Pat Chow-Fraser

Pat is a professor in the Department of Biology at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada and one of the Faculty of Science Research Chairs. She is the primary investigator and supervisor of the Wetland Ecosystems Research Lab where she conducts research and teaches ecology, conservation, and restoration of aquatic ecosystems, primarily in the coastal zone of the Laurentian Great Lakes. A primary goal of her research is to develop simple tools to monitor impacts of human activities on the long-term health of wetlands and streams throughout the Great Lakes. Her aim is to increase the capacity for citizen science and to fully engage and empower students in outreach opportunities.

Danielle (Dani) Sylvia Montocchio

Dani is a PhD graduate in the Department of Biology at McMaster University, Canada. She researched the effects of water-level changes due to climate change on the ecology of Great Lakes coastal wetlands. She is the primary researcher and manager for Where's Walleye.

Jessica (Jess) Stevens

Jess is Master’s student in the Department of Biology at McMaster University. She is continuing Dani's research into the effects of water-level changes due to climate change on the fish community structure in Georgian Bay coastal wetlands.

Ruth Bilyk

Ruth is a biology undergraduate at McMaster University. She has worked with fish closely and studied their behaviour and cognition through various research projects. She is an avid fish enthusiast and a co-moderator for Where's Walleye.

Our Lab

The Wetland Ecosystem Research Lab of McMaster University consists of a collaborative team of undergraduate and graduate students working to understand Ontario's wetlands, and the impacts we as people have on them. People come and go, but all of their assistance with this project is truly appreciated, great or small.

Specific thanks must go to Gerard Montocchio (Dani's dad), for his continued behind-the-scenes support of this project, from prototyping camera devices, to being an Alpha-tester on Zooniverse (and single-handedly trying to classify all our data)!

Land Acknowledgment and Miigwech

We would like to acknowledge that some of our research has been conducted on or around the traditional lands of Canada's aboriginal peoples, specifically with the invaluable help from tribe members of the Henvey Inlet First Nations Reserve. A majority of the land around Georgian Bay are the traditional territories of the Ojibway, Anishinabewaki (ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ) and Mississauga peoples, and a part of the Robinson-Huron Treaty 61 (1850) and the Williams Treaty (1923).