McMaster geographer wins national innovation prize

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/waddington.jpg” caption=”Mike Waddington”]McMaster geographer Mike Waddington, a member of the Peatland Ecology Research Group (PERG), has won a 2004 Synergy Award for Innovation from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Conference Board of Canada.

“It is a great honour to win such a prestigious award because it recognizes the innovative and inter-disciplinary research our group has undertaken together in wetland ecology and hydrology,” Waddington says. “Ecosystem restoration is a growing field and it is wonderful that NSERC has recognized our achievements.”

Waddington is part of a diverse team of Canadian scientists working to restore and conserve Canada's peatlands. Canada is the world's largest producer of horticultural peat and because of PERG, large areas of harvested peatland have been restored. Research is now underway to find ways to reclaim these sensitive ecosystems to use for tree plantations, berry crops or wildlife habitat.

“Over the last 10 years the PERG and the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association has learned an enormous amount on the hydrologic and ecologic controls on Spahgnum moss growth,” Waddington says. “From this knowledge we have developed techniques to restore harvested peatlands into healthy functioning ecosystems. Restoring an ecosystem is essentially the litmus test of what we know about the hydrology, ecology, and soil science of that ecosystem. We now know a lot more about how pristine peatlands 'work' from our restoration research.”

There are five researchers in the PERG group, which received the award in the 'more than 2 company category'. Led by Line Rochefort, a plant ecologist at Laval University, the team also includes paleo-ecologist Claude Lavoie and animal ecologist Andre Desrochers, from Laval University; and hydrologist Jon Price, from the University of Waterloo. Waddington is a hydrologist who examines hydrologic controls on greenhouse gas exchange in peatlands and the moisture limits to Sphagnum moss growth.

The Synergy Awards for Innovation were launched in 1995 by NSERC and the Conference Board of Canada and recognize the most outstanding achievements of university-industry collaboration.

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[img_inline align="right" src="http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/waddington.jpg" caption="Mike Waddington"]McMaster geographer Mike Waddington, a member of the Peatland Ecology Research Group (PERG), has won a 2004 Synergy Award for Innovation from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Conference Board of Canada. <p><br />
<br />
"It is a great honour to win such a prestigious award because it recognizes the innovative and inter-disciplinary research our group has undertaken together in wetland ecology and hydrology," Waddington says. "Ecosystem restoration is a growing field and it is wonderful that NSERC has recognized our achievements."<p><br />
<br />
Waddington is part of a diverse team of Canadian scientists working to restore and conserve Canada&#039;s peatlands. Canada is the world&#039;s largest producer of horticultural peat and because of PERG, large areas of harvested peatland have been restored. Research is now underway to find ways to reclaim these sensitive ecosystems to use for tree plantations, berry crops or wildlife habitat. <p><br />
<br />
"Over the last 10 years the PERG and the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association has learned an enormous amount on the hydrologic and ecologic controls on Spahgnum moss growth," Waddington says. "From this knowledge we have developed techniques to restore harvested peatlands into healthy functioning ecosystems. Restoring an ecosystem is essentially the litmus test of what we know about the hydrology, ecology, and soil science of that ecosystem. We now know a lot more about how pristine peatlands &#039;work&#039; from our restoration research."<p><br />
<br />
There are five researchers in the PERG group, which received the award in the &#039;more than 2 company category&#039;.  Led by Line Rochefort, a plant ecologist at Laval University, the team also includes paleo-ecologist Claude Lavoie and animal ecologist Andre Desrochers, from Laval University; and hydrologist Jon Price, from the University of Waterloo. Waddington is a hydrologist who examines hydrologic controls on greenhouse gas exchange in peatlands and the moisture limits to Sphagnum moss growth.<p><br />
<br />
The Synergy Awards for Innovation were launched in 1995 by NSERC and the Conference Board of Canada and recognize the most outstanding achievements of university-industry collaboration.

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