Scientist Spotlight: Virginie Chalifoux, Ph.D. Student, UBC

OA CoP
Sep 24
4 min read

Virginie Chalifoux is a Ph.D. student in Applied Animal Biology in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia. Her work explores the relationships between fish ecology and their responses to climate change stressors. Virginie shares with us her background, ongoing research, and interests in ocean acidification and fish ecology.

A woman with brown hair and a knit toque wears a black jacket and a life jacket and smiles at the camera. She is sitting in the bow of a zodiac on the water with steep tree covered hills and shorelines, typical of the Pacific northwest, in the background. — Virginie Chalifoux (Photo credit: Radio-Canada/Camille Vernet https://ici.radio-canada.ca/recit-numerique/12610/ocean-oeufs-biodiversite-poissons-cb).

What is your background?

I am a PhD student at the University of British Columbia who started my third year in Applied Animal Biology. My work focuses on evaluating the effects of anthropogenic disturbances on two economically, culturally and ecologically important fish for British Columbia, which are salmon and herring. In this broad subject, I am interested in how ecology can help shape the climate change response of these fish. Before pursuing my PhD, I completed a M.Sc. in oceanography at the Institute of marine science of the Université du Québec à Rimouski in Québec, where I am from. At that time, I applied my research to fisheries management by evaluating a bioenergetics model for brook charr, a species native to Québec but invasive in British Columbia, under two salinity conditions. My passion for fish research fuelled my whole journey while my curiosity in ocean acidification (OA) sparked when I started the PhD. Another interest of mine is to collaborate and share my research with the concerned communities to help in making decision for the environment. I believe that the people who knows the most pressing concern about resources such as fish are the ones in daily contact with it. As such, I collaborated with the Átl'ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound Marine Stewardship Initiative (https://howesoundguide.ca/), who monitors herring spawn events every year in Squamish, to collect herring embryos for my experiment. Listening to their concerns about herring helped me design my experiment in a way that provides answers relevant to their needs. I then shared my knowledge about herring and the results from my experiment to the community afterwards. Both their work and my research attracted media coverage in French that can be watched using this link: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/recit-numerique/12610/ocean-oeufs-biodiversite-poissons-cb

Two people lean over the side of a zodiac towards a rock covered in marine algae. They are grabbing pieces of the algae with their fingers. Their faces are obscured by their arms as they lean forward. They are wearing warm weather clothing and toques. — Collecting herring embryos on seaweed in Átl'ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound near Squamish with the Marine Stewardship Initiative (Photo credit: Radio-Canada/Camille Vernet https://ici.radio-canada.ca/recit-numerique/12610/ocean-oeufs-biodiversite-poissons-cb).

What is your interest in OA?

Before starting my PhD, I didn’t have a background in OA, which shows that your research area can evolve as your interests develop. My research focuses on using ecological approaches to mitigate the effects of ocean acidification on salmon and herring, since CO₂ levels already reach well before end of century predictions in the coastal waters of British Columbia. In different times of year, salmon migrates in these challenging waters and herring spawn in these areas, which makes OA a pressing concern and highlights the need to find solutions which, for me, is by using ecology.

Can you tell us about your past or current contributions to OA research?

My first contribution to OA research was through a chum study where we found that high sensitivity to ocean acidification in wild out-migrating juvenile Pacific salmon is not impacted by feeding success. If you want to read more about it, it has been summarized here: https://www.oceanacidification.ca/post/new-paper-high-sensitivity-to-ocean-acidification-in-wild-out-migrating-juvenile-pacific-salmon-is. My upcoming paper is focusing on the potential of seaweed to mitigate OA effects in Pacific herring embryos. This forage fish spawns massively in the intertidal from February to May between Vancouver Island and Mainland BC. Through oceanographic processes, such as upwelling and tidal mixing, herring can be affected by ocean acidification. We hypothesized that seaweed, through photosynthesis, can help mitigate the negative effects of OA. I am also investigating whether intertidal air exposure provides a similar protective effect. These are two different ways ecology could be beneficial for herring development.

A close up shot of a fair skinned persons hands cupping seaweed covered in small, round herring eggs. The eggs are translucent and gelatinous looking and about 1 mm in diametre. — Herring embryos on rockweed for my experiment on how seaweed could have the potential to mitigate ocean acidification effects. (Photo credit: Radio-Canada/Camille Vernet https://ici.radio-canada.ca/recit-numerique/12610/ocean-oeufs-biodiversite-poissons-cb).

What is the one take-home about OA that you wish all Canadians knew?

I believe that one take-home message all Canadians need to remember is how pressing the OA issue is. By the end of the century, predictions indicate that a CO₂ increase of 800 µatm¹ will occur. In British Columbia, however, upwelling and tidal mixing already bring CO₂ levels beyond 1000 µatm² in some areas, exceeding end-of-century predictions! These levels may be temporary or short-lived right now, but their occurrence during salmon migration or during herring spawning season have the potential to impact the survival of these fish on the long term since some life stages are more sensitive than others.

What excites you most about the current or future of OA research in Canada?

I am very excited to explore how ecology can shape these fish’s response to climate change. While some scientists prefer to remove any interactions in an experiment to isolate the direct effect of a variable, I believe that, in the wild, fish interact with the environment and that these influences should be considered, because it could significantly alter how they react to OA.

To learn more about Virginie's work, please check out this ICI (CBC) article in French: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/recit-numerique/12610/ocean-oeufs-biodiversite-poissons-cb

References:

1: Feely, R.A., Sabine, C. L., Hernandez-Ayon, J. M., Ianson, D., and Hales, B. (2008). Evidence for upwelling of corrosive “acidified” water onto the continental shelf. Science, 320, 1490–1492. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1155676

2: Evans, W., Pocock, K., Hare, A., Weekes, C., Hales, B., Jackson, J., Gurney-Smith, H., Mathis, J.T., Mathis, S.R. and Feely, R.A. (2019). Marine CO2 Patterns in the Northern Salish Sea. Frontiers Marine Science, 5, 536. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00536