Isabelle Laurion

Areas of expertise

Aquatic ecology

Full Professor
Scientific head of Aquatic Bio-optics and Biogeochemistry Laboratory

Phone
418-654-2694

Email
isabelle.laurion@inrs.ca

Eau Terre Environnement Research Centre

490 de la Couronne Street
Québec City, Quebec G1K 9A9
CANADA

See the research centre

Research interests

Professor Laurion is particularly interested in the effects of climate change on mixing dynamics and water transparency in lakes and in their interaction with the microbial food chain. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) has a strong effect on water transparency and also influences mixing dynamics in lakes. Professor Laurion studies DOM bio- and photodegradation processes and how these processes affect greenhouse gas production and the carbon cycle.

Her current work focuses on the impact of permafrost thawing on the carbon cycle in northern environments. Permafrost thawing creates ponds where biological activity and solar radiation can cause the carbon stored for millennia in the tundra to be released into the atmosphere in the form of CO₂ and CH₄. This transfer could represent a positive climate feedback mechanism, as these systems are natural carbon reactors. Professor Laurion also studies the greenhouse gas emissions from small eutrophying lakes and sewage treatment ponds.

She is also interested in the development of optical tools for the detection of algal and cyanobacterial blooms in lakes in Quebec, including hyperspectral detection (visible and near IR), which can be applied to remote sensing with satellites and drones. This work is done in close collaboration with Professor Karem Chokmani’s team.

Publications

Folhas, Diogo, Couture, Raoul-Marie, Laurion, Isabelle, Gonçalo, Vieira & Canário, João (2025). Natural organic matter dynamics in permafrost peatlands: Critical overview of recent findings and characterization tools. TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 184: art. 118153.
DOI: 10.1016/j.trac.2025.118153

Dubos, Véronique, St-Hilaire, André, Laurion, Isabelle & Bergeron, Normand É. (2024). Characterization of anadromous Arctic char winter habitat and egg incubation areas in collaboration with Inuit fishers. Arctic Science / Science arctique, 10 (1): 215-224.
DOI: 10.1139/AS-2023-0008

Hosseini-Sadabadi, S.A., Rousseau, A.N., Laurion, I., Behmel, S., Sadeghian, A., Foulon, E., Wauthy, M. & Cantin A-M (2024). Spatiotemporal insights of phytoplankton dynamics in a northern, rural-urban lake using a 3D water quality model. Journal of Environmental Management, 370: art. 122687.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.122687

Preskienis, Vilmantas, Fortier, Daniel, Douglas, Peter M. J., Rautio, Milla & Laurion, Isabelle (2024). Permafrost degradation and soil erosion as drivers of greenhouse gas emissions from tundra ponds. Environmental Research Letters, 19 (1): Art. 014072.
DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ad1433

Saulnier-Talbot, Émilie, Duchesne, Éliane, Antoniades, Dermot, Arseneault, Dominique, Barnard, Christine, Berteaux, Dominique, Bhiry, Najat, Bouchard, Frédéric, Boudreau, Stéphane, Cazelles, Kevin, Comte, Jérôme, Corbeil-Robitaille, Madeline-Zoé, Côté, Steeve D., Couture, Raoul-Marie, de LaFontaine, Guillaume, Dominé, Florent, Fauteux, Dominique, Fortier, Daniel, Garneau, Michelle, Gauthier, Gilles, Gravel, Dominique, Laurion, Isabelle, Lavoie, Martin, Lecomte, Nicolas, Legagneux, Pierre, Lévesque, Esther, Naud, Marie-José, Paquette, Michel, Payette, Serge, Pienitz, Reinhard, Rautio, Milla, Roy, Alexandre, Royer, Alain, Simard, Martin, Vincent, Warwick F. et Bêty, Joël (2024). Author correction: Expert elicitation of state shifts and divergent sensitivities to climate warming across northern ecosystems. Communications Earth & Environment, 5 (1) : art. 790.
DOI : 10.1038/s43247-024-01938-y

Saulnier-Talbot, Émilie, Duchesne, Eliane, Antoniades, Dermot, Arseneault, Dominique, Barnard, Christine, Berteaux, Dominique, Bhiry, Najat, Boudreau, Stéphane, Cazelles, Kevin, Comte, Jérôme, Corbeil-Robitaille, Madeline-Zoé, Côté, Steeve, Couture, Raoul-Marie, de la Fontaine, Guillaume, Dominé, Florent, Fauteux, Dominique, Fortier, Daniel, Garneau, Michelle, Gauthier, Gilles, Gravel, Dominique, Laurion, Isabelle, Lavoie, Martin, Lecomte, Nicolas, Legagneux, Pierre, Lévesque, Esther, Naud, Marie-José, Paquette, Michel, Payette, Serge, Pienitz, Reinhard, Rautio, Milla, Roy, Alexandre, Royer, Alain, Simard, Martin, Vincent, Warwick F. &Bety, Joël (2024). Expert elicitation of state shifts and divergent sensitivities to climate warming across northern ecosystems. Communications Earth & Environment, 5 (1) : art. 624.
DOI : 10.1038/s43247-024-01791-z

