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REDPATH HIGHLIGHTS Issue #1

1

2017

REDPATH

MUSEUM

PHOTO: Gorgosaurus libratus and mineralogists in Dawson Gallery VOLUMEHIGHLIGHTS 1, ISSUE 1

objects and artifacts never-before From the Director’s Desk displayed. By Hans Larsson In addition to the Gala, members of the RMS were hard at work throughout 2017, This newsletter marks a turning volunteering at Museum special events point for us at the Museum, and I including Nuit Blanche and DJ and hope you enjoy reading about the Dinosaurs: Freaky Friday. You may have Bchanges,y Hans developments Larsson and also seen RMS volunteers at the Cutting highpoints of a somewhat turbulent Edge Lecture Series, where they year. We kick-started 2017 with a introduced and thanked speakers and black tie gala in January, but the fall Redpath Museum prepared the receptions that followed

found us harbouring student and Society (RMS) each lecture. staff refugees from the asbestos The RMS also trained two groups of crisis at Stewart ; absorbing By Lauren McAusland student volunteers in January and residue from the construction of the September to lead informal guided tours In January 2017, the RMS helped plan pedestrian wrap-around terrace of the Museum on Sundays. In and run the first Semi-Formal Gala held behind the Museum; and taking September, the RMS elected a new in the Museum since its opening in 1882. advantage of all our available space executive team who planned the And what a great success it for collections, exhibits and people. 2018 Gala at the was! McGill alumni, We have tried to summarize some of Museum. these initiatives in this Highlights faculty, and Newsletter for 2017. students enjoyed IMAGE shows wine and hors Gala participant At the back of the newsletter, you’ll d’oeuvres while at the photo booth hosted by see the many generous people and listening to a groups who have helped us with Steampunk baroque . these projects. You can also find out ensemble and how you can get involved. learning about 2017 REDPATH MUSEUM HIGHLIGHTS | 2

Admin changes By Caroline LeBlond Marie La Ricca, Administrative Assistant for the past 30+ years, retired in January 2017. While she was at the Museum, she saw the introduction of computers at the University, managed major renovation projects in the galleries, worked under five directors, and played an important role second Gala in the growth of the Museum. She took place on has passed the torch to Caroline January 19, LeBlond who started in her new 2018. responsibilities in June 2017. Sara Pimpaneau, who was a support staff The auditorium area (see photo here). Drop in and in the Admin office for the past eight has been used for two major film pick up a free copy of our new years, left McGill in October 2017. productions. Revenues generated by collaborative childrens’ science Our new full time Administrative the rental of our space will allow us magazine: Soucoupe volante. Coordinator, appointed in January to open the Museum on Saturdays 2018, is Ginette Dessureault. for a trial period of six months in ACFAS @ MUSEUM 2018! In 2017, the Museum hosted multiple The Museum took part in the ACFAS events such as the Biology graduate The Museum has a new gift shop (Association canadienne-française student Gala, the Governor pour l'avancement des sciences) since May 2017. For sale are conference last May by putting out General VIP event and the Festival exclusive T-shirts designed by a display and demo tables each day Trans Amériques. We started 2017 r McGill student, as well as stickers during the conference week. About with our first Winter Gala co- representing specimens of the 200 ACFAS delegates visited the Museum. organized by the students of the Museum. The Museum Gift shop is Redpath Museum Society. The located in the Entrance Hall/Lobby

Saving space and still growing By Anthony Howell, Collections and Space

Committee The photos here show new collections and storage space for the herpetology and ichthyology wet collections, and the consolidation of the ornithology and collections into one space (right). The ongoing efforts to conserve and maintain the natural history collections at the Redpath support from McGill sciences, two new received a major boost this year, and projects were completed to install compact marked a positive step forward in storage systems in the collections space of modernizing the collections space. the Redpath Museum. Our goals were to With the help of a federally funded consolidate multiple collections into one museum grant, as well as financial area, as well as improve the efficiency and accessibility of collection’s material. The 2017 REDPATH MUSEUM HIGHLIGHTS | 3

