Leland Jackson

My research interests centre on processes that affect (1) the stability of aquatic communities and ecosystems, and (2) relationships between sustainable growth and water quality and quantity. I am particularly interested in the role of biota and their interactions on the flux of energy and materials in food webs. My NSERC sponsored research considers the role of rooted aquatic macrophtyes and food web structure on the state in which shallow prairie lakes are found. Macrophytes may be stabilizing commponents of shallow lakes that allow them to exist in a relatively clear state. However, macrophyte biomass is also correlated to the rate and occurrence of winter anoxia, with implications to fish populations. Collaborative research is examining water quality and quantity in South Saskatchewan headwater rivers, and how this might change with future development. Ecologic and economic models will be coupled to create an expert system to allow evaluation of "what if" scenarios of change in light of full-cost accounting. This project considers land use and the delivery of material to rivers, as well as in-stream processes by biota.

2007 - Appointed National Theme Co-Leader, Protecting Watersheds & Ecosystems Theme Canada Water network

• Google Scholar Link
• Kirkwood AE, LJ Jackson & E McCauley (2009) Are dams hotspots for Didymosphenia geminata blooms? Freshwater Biology, in press.
• Romanuk TN, BE Beisner, A Hayward, LJ Jackson, JR Post & E McCauley (2008) Processes governing riverine fish species richness are scale-independent. Community Ecology, in press.
• Jeffries KM, Nelson ER*, LJ Jackson & HR Habibi (2008) Basin-wide impacts of compounds with estrogen-like activity on longnose dace (Rhinichthys cataractae) in two prairie rivers of Alberta, Canada. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, in press.
• Jeffries KM, LJ Jackson, LE Peters & KR Munkittrick (2008) Changes in population, growth and physiological indices of longnose dace (Rhinichthys cataractae) associated with land-use in the Red Deer River, Alberta, Canada. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, DOI 10.1007/s00244-008-9146-1.
• Kirkwood AE, TB Shea, LJ Jackson & E McCauley (2007) Didymosphenia geminata in two Alberta headwater rivers: an emerging invasive species that challenges conventional views on algal bloom development. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 64: 1703-1709.
• Jackson JL & E Jeppesen (2007) A comparison of shallow Danish and Canadian lakes, and implications of climate change. Freshwater Biology, Freshwater Biology, 52: 1782-1792..
• Askey PJ, LK Hogberg, JR Post, LJ Jackson, T Rhodes & MS Thompson** (2007) Spatial patterns in fish distribution and relative trophic level abundance in a wastewater enriched river. Ecology of Freshwater Fishes, (in press).
• Irvine RL & LJ Jackson (2006) Spatial variance of nutrient limitation of periphyton in montane, headwater streams (McLeod River, Alberta, Canada). Aquatic Ecology, 40: 337-248.
• Anderson KE, AJ Paul, E McCauley, LJ Jackson, JR Post & RM Nisbet (2006) Instream flow needs in streams and rivers: the importance of understanding ecological dynamics. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 4: 309-318.
• Romanuk TN, LJ Jackson, JR Post, E McCauley & N Martinez (2006) The structure of food webs along river networks. Ecography, 29: 3-10.
• Rennie MD & LJ Jackson (2005) Patterns in submerged macrophyte structure and macroinvertebrate abundance. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 62: 2088-2099.
• LaMontagne, JM, LJ Jackson & RMR Barclay (2003) Characteristics of ponds used by trumpeter swans in a spring migration stopover area. Can. J. Zool. 81: 1791-1798.
• Jackson, LJ.  (2003) Macrophyte-dominated and turbid states of shallow lakes: evidence from Alberta lakes.  Ecosystems 6: 213-223.
• LaMontagne, JM, LJ Jackson & RMR Barclay. (2003) Impacts of foraging by migrating trumpeter swans on macrophytes in spring stopover areas. Aquat. Bot. 76: 235-244.
• Meding, ME & LJ Jackson. (2003) Biotic, chemical, and morphometric factors contributing to winter anoxia in prairie lakes. Limnology & Oceanography 48: 1633-1642.
• Post JR, M Sullivan, S Cox, NP Lester, CJ Walters, EA Parkinson, AJ Paul, LJ Jackson and BJ Shuter (2002) Canada'a recreational fisheries: the invisible collapse? Fisheries 27: 6-16.
• Jackson, L.J. 1998. Paradigms of metal accumulation in rooted aquatic vascular plants. Sci. Total Env. 219: 223-231. Assess. 55: 435-444.
• Jackson, L.J. 1997. Piscivores, predation, and PCBs in Lake Ontario's pelagic food web. Ecological Applications. 7: 991-1001.

• Courses