such models are often limited by data availability and the capacity of statistical methods to fit challenging ecological datasets. We use current methods in machine learning to describe the responses of ten fish species to climatic f...
En 1991, la tanche ( Tinca tinca Linné, 1758) a été relâchée illégalement dans les eaux de la rivière Richelieu. Après s’être répandue dans l’ensemble de cette rivière, ce poisson a colonisé le fleuve Saint-Laurent et le lac Champlain. La présente étude analyse par cartographie l’évolution spatio-temporelle de sa dispersion depuis son introduction...
The case of the deepwater redfish (Sebastes mentella) in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL) is a compelling example of drastic fluctuations in annual recruitment strength, characteristic of spasmodic stocks. After three decades of low abundance, the emergence of three consecutive strong year classes in 2011–2013 resulted in an unprecedented increase in...
La production du maïs à ensilage dans la région du Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean (SLSJ) (Québec, Canada) est limitée en raison du faible nombre d’unités thermiques maïs (UTM) disponibles. Pour pallier à cette contrainte, plusieurs producteurs laitiers utilisent un film de plastique translucide dit « oxo-biodégradable », permettant ainsi de devancer la da...
The physicochemical heterogeneity of large river ecosystems generates a mosaic of habitats that support diverse fish communities. Understanding the connectivity between habitats and exploited fish populations is necessary for the sustainable management of fisheries. This study evaluates the spatial concordance between elemental fingerprints of fish...
Greenland Halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) is a deepwater flatfish having a circumpolar distribution. Understanding the spatial connectivity and migratory patterns of this commercially valuable species is essential for ensuring a sustainable fishery; nonetheless, this information remains relatively scarce for many Greenland Halibut population...
Introductions of exotic invasive species are a global disturbance for natural habitats. The severity of invasions can greatly vary from local to global scales, as observed in invasion refuges, which exhibit lower-than-expected invasion intensity. In this study, we analyzed the effects of water conductivity and wetland presence on the density of the...
Water temperature is key to the study of aquatic ectotherm ecology, but precise measurements of individual‐based thermal experience remain difficult to validate. The stable isotope composition of oxygen in biominerals acts as a natural thermometer due to the temperature dependence of isotopic fractionation between water and mineral phases. Coeffici...
In fisheries science, it is important to understand the population dynamics of commercial species and also their movements from the nursery to the population, especially for juvenile individuals, to avoid overfishing. To determine their migration patterns among nurseries, we collected juvenile Greenland halibut Reinhardtius hippoglossoides from 2 n...
Predicting how quickly populations expand their range and whether they will retain genetic diversity when they are introduced to new regions or track environmental conditions suited to their survival is an important applied and theoretical challenge. The literature suggests that long-distance dispersal, landscape heterogeneity and the evolution of...
Biodiversity loss has accelerated over the past century and freshwater species overall are among those experiencing greatest declines. Genetic resources have the potential to help evaluate the full magnitude of this loss and represent a key tool to effectively allocate conservation resources and monitor the success of restoration efforts. The full...
Introduced and geographically expanding populations experience similar eco‐evolutionary challenges, including founder events, genetic bottlenecks, and novel environments. Theory predicts that reduced genetic diversity resulting from such phenomena limits the success of introduced populations. Using 1900 SNPs obtained from restriction‐site‐associate...
Introductions of exotic invasive species are a global disturbance for natural habitats, native species and their related ecological services. The severity of invasions and impacts, however, can greatly vary from local to global scales. This variation can be observed in both invasion hotspots, exhibiting disproportionate invasion and impacts, or ref...
Biodiversity surveys can be substantially improved through the analysis of environmental DNA (eDNA) if appropriate DNA sequence reference databases exist.
Here, we aimed to assess the availability of molecular genetic resources for Canada’s freshwater-dependent species and identify data deficiencies where future research should be directed. The mai...
Protection of freshwater fish diversity is a global conservation priority in face of its alarming decline in the last decades. A crucial step to protect freshwater fish diversity is the production of prompt and precise evaluation of community composition and spatial distribution. Metabarcoding of environmental DNA (eDNA metabarcoding) generally sur...
Introduced and geographically expanding populations experience similar eco-evolutionary challenges, including founder events, genetic bottlenecks, and novel environments. Theory predicts that reduced genetic diversity resulting from such genetic phenomena limits the colonization success of introduced populations. We examined an invasive population...
Acquisition of biological information on invasive fishes during the early stages of invasion could be critical in orienting subsequent management strategies. To achieve such a task, biological invasion researchers and practitioners take advantage of numerous technologies (e.g. genomics and acoustic telemetry). Surprisingly, the study of invasive fi...
