New student recruited by the PHRAGMITES Group

François Messier, a masters student in plant science at Laval University under the direction of Line Rochefort and codirected by Claude Lavoie, has undertaken a project to eradicate invasive common reed populations which have established in peatlands following horticultural peat extraction. He is using tarping techniques which were first tested at the Institut de recherche en biologie végétale de l’Université de Montréal (Jacques Brisson’s team). The first trials began in April 2015 in the Rivière-du-Loup peatlands (pictured). This is a new research avenue for the PHRAGMITES Group!

Photo by François Messier.