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The Great Whale River region on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay, Canada, encompasses the villages of Whapmagoostui (Cree First Nation) and Kuujjuarapik (Inuit) and surrounding areas. The principal field station of Centre d'etudes nordiques (CEN: Centre for Northern Studies) has operated at Whapmagoostui-Kuujjuarapik (W-K; 5 5° 1 5' n, 77° 45' w) since the 1970s, with diverse research projects on past and present environments. The climate at W-K is strongly influenced by the proximity of Hudson Bay, and the recent pronounced loss of sea ice in this sector of northern Canada has been accompanied by large increases in air temperature. Discontinuous or scattered permafrost occurs throughout the region and is degrading rapidly. The W-K region continues to experience particularly rapid isostatic uplift in response to the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Parabolic dunes occur along the coast and are strongly influenced by the plant cover. Paleoecological studies have documented the Holocene evolution of landscapes, including lakes, wetlands, and forests. The vegetation type is coastal forest tundra, with some 400 recorded species. Studies on certain insect groups provide a baseline for assessing future ecological change. The first signs of human occupation in the W-K region have been dated at 3800 BP . The arrival of the Hudson's Bay Company in the 18 th century marked the onset of continuous occupation. Rapid social, economic, and environmental change initiated in the mid-20 th century continues to this day.

This study aims at determining the dendrochronological indicators of a changing snow accumulation regime on an island of a recently created reservoir in northern Quebec. Reservoir Robert-Bourassa (LG-2) is a vast lake (2,835 km2) covered by ice from mid-December to mid-May. Snow drifts across the frozen lake until it is trapped by obstacles on islands and at reservoir margins. Pre-established trees on the islands are negatively affected by the local augmentation of snow accumulation. Changes in tree growth forms of a severely exposed forested island indicate that damage occurred soon after reservoir filling. At the island edges, the decay of trees increases the wind exposure of border trees, causing massive foliage loss, thus reducing tree growth. Beyond the edge, in the island interior, drifted snow accumulates due to the wind breaking effect of the shoreline trees. Since reservoir filling, incidents of stem breakage, shoot bending and tilting, and branch tearing have increased due to snow packi...

Do large hydroelectric reservoirs in northern Quebec have an influence on regional climate? In the absence of any climatic record covering the period prior to and after damming, the influence of a ...

The effects of floods on the radial growth of Populus tremula L. and Quercus robur L. in past decades were studied on a forested island in the Saone River (France). The study considered two stands ...