project began back in April of this year, with In partnership with biologists at the much planning of the design and layout of University of Toronto and at Fisheries and the storage systems. The flexibility of space Oceans Canada, we will use an innovative in a 135-year-old museum is minimal, so experimental approach that tests the impact some creative leniency was needed in their of invasive fish relative to the baseline development. In the end, each system was impacts of native fishes on the broader designed uniquely to fit each space, so as to ecological community. We will conduct these maximize efficiency without compromising tests in water temperatures projected for the accessibility. The result was the reduced Great Lakes basin under different warming footprint of our collections, making more scenarios, so that we can predict how space available for growth. We were able to invasion threats will vary with climate reduce the fragmented space occupied by change. Among the focal species will be the collections by over 40% and increase the Asian carp (bighead carp, silver carp, grass available space for new collections material carp), Prussian carp (a species of goldfish by nearly 31% in our herpetology and that is invading western Canada), and the ichthyology collections. These new upgrades Eurasian tench. Work by PhD candidate will dramatically help the Redpath organize Sunci Avlijas has identified tench as an and conserve its collections. This project has imminent invasion threat to the Great Lakes. been made possible in part through a grant The species is currently expanding its from the Museum Assistance Program, population in the St. Lawrence River and is Department of Canadian Heritage. spreading upstream toward Lake Ontario.

PHOTO: Sunci Avlijas holds a tench caught in the Richelieu River, . Barrett lab PHOTOS: Students from the Barrett lab in the field in Nebraska and Brazil. By Rowan Barrett Antoine Paccard has added over 500 This year marks continued expansion of the Gasterosteus aculetus specimens from Barrett lab, with two new personnel joining Newfoundland and to the us at the Redpath Museum: PhD students Redpath collections, which marks the Alan Garcia Efring and Mathilde Salamon. Museum’s first East Coast acquisitions for Existing members Tim Thurman, Sara Smith, this species, as well as 40 Gasterosteus Juntao Hu, Charles Xu (in photo with touch aculetus specimens from Iceland, Norway, screen exhibit he created on STEMM and Germany, Switzerland, Alaska, Japan, and diversity) , Ananda Martins, Marc-Olivier Russia, all of which represent new localities To understand the ecology of this species in Beausoleil, and Antoine Paccard had a for this species within the Redpath different environments, we have undertaken productive 2017, with multiple papers collections. Rowan Barrett was also awarded an ambitious project that compares the published or in press at the journals American a new investigator grant from Fonds de morphology, population structure, and diets Naturalist, Molecular Ecology, Heredity, Recherche Nature et Technologies to of invasive populations in distant geographic Journal of Evolutionary Biology, Annual continue his research on temperature locations, including South and the Reviews in Ecology, Evolution, and tolerance in the three-spined stickleback. eastern and western USA. This past summer, Systematics, and Trends in Ecology and Finally, many members of the lab were Sunci and undergraduate research assistants Evolution. heavily involved in new science outreach Anna Potapova and Aimy Wang surveyed initiatives, including the Diversity in STEMM invasive tench in Washington state and Members also attended the Canadian program organized by Charles Xu, and Society for Ecology and Evolution meeting in discovered dense populations in some Rowan Barrett giving an interview with CBC waterbodies. Victoria. Antoine Paccard and Rowan Barrett Radio’s program The Current. gave invited seminars at Binghamton Another highlight from this year is the University, University of Florida, and the publication of a paper in the prestigious Université de Montréal. Rowan also gave the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution. It plenary talk at the Ontario Ecology, Invasion Ecology resulted from an exciting workshop that I Ethology, and Evolution Colloquium and an organized last year at the University of invited talk at the Speciation Gordon and Aquatic Cambridge, where several of the world’s Research Conference in Barga, Italy. The year leading ecologists convened to discuss the was also marked by intensive fieldwork, with Ecosystems lab future of invasion science. We conducted a trips to the Bahamas for Anolis research by scan of some of the emerging scientific, Tim Thurman and Rowan Barrett, East and By Anthony Ricciardi technological, and sociopolitical issues likely West Coasts of for to affect how invasive species are studied Gasterosteus fish research by Antoine and managed over the next two decades. Paccard and Sara Smith, Nebraska for A highlight for our lab this fall was being The issues we identified included emerging Peromyscus research by Rowan Barrett, awarded a new strategic grant to identify biotechnologies and agricultural practices, Charles Xu, and Juntao Hu, and Brazil for and prioritize invasive species that pose the the rapid rise in invasive fungal pathogens, Heliconius research by Ananda Martins. greatest ecological threat to the Great Lakes. and the consequences of Arctic globalization 2017 REDPATH MUSEUM HIGHLIGHTS | 4

