By Derek Cornet

Biologist has Lac La Ronge research published

Jan 5, 2018 | 11:00 AM

A biologist from La Ronge recently had his work published in an international journal for the first time.

Aaron Bell, who is currently completing an internship with Troutreach Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, had a research paper published last month in PLOS ONE, a multidisciplinary open-access journal.

“I knew about the islands on Lac La Ronge, having growing up there, and I thought it would be a really cool place to study beetles,” he said. “I started a Masters of Conservation Biology at the University of Alberta, and basically we designed an island biogeography experiment.”

During the summers of 2013 and 2014, Bell spent a considerable amount of time on the islands conducting research. He said he wanted to see how concepts such as how big is an island and how far is it from the mainland affect the species that inhabit it.

“Say you have a forest and, for whatever reason, you want to cut down part of the forest and build condominiums or a parking lot, you’ve essentially reduced the size of the forest,” Bell said. “That has an affect on the organisms that live in the forest, but the biggest take-home is that that reduction in the size of the forest will affect species much differently depending on their underlying biology.”

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In 2015, Bell successfully defended his research paper at the U of A, then he began the peer-review process to have it published. That process was completed last month.

“I never thought I would get to study the islands that I was running around on as a kid,” Bell said. “On social media, you can tell when certain people who you follow read your research, and that’s pretty flattering and definitely a rewarding experience.”

derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno