Lee Hrenchuk

Lee is a Senior Biologist with the IISD Experimental Lakes Area fish program. 

She has spent more than 20 field seasons at the site, starting as an undergraduate research assistant in 2005. Lee spent time in both the Canadian Arctic and Antarctica before returning to IISD-ELA to undertake graduate research studying mercury depuration in yellow perch as part of the whole-ecosystem project on mercury. She has been in her current role as biologist since 2010. 

With the fish crew, Lee works on all the long-term ecological research (LTER) lakes and most of the whole-ecosystem experiments, with the overall goal of understanding how various human-induced stressors impact fish health. Lee and her crew are trying to ‘get to know’ the fish who live in IISD-ELA lakes. Their monitoring methods focus predominantly on non-lethal sampling and mark-recapture, meaning that they can see changes in individual fish over time without removing them from the populations. Lee is a strong proponent of “the three Rs” of ethical animal-based research (replacement, reduction, and refinement) and she coordinates all IISD-ELA’s animal research permissions. She also oversees the acoustic telemetry systems that IISD-ELA uses to track fish movement. An avid home sewist, Lee also sews the nets we use to sample zooplankton in IISD-ELA lakes.

Lee feels strongly about cultivating community at the IISD-ELA field station and does so by organizing annual events and hosting workshops. She has also established a recreational reading library. Together with HydroLiM technician Paul Fafard, Lee has brought her focus on sustainability from her own life to camp in the form of bokashi composting and prolific (and expanding) gardens.