Rapport d'évaluation de la contribution de la pêche à l'électricité en embarcations à un inventaire annuel de poissons.
In a recent paper, “Environmental DNA: What's behind the term? Clarifying the terminology and recommendations for its future use in biomonitoring,” Pawlowski et al. argue that the term eDNA should be used to refer to the pool of DNA isolated from environmental samples, as opposed to only extra‐organismal DNA from macro‐organisms. We agree with this...
The study of distribution and dispersal of invasive fishes is challenging during the early stages of invasion. Quantification of trace elements incorporated into fish hard parts represents an innovative technique for this task. Otolith chemistry has been used to describe fish stock structure, migratory behaviour and to support the management of sev...
Acquisition of biological information on invasive fish in a timely manner could be critical in orienting management strategy. To achieve such a task, biological invasion researchers and practitioners have took advantage of numerous cutting-edge technologies (i.e. genetics, telemetry, artificial intelligence). Surprisingly, study of invasive fish ec...
In a recent paper, “Environmental DNA: What’s behind the term? Clarifying the terminology and recommendations for its future use in biomonitoring”, Pawlowski et al. argue that the term eDNA should be used to refer to the pool of DNA isolated from environmental samples, as opposed to only extra-organismal DNA from macro-organisms. We agree with this...
In a recent paper, “Environmental DNA: What's behind the term? Clarifying the terminology and recommendations for its future use in biomonitoring”, Pawlowski et al. argue that the term eDNA should be used to refer to the pool of DNA isolated from environmental samples, as opposed to only extra-organismal DNA from macro-organisms. We agree with this...
Trace metals found in the calcified structures of fish (i.e. otolith, scales and vertebrae) serve as proxies for the ambient water composition at the time of mineralization, and these trace metals are increasingly used as a tool for assessing population structure and the migratory patterns of fish. However, the appropriate scale (e.g. resolution) f...
Successfully implementing fundamental concepts into concrete applications is challenging in any given field. It requires communication, collaboration and shared will between researchers and practitioners. We argue that evolutionary biology, through research work linked to conservation, management and forensics had a significant impact on wildlife a...
The selection of thermal habitat by fish is strongly regulated by physiology and behaviour. However, delineation of a species lifelong thermal niche remains technically challenging. Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) survival and productivity are recognised as being tightly linked to a somewhat restricted thermal habitat. The factors guiding tempera...
Les quatre espèces de carpe asiatique sont des espèces aquatiques envahissantes (EAE) qui représentent une menace sérieuse pour l’intégrité écologique du fleuve Saint-Laurent et de ses tributaires. Bien que nous considérons que la carpe de roseau (Ctenopharyngodon idella) fréquente les eaux du fleuve et de deux de ses tributaires, au moment de rédi...
The goldfish (Carrasisus auratus) is one of the most common fish in the aquarium trade but also unfortunately one of the most widespread released-in-the-wild species. Its impacts on native species are reviewed in the context of the various temperate ecosystems in which they may be released. Survey of goldfish populations in Québec revealed disparit...
Quantification of trace elements incorporated within fish calcium carbonate hard structures (i.e., scales, vertebrae or otoliths) are increasingly used to investigate life-history and population dynamics and recruitment. Otolith microchemistry is commonly used to study migratory fish species of high economic and social importance. However, it repre...
Jusqu’ici, des efforts considérables ont été déployés pour identifier et caractériser les habitats de reproduction et d’alevinage du bar rayé du fleuve Saint-Laurent, en plus d’examiner la répartition spatiotemporelle des adultes. Néanmoins, les connaissances sur l’habitat du segment subadulte (juvéniles de un à trois ans) de cette population demeu...
Understanding and predicting management consequences on exploited fish stocks represents one of the major challenges of conservation science. There are still considerable uncertainties about the impacts of supplementation stockings on wild populations. Although generally efficient, supplementation can represent a major disturbance for populations,...
Worldwide, stocking of fish represents a valuable tool for conservation and maintenance of species exploited by recreational fishing. Releases of hatchery‐reared fish are more and more recognized to have numerous demographic, ecological, and genetic impacts on wild populations. However, consequences on intraspecific trophic relationships have rarel...
The round goby (Neogobius melanostomus), a small Ponto-Caspian bottom-dwelling fish species, was first observed in the St. Lawrence River in 1997. After twenty years, it is now considered as one of the most successful invaders of the St. Lawrence River. Despite the elevated abundances observed throughout the river, little is known about its impacts...