for invasion risks in the northern hemisphere. Galapagos flora was assembled in surprising past 50 years – thus providing a textbook This was one of the most creative and ways; and that evolution in fishes is not as example of the consequences of climate productive meetings I have ever attended. predictable as many authorities have change for small mammals. The findings suggested. from the Millien lab also reveal a stark reversal in the proportions of the two mice Eco-evolutionary Andrew Hendry’s own biggest highlight of populations present in the area, adding to the year was the publication of his 7-years-in- evidence that warming temperatures are dynamics lab preparation book Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics, driving wildlife north. Millien’s team which received advance praise from many compared data from the past decade with By Andrew Hendry top evolutionary biologists and ecologist. It specimens collected by McGill researchers as has since been reviewed favorably by four far back as the 1950s and discovered that the different journals. Apart from these The Hendry lab continues its work on eco- skull shapes of both mouse species have testimonials, his favorite part of the whole evolutionary dynamics, where ecological changed over time. The changes in the two process has been the fun tongue-in-cheek change drives rapid evolutionary change, species paralleled each other, but have been which then feeds back to influence ecological more pronounced in the white-footed change. Field studies on interactions mouse – with the result that the cranial between Darwin’s finches and plants in shapes of the two species have become Galápagos (Sofia Carvajal-Endara and Daniel more distinct. At the same time, the Reyes), between guppies and white-footed mouse has been moving their parasites in Trinidad (Lea farther north as winters get milder at a Blondel and Jonathas de Lira), rate of around 11 kilometres per year. and between stickleback fishes While nine of 10 specimens caught in the and their prey in various places reserve by researchers in the 1970s were along the West Coast of North deer mice and only 10% were white- America (Grant Haines), are footed, those proportions are now ongoing. We have also added reversed. new projects on dolphins in One question that remains to be settled Panama (Betzi Pérez), howler is whether the changes are genetic, and monkeys in Argentina (Lotte will be passed on to future generations – Skovmand), and native and actual evolution – or whether they invasive species in Montreal represent “plasticity,” the capacity of (Sarah Sanderson and Louis some species to adjust to rapid Astorg), Panama (Diana Sharpe, social media thread, environmental change. For Millien, the old- Felipe Perez-Jvostov), and in which various growth forest of the Gault Nature Reserve on Uganda (David Hunt). Receiving readers have found Mont Saint Hilaire in Quebec’s Montérégie their PhD degrees in the last creative ways to area similarly provided a kind of insulated, year were Krista Oke, who worked on parallel show how the book is particularly effective at open-air lab. “When I arrived in Quebec from evolution in fishes (mainly salmon in Alaska); curing insomnia! France 15 years ago, I was working on the and Victor Frankel, who worked on host- evolution of island mammals,” she recalls. “I parasite interactions in the Panama Canal. was pretty disappointed, because there was Former lab members receiving permanent Small mammals little opportunity to find islands close to positions in the last year include Joost Montreal. Then I saw a picture of the Raeymaekers (Nord Univ., Norway), Martin and climate Monteregian hills by NASA in the winter: Turcotte (Univ. Pittsburgh), Jean-Sébastien these were islands of forest within a matrix of Moore (Univ. Laval), Luis De León (Univ. change lab agricultural field and urban areas. I had found Massachusetts Boston), and Pierre-Olivier my study system.” Montiglio (UQAM). By Virginie Millien Other highlights include our leadership in the $1.65M NSERC CREATE BESS (Biodiversity, For the past 10 years at McGill’s Gault Nature Ecosystem Services, and Sustainability) Reserve, about 40 kilometres east of training grant; Andrew Hendry’s Montreal in the St. Lawrence valley, biologist participation as a lead author for the Global Virginie Millien has been studying two Assessment being conducted by the similar, coexisting species: the deer mouse Intergovernmental Science-Polity Platform and the white-footed mouse. Both are on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services common in eastern North America. But while (IPBES); and the publication of many papers the deer mouse can be found in Canada’s in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Some northern reaches, the white-footed mouse is a more southerly species, rarely found north discoveries reported in these papers include PHOTO: White- footed mouse at Mont Saint of the St. Lawrence River. New research from that evolution is particularly rapid in urban Hilaire. environments; variation within species can the Millien lab shows that milder winters be just as important for ecosystem services have led to physical alterations in these two as can variation among species; the species of mice in southern Quebec in the 2017 REDPATH MUSEUM HIGHLIGHTS | 5

