Summer Recap!


Summer 2024 was the first full summer of research in the Migicovsky Lab, and we were fortunate to have five awesome students working hard on various projects.

A summer 2024 lab meeting

A summer 2024 lab meeting

 

Blake Hewens Higgins (BScH. Biology) and Ivy Barkhouse (BSc. Environmental Science), who both graduated in May from Acadia, worked in the K.C. Irving Environmental Science Centre’s Tissue Culture lab. They were a part of a larger team in our ongoing collaboration with the Christmas Tree Council of Nova Scotia (CTCNS) which began in May 2023. Their work was funded by Mitacs Business Strategy Internships in partnership with CTCNS.

Blake collecting pollen from a Balsam fir tree, Ivy in the Tissue Culture Lab

Blake collecting pollen from a Balsam fir tree, Ivy in the Tissue Culture Lab

 

In addition to assisting with other ongoing CTCNS projects and fieldwork, Blake and Ivy were focused on 3 main objectives in the Tissue Culture Lab:

  1. Cryopreservation (storing at low temperatures) of tissue from Balsam fir Christmas trees sampled last year  
  2. Maturation of tissue from Balsam fir Christmas trees sampled last year to start their growth and development  
  3. Dissection and initiation of new Balsam fir embryos from trees sampled this summer to put them into tissue culture

Blake and Ivy working in the Tissue Culture Lab

Blake and Ivy working in the Tissue Culture Lab

 

This summer we were also joined by a Mitacs Globalink intern from France, Elise Cadiou. Elise is a Master’s student in Agriculture and Ecology at Ecole Supérieure des Agricultures in France. At Acadia, her research focused on Vaccinium (blueberry) species. Elise used historical climate data and future climate models to create species distribution models for lowbush blueberry to predict past, present, and future habitat suitability. In collaboration with the E.C. Smith Herbarium at the K.C. Irving Environmental Science Centre and Dr. Zoe Panchen (Biology), she also scored the developmental stage (phenology) of Vaccinium plants preserved at the Herbarium.  

Elise with Vaccinium vouchers at the E.C. Smith Herbarium

Elise with Vaccinium vouchers at the E.C. Smith Herbarium

 

The two remaining research projects in the lab focused on image analysis and morphometrics (the study of shape) using quantitative methods. Lachlann Simms (BScH. Biology and Chemistry) worked on his honours research project examining the diversity of leaf shape across Malus (apple) species thanks to a Marchant Research Award. Lastly, Kylie DeViller (BCSH with Co-op) examined variation of fruit size and shape using images of over 500 unique apples.

Lachlann and Kylie working on image analysis

Lachlann and Kylie working on image analysis

 

A few other summer highlights are featured below: sampling apple trees grafted to different rootstocks from an orchard in Kentville, visiting a local berry breeding program, and attending the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers' Association Summer Orchard Tour.

 

Thank you to everyone for the great work this summer! We are excited that Lachlann and Kylie are continuing their work this fall, and we wish Blake, Ivy, and Elise all the best in the next stages of their careers and education.


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