Supplementation stocking is a commonly used management tool to sustain exploited fish populations. Possible negative consequences of supplementation on local stocks are a concern for the conservation of wild fish populations. However, the direct impacts of supplementation on life history traits of local populations have rarely been investigated. In...
Lake Trout stocking history of studied lake.
Table include year of the stocking event, line of fish used, age or stage at stocking (1+: 1 year old or F; fry), number of fish stocked, source population of stocking, density (number of fish/area of lake (ha)) and age of the survivals at sampling.
(DOCX)
Standard Lake Trout sampling protocol.
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Parameters values for every module used for genotyping and loci filtering in the study.
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From the end of the 19th century, aquatic invasive species (AIS) took a heavy toll on sport fishing activities in Québec while threatening local biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. As we are quantifying the impacts and threats brought by AIS throughout the various aquatic ecosystems in Québec, key actions are required to prevent the arrival of ne...
The capture of a gravid diploid Grass Carp (GC) in the St. Lawrence River (SLR) in 2016 was a reality check that Québec’s waters were at risk of being invaded by Asian carps. Positive detections of GC eDNA were observed along the SLR and in two of its tributaries. Together, they suggest that GC is present in Québec waters since at least 2015 and th...
With environmental DNA (eDNA) becoming a key tool allowing early detection of invasive species when they are present at very low abundance, the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks of the province of Québec initiated an eDNA study in 2015. With the inception of the Québec Asian Carp Program in 2016, the eDNA survey was expanded and optimized to...
Migratory contingents are groups of individuals belonging to the same population that adopt different migratory patterns. They have been identified in numerous Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) populations along the North American east coast. In the St. Lawrence River (Canada), the Striped Bass population was extirpated by the mid-1960, due to cumula...
Supplementation stocking is increasingly being used as a management tool to sustain exploited populations worldwide. Motivation behind this practice is the increase of population number to support recreational fishery. However, possible indirect impacts of stocking on local populations cause concerns among fishery biologists. Hybridization between...
The effectiveness of marine conservation areas are influenced by the structure of the food webs they encompass, including the population dynamics of potentially important forage species that occupy trophic positions between those of zooplankton and higher trophic levels. Capelin is a key forage species for marine mammals, seabirds, and fish in the...
Supplementation stocking is a common management tool for lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush)
populations in Canada. Motivation behind this practice is the increasing of population density
to support recreational fishery. However, negative genetical and ecological effects of stocking
raise concerns among fisheries scientists and conservationists. Rec...
Migratory contingents, groups of individuals belonging to the same population that adopt different migratory patterns, have been identified in numerous Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) populations along North American East Coast. We tested the hypothesis that migratory contingents may develop early in life to maximize the exploitation of the variety...
Capelin (Mallotus villosus) is a key forage species in the Saguenay – St. Lawrence Marine Park (SSLMP) that includes a large portion of the St. Lawrence Estuary (SLE) and nearly the entire Saguenay Fjord (SF). Little is known about sources of capelin in the SSLMP, whether they recruit locally through larval retention or derive from other spawning s...
The existence of partial migrations is commonly reported for diadromous fish species. Migratory differential life-history pathways can establish stable structure within populations (e.g. migratory contingents). Contingents have been identified in numerous striped bass population along the North-American East Coast using various methods. Otolith che...
Historically, the northern-most limit of the distribution of striped bass in North America was the St. Lawrence R. (Québec, Canada). Likely because of the cumulating effects of habitat destruction and overfishing, this stock was extirpated by the mid-1960's. In 2002, a reintroduction program was initiated by stocking adults and juveniles (broodstoc...
As many striped bass populations along the North American East Coast, the St. Lawrence Estuary stock had undergoes wide abundance variations leading to periodical decline of commercial landings. This population was driven toward a complete extirpation by the mid- 1960’s following a strengthening of several deleterious factors (habitat alteration, o...
ii RESUME La réintroduction du bar rayé (Morone saxatilis) dans le fleuve Saint-Laurent est un événement majeur. Beaucoup de questionnements sont soulevés sur la biologie et le devenir de l'espèce. Il importe de constituer des connaissances sur les moeurs et la biologie de cette nouvelle population présente dans le Saint-Laurent. Des larves de bars...
Questions
Question (1)
I'm trying to achieved a normalized number of brook trout stocked in lake by life stages. As stocking can be realized with eggs, fry, alevins or 1+ individuals, those "stocking intensity" in sens of number of individuals stocked are difficult to compare (as more eggs are normally stocked than 1+ fish). Applying a stages-specific % of survival to the sexual maturity, or reproduction can help normalize those numbers.