What made these wooded hills particularly Mineralogy. He has written an illustrated discovery workshops in local schools and special was that Millien also had access to guide to the Museum’s mineral exhibits libraries and through videoconferencing. museum specimens from the same locations, entitled Treasures from the Earth, a gallery collected in the 1950s through a McGill field guide and introduction to minerals (in press). An average of 500 people visit the Museum survey and in the 1970s by Peter Grant, who Financial support was provided in part by the almost every Sunday afternoon. did work on small mammals at Gault while he Canadian Geological Foundation. was a biology professor at McGill. With its Our contract with the Canadian Wildlife 1,000 hectares of old-growth forest, “Gault is Federation (CWF) urban programs serves unique” in southern Quebec, says Millien, over 3,600 participants each year. These who has also been director of the Reserve programs include: Wild Migrations (at-risk since last year. “It provides an opportunity species migratory routes and related for researchers to study the effects of climate activities on a giant floor map), Wild Spaces change, putting aside the added disturbance (pollinator program, school gardens and field of human activities”. trips to with Les Amis de la Montagne), Wild Outside (teen leadership Fossil Preparation program), and Wild Family Nature Club (connecting families to nature and to each lab other). In 2017, we created a new “marine- themed” day focusing on the Museum’s By Chantal Montreuil aquatic collections and resources. This included a special presentation by guest In the summer, amongst the noise and speakers and graduate students with their vibration from the Leacock / Redpath PHOTO: Serandite mineral from Mont Saint- lab apparatus; activities on a giant floor map Museum roadway construction, the paleo- Hilaire. of Canada; examination of marine and prep lab was moved upstairs to the main aquatic specimens; hands-on water testing floor teaching lab and, on occasion, to the with Let’s Talk Science; and a preschool Museum's entrance hall. With help from Outreach and specialist explaining marine life for our Shalom Brody and Kevin Zhao, we did some youngest visitors. We delivered this “marine ad hoc public outreach. Taking advantage of beyond life” day at the Museum three times: for the a more quiet day (Tuesdays) gave us the By Ingrid Birker C3 Expedition and Aquavan visits (two of the chance to focus more on interacting with the signature Canada 150 projects; over 250 and public than on our special events day. Sifting and Jacky Farrell 500 visitors, respectively) and for Science through countless sand samples looking for Highlights this year include the completion Literacy Week in September (over 290 small fossils of salamander, turtle, fish and of the SPF-funded portion of the Survival visitors). In the spring, we received a grant on occasion dinosaur fragment was a huge Workshops and implementation of a fee- from the CWF to develop two teaching success with our visitors. based version for staff and students on the gardens at McGill that will focus on PHOTO: A fossil downtown campus. Four workshops on pollinators and native plants. We will be tooth from a traditional skills (fire by friction, tracking, working with First People’s House and freshwater Ray shelters, foraging, etc.) and nature McGill’s gardeners to develop educational connection were offered each term. signage and outdoor activities in 2018. (Myledaphus Generously funded by the bipartitus). Dean of Science for this academic year, our goal is

for participant fees to make this program self-sustaining starting in September 2018.

Aside from the survival Mineralogy workshops, outreach Collection continues to deliver hands- on educational activities and By Peter Tarassoff programs to over 30,000 people Peter Tarassoff manages the museum’s PHOTO: Jacky Farrell in action with the C3 mineral collection as Honorary Curator of every year, through hands-on floor map outside the museum in summer 2017.

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Special projects and exhibits

The Redpath Museum Gift Shop, which opened for the first time on Day 2017, is now located in the entrance lobby area. Stop by to see our exclusive Museum T-shirts, books and more. New items to arrive this spring!