Saros, Jasmine E., Arp, Christopher D., Bouchard, Frédéric, Comte, Jérôme, Couture, Raoul-Marie, Dean Joshua F., Lafrenière, Melissa, MacIntyre, Sally, McGowan, Suzanne, Rautio, Milla, Prater, Clay, Tank, Suzanne E., Walvoord, Michelle A., Wickland, Kimberly P., Antoniades, Dermot, Ayala-Borda, Paola, Canário, João, Drake, Travis W., Folhas, Diogo, Hazuková, Václava, Kivilä, Henriikka, Klanten, Yohanna, Lamoureux, Scott, Laurion, Isabelle, Pilla, Rachel M., Vonk, Jorien E., Zolkos, Scott & Vincent, Warwick F. (2023). Sentinel responses of Arctic freshwater systems to climate: linkages, evidence, and a roadmap for future research. Arctic Science / Science arctique, 9 (2): 356-392.
DOI: 10.1139/AS-2022-0021

Saulnier-Talbot, Émilie, Duchesne, Eliane, Antoniades, Dermot, Arseneault, Dominique, Barnard, Christine, Berteaux, Dominique, Bhiry, Najat, Boudreau, Stéphane, Cazelles, Kevin, Comte, Jérôme, Corbeil-Robitaille, Madeline-Zoé, Côté, Steeve, Couture, Raoul-Marie, de la Fontaine, Guillaume, Dominé, Florent, Fauteux, Dominique, Fortier, Daniel, Garneau, Michelle, Gauthier, Gilles, Gravel, Dominique, Laurion, Isabelle, Lavoie, Martin, Lecomte, Nicolas, Legagneux, Pierre, Lévesque, Esther, Naud, Marie-José, Paquette, Michel, Payette, Serge, Pienitz, Reinhard, Rautio, Milla, Roy, Alexandre, Royer, Alain, Simard, Martin, Vincent, Warwick F. & Bety, Joël (2023). State shifts and divergent sensitivities to climate warming across northern ecosystems. Nature Portfolio, ONLINE.
DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3026284/v1

Coulombe, Stéphanie, Fortier, Daniel, Bouchard, Frédéric, Paquette, Michel, Charbonneau, Simon, Lacelle, Denis, Laurion, Isabelle & Pienitz, Reinhard (2022). Contrasted geomorphological and limnological properties of thermokarst lakes formed in buried glacier ice and ice-wedge polygon terrain. The Cryosphere, 16 (7): 2837-2857.
DOI: 10.5194/tc-16-2837-2022

Mazoyer, Flora, Laurion, Isabelle & Rautio, Milla (2022). The dominant role of sunlight in degrading winter dissolved organic matter from a thermokarst lake in a subarctic peatland. Biogeosciences, 19 (17): 3959-3977.
DOI: 10.5194/bg-19-3959-2022

Ratté-Fortin, Claudie, Chokmani, Karem, El Alem, Anas & Laurion, Isabelle (2022). A regional model to predict the occurrence of natural events: Application to phytoplankton blooms in continental waterbodies. Ecological Modelling, 473: Art. 110137.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2022.110137

Bartosiewicz, Maciej, Maranger, Roxanne, Przytulska, Anna & Laurion, Isabelle (2021). Effects of phytoplankton blooms on fluxes and emissions of greenhouse gases in a eutrophic lake. Water Research, 196: Art. 116985.
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2021.116985

Bartosiewicz, Maciej, Coggins, Liah X., Glaz, Patricia, Cortes, Alicia, Bourget, Sébastien, Reichwaldt, Elke S., MacIntyre, Sally, Ghadouani, Anas & Laurion, Isabelle (2021). Integrated approach towards quantifying carbon dioxide and methane release from waste stabilization ponds. Water Research, 202: Art. 117389.
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2021.117389

Bégin, Paschale Noël, Tanabe, Yukiko, Rautio, Milla, Wauthy, Maxime, Laurion, Isabelle, Uchida, Madaki, Culley, Alexander I. & Vincent, Warwick F. (2021). Water column gradients beneath the summer ice of a High Arctic freshwater lake as indicators of sensitivity to climate change. Scientific Reports, 11 (1): Art. 2868.
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-82234-z

