I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences at McGill University (Montreal, Canada) with a research expertise in Arctic marine ecology and sustainability science. In my doctoral research, I study food web dynamics and ecosystem services (the benefits humans obtain from ecosystems, such as food) in the marine Arctic and their importance for northern communities. I also look at how climate change and other anthropogenic pressures, such as marine development, are affecting food webs and the ecosystem services they provide. My research is interdisciplinary and uses mixed methods combining biological samplings and consultations with holders of Indigenous and local knowledge.
I can be qualified as a polar enthusiast: I am fascinated by everything that relates to the Poles and I love sharing my passion with the public. I have worked in polar sciences for a decade, including trips onboard the research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen across the Canadian Arcticand community consultations in Nunavut. I hold a BSc (Biology) and MSc (Arctic marine ecology) from Université Laval (Quebec City, Canada). My Master’s research was on the northward expansion of boreal fish species into the Arctic. Before starting my Ph.D., I worked as a research professional in Antarctica (scientific base Dumont d’Urville; French Polar Institute IPEV), and in the Arctic (research icebreaker Amundsen; ArcticNet).
I am highly active in science communication and outreach both in the North and the South of Canada, in English and in French. I organize workshops and conferences, and I write articles for different media outlets. Through my involvement in Canada’s Committee of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS Canada; board member since 2015, chair in 2017-18), I have been contributing to networking efforts within the polar science community, promoting opportunities for early career researchers as well as the importance of education and outreach as part of polar research. I am also very interested in how scientists can best collaborate with northern Indigenous communities as part of research. I co-organize a student-led workshop for early-career researchers on this topic (called the Intercultural Indigenous Workshop, IIW).
Twitter: @Marianne_Fa
Website: http://mariannefalardeau.wixsite.com/polar
List of articles:
1) Work in sustainability science:
Falardeau M, Raudsepp-Hearne C, Bennett EM (2018) A novel approach for co-producing positive scenarios that explore agency: Case study from the Canadian Arctic. Sustainability Science. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0620-z
2) Work on Arctic marine biodiversity:
Fuller S and Falardeau M (2018) Bottom of the food web. In Canada’s Arctic Marine Atlas, Oceans North Conservation Society, World Wildlife Fund Canada, and Ducks Unlimited Canada, Ottawa, ON, pp. 38-44. https://oceansnorth.org/en/canada-arctic-marine-atlas/
3) Work on the northward expansion of boreal fish species:
Falardeau M, Bouchard C, Robert D, Fortier L (2017) First records of Pacific sand lance (Ammodytes hexapterus) in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Polar Biology. 40: 2291. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-017-2141-0
Falardeau M, Bouchard C, Robert D, Fortier L (2017) A Pacific fish species, the Pacific sand lance, detected in the western and central Canadian Arctic. ArcticNet Integrated Regional Impact Study of the western and central Canadian Arctic (IRIS 1) Newsletter, p. 11. http://www.arcticnet.ulaval.ca/pdf/media/IRIS-1-newsletter-Dec-2017.pdf
Women in the Arctic and Antarctic 