The STEMM Diversity @ McGill project installed two Touch screens at the Museum in early October 2017 as part of Ada Lovelace Day. This student-driven initiative at the Redpath Museum promoted diversity in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medicine and consists of an online exhibit featuring interviews of diverse students and faculty discussing their personal experiences and opinions relating to the roles of gender and ethnicity in STEMM. These interviews were conducted by students and staff at the Redpath Museum in collaboration with designated Archeopteris gaspiensis as Student Television at McGill (TVM). The the Type or name bearer of these types two interactive touch-screen kiosks showed of early vascular land plants. Dawson's interviews, podcasts, articles, and images of published report was sent to Charles women and minorities in STEMM at McGill. Darwin, and Darwin's response is The website and STEMM touch screens contained in a letter on exhibit at the Museum in the Dawson Gallery, beside attract about 30,000 page an exhibit about the fossil plants of the views / month. Gaspé. This project won the McGill Award for Equity and Community Building, recognizing the work of students committed to advancing equity, inclusion and community engagement at McGill. The award committee noted that this project The Pteranodon origami model created by "was outstanding, showing achievement, Robert Lang in 2007 was on display for the initiative and impact in the domains of summer of 2017 at the Villa Bagatelle in equity, inclusion and community building.” Sainte Foy-Sillery-Cap-Rouge as part of the The Diversity in STEMM Colouring and exhibit, L’origami sous tous ses plis. This Activity Book that was created by MSc Biology candidate Jessica Ford to accent this exhibit was seen by 7,000 visitors. project is available for sale ($7) in the Redpath Museum Gift Shop. Our fossil plant Archeopteris is on the road for Canada 150 as part of a travelling exhibit, Museum’s Choice: Fossil Favourites from Across Canada. Produced by the Alliance of Natural History Museums of Canada (ANHMC), in partnership with the Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN) and the Royal British Columbia Museum (Royal BC Museum), this nationally travelling exhibit PHOTO: Archeopteris gaspiensis, the type featuring some of Canada's most impressive, specimen described by Sir John William famous and significant fossils or replicas will Dawson. cross the country for three years. The Over 84,000 visitors specimen from the Redpath Museum, PHOTO: Charles Cong with the STEMM Archeopteris gaspiensis, is 280 million-year- came to the Redpath exhibit at the Redpath Museum in 2017. old fossilized frond collected and named by Museum in 2017. Sir . It grew in the Devonian forests of what is now the Gaspé of Quebec. In 1871 Dawson found and 2017 REDPATH MUSEUM HIGHLIGHTS | 7

Support for the Museum We devote this page as a special thanks to all of our donors, sponsors and Friends. If you would like to help us to extend the impact of the Redpath Museum for future generations, please contact Hans Larsson, Museum Director, at [email protected] or phone him at 514-398-4086, ext. 3188.

Abe Levine (1924-2017) one of the Museum’s proudest benefactors, died in

August. We remember him for the donation of the exhibit Conchologycitus - the Abe Levine Shells, located on the second floor of the Redpath Museum.

Bird Protection Quebec (BPQ) for providing funds to renovate the Quebec Biodiversity dioramas located in the Dawson Gallery.

The Drummond Foundation for helping us to build our new Welcome Desk in the Entrance lobby of the Museum.

The Canadian Wildlife Federation for a three-year contractual position to enhance family nature education, and for the special grant to establish a Pollinator Garden and a traditional herbal garden on the grounds near the Museum. These two gardens will be planted in 2018

Redpath Sugar for generous sponsorship of the Redpath Museum Gala held on January 19, 2018.

Canadian Geological Foundation for financial support to print and publish the new Mineral Gallery Guide, Treasures from the Earth.

Generous support to produce our new Museum Colouring and Activity book (in press) from the family of the late Jennie Turczmanowycz, a long – time Welcome Desk volunteer at the Redpath Museum and McGill Chemistry graduate.

The Canada C3 project for the funding of all the elements of our Canada C3 Museum Hub in 2017. This included the giant C3 floor map and the educational materials associated with it, along with the construction and design costs of the two Touch screens .

The Friends of the Redpath Museum promotes the public program of the Museum. Its members help to organize fund- raising and publicity and act as volunteers on Sunday afternoons. Membership is FREE and open to all those interested in the public activities of the Museum. Please contact [email protected] if you are interested in joining the Friends.

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Heures d'ouverture Opening Hours Lundi au vendredi: 9 h à 17 h Monday to Friday: 9am-5pm Samedi* et Dimanche: 11h à 17 h Saturdays* and Sundays: 11am- Jours fériés : FERMÉ 5pm *NOUVEAU: Ouvert les samedis Public holidays : CLOSED du 7 avril au 26 août, 2018 *NEW : Open on Saturdays from Apr. 7 through Aug. L’adresse 26, 2018 Le Musée se trouve au centre- ville de Montréal sur le campus de Address l’Université McGill : The Redpath Museum is located 859, rue Sherbrooke Ouest in on the Montréal (Québec) H3A 0C4 McGill University campus at: téléphone: 514-398-4092 859 West courriel: [email protected] Montreal, Quebec H3A 0C4 Telephone:514-398-4092 Email: [email protected]

ILLUSTRATION: Marc Taro Holmes, 2017

Heures d'ouverture