Staff

Claude Lavoie earned a BSc in Biology from the Université de Montréal (1988) and MSc and PhD degrees in Biology from Université Laval (1990, 1994). He became a professor at Université Laval’s École supérieure d’aménagement du territoire et de développement régional in 1996 following postdoctoral fellowships at the Faculté des sciences de l’agriculture et de l’alimentation at Université Laval (1994-95) and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado (Boulder, USA, 1995-96). He coordinates the PHRAGMITES team and the invasive plant training program, which offers continuing education in the control of nuisance plants, including common reed. His most recent research focuses on the management of soils contaminated with reed rhizomes, particularly in transportation rights-of-way.

Jacques Brisson obtained his BSc and MSc in Biological Sciences at Université de Montréal (1983, 1986) and his PhD in Ecology at the University of California at Davis and at the San Diego State University (1994). He was hired as a professor at the Département des sciences biologiques of the Université de Montréal in 2002 after several years as a research scientist at the Montreal Botanical Garden and at the Institut de recherche en biologie végétale of the Université de Montréal (1995-2002). He is in charge of competition research projects in the PHRAGMITES team.

Patrick Boivin obtained a BSc degree in biology from the Université du Québec à Montréal (1990) and then pursued MScA studies at the Université de Montréal in land use planning (1994). Since the early 2000s, he has held a research professional position at the Institut de recherche en biologie végétale of the Université de Montréal, where he participates in various studies on the management and integrated control of vegetation. He works with Jacques Brisson to develop various control strategies for exotic invasive plant species based on mechanical, chemical and plant competition methods. The knowledge acquired enables them to develop control plans to effectively manage exotic invasive plants.

Elisabeth Groeneveld received her bachelor’s degree in agricultural sciences from McGill University in 1999 and her master’s degree from Université Laval in 2001. In 2010 she joined Claude Lavoie’s laboratory as a research professional after having worked for the Quebec Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks from 2001 to 2010. Within the framework of the PHRAGMITES project, she assists Claude Lavoie, helps graduate students both in the field and in the laboratory and is in charge of the annual survey of the spread of Phragmites colonies along the highways.

Sam Karathanos earned a D.E.S.S.S. specializing in biodiversity management and a M.Sc. degree in biological sciences at the Université de Montréal (2013, 2015). As part of his master’s project, he studied common reed control methods in former agricultural fields in the Îles-de-Boucherville national park. Since then, he works as a researcher at the Institut de recherche en biologie végétale in the laboratory of professor Jacques Brisson, where he contributes to projects dealing with the integrated management of invasive plants, including the common reed. He also works at a workers cooperative, Cambium Phytotechnologies, where he is in charge of invasive vegetation management projects.