Hughes-Allen, Lara, Bouchard, Frédéric, Laurion, Isabelle, Séjourné, Antoine, Marlin, Christelle, Hatté, Christine, Costard, François, Fedorov, Alexander & Desyatkin, Alexey (2021). Seasonal patterns in greenhouse gas emissions from thermokarst lakes in Central Yakutia (Eastern Siberia). Limnology and Oceanography, 66 (S1): S98-S116.
DOI: 10.1002/lno.11665

Laurion, Isabelle, Massicotte, Philippe, Mazoyer, Flora, Negandhi, Karita & Mladenov, Nathalie (2021). Weak mineralization despite strong processing of dissolved organic matter in Eastern Arctic tundra ponds. Limnology and Oceanography, 66 (S1): S47-S63.
DOI: 10.1002/lno.11634

Preskienis, Vilmantas, Laurion, Isabelle, Bouchard, Frédéric, Douglas, Peter M. J., Billet, Michael F., Fortier, Daniel & Xu, Xiaomei (2021). Seasonal patterns in greenhouse gas emissions from lakes and ponds in a High Arctic polygonal landscape. Limnology and Oceanography, 66 (S1): S117-S141.
DOI: 10.1002/lno.11660

Bouchard, Frédéric; Fortin, Daniel; Paquette, Michel; Boucher, Vincent; Pienitz, Reinhard & Laurion, Isabelle (2020). Thermokarst lake inception and development in syngenetic ice-wedge polygon terrain during a cooling climatic trend, Bylot Island (Nunavut), eastern Canadian Arctic. Cryosphere, 14 (8): 2607-2627.
DOI: 10.5194/tc-14-2607-2020

Narancic, Biljana; Laurion, Isabelle; Wolff, Brent B.; Behmel, Sonja & Rousseau, Alain N. (2020). Seasonal contributions of water and pollutants to Lake St. Charles, a drinking water reservoir. Can. Water Resour. J. / Rev. Can. Ressour. Hydr., 45 (2): 125-143.
DOI: 10.1080/07011784.2019.1706641

Ratté-Fortin, Claudie; Chokmani, Karem & Laurion, Isabelle (2020). Spatiotemporal variability in phytoplankton bloom phenology in Eastern Canadian Lakes related to physiographic, morphologic, and climatic drivers. Environments, 7 (10): Art. 77.
DOI: 10.3390/environments7100077

Tank, Suzanne E.; Vonk, Jorien E.; Walvoord, Michelle A.; McClelland, James W.; Laurion, Isabelle & Abbott, Benjamin W. (2020). Landscape matters: Predicting the biogeochemical effects of permafrost thaw on aquatic networks with a state factor approach. Permafrost Periglac. Process., 31 (3): 358-370.
DOI: 10.1002/ppp.2057

Bartosiewicz, Maciej; Przytulska, Anna; Deshpande, Bethany N.; Antoniades, Dermot; Cortes, Alicia; MacIntyre, Sally; Lehmann, Moritz F. & Laurion, Isabelle (2019). Effects of climate change and episodic heat events on cyanobacteria in a eutrophic polymictic lake. Sci. Total Environ., 693: Art. 133414.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.07.220

Bartosiewicz, Maciej; Przytulska, Anna; Lapierre, Jean-François; Laurion, Isabelle; Lehmann, Moritz F. & Maranger, Roxanne (2019). Hot tops, cold bottoms: Synergistic climate warming and shielding effects increase carbon burial in lakes. Limnol. Oceanogr. Letters, 4 (5): 132-144.
DOI: 10.1002/lol2.10117

El Alem, Anas; Chokmani, Karem; Laurion, Isabelle; El Adlouni, Salah-Eddine; Raymond, Sébastien & Ratté-Fortin, Claudie (2019). Ensemble-based systems to monitor algal bloom with remote sensing. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 57 (10): 7955-7971.
DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2019.2917636

Huot, Yannick; Brown, Catherine A.; Potvin, Geneviève; Antoniades, Dermot; Baulch, Helen M.; Beisner, Beatrix E.; Bélanger, Simon; Brazeau, Stéphanie; Cabana, Hubert; Cardille, Jeffrey A.; Del Gregorio, Paul A.; Gregory-Eaves, Irene; Fortin, Marie-Josée; Lang, Andrew S.; Laurion, Isabelle; Maranger, Roxanne; Prairie, Yves T.; Rusak, James A.; Segura, Pedro A.; Siron, Robert; Smol, John P.; Vinebrooke, Rolf D. & Walsh, David A. (2019). The NSERC Canadian Lake Pulse Network: A national assessment of lake health providing science for water management in a changing climate. Sci. Total Environ., 695: Art. 133668.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133668

Matveev, Alex; Laurion, Isabelle & Vincent, Warwick F. (2019). Winter accumulation of methane and its variable timing of release from thermokarst lakes in subarctic peatlands. J. Geophys. Res. – Biogeosci., 124 (11): 3521-3535.
DOI: 10.1029/2019JG005078