About

The Trans-Canadian Research and Environmental Education (TREE) project is a citizen science program connecting students to scientific research on trembling aspen trees, happening at the Mistik Askîwin Dendrochronology Laboratory (MAD Lab) and the Canadian Light Source (CLS). You can learn more about each organization on the Who We Are page or checking out the TREE Overview document for full details. 

From a scientific perspective with TREE, trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) are a species of tree that is abundant throughout most of Canada. They also tolerate, even thrive, with much higher levels of toxins in their soil than most other species of trees and can potentially be used to remediate contaminated sites. The MAD Lab, in collaboration with the CLS IDEAS Beamline Scientist, is interested in researching:

• what toxins are present in trembling aspens and how much these trees can tolerate and still thrive;

• if location or geography affect the accumulation of toxins;

• if these factors can be related to climactic or human events in the time span of the tree; and

• how to develop this new cutting-edge method of applying synchrotron techniques to dendrochronology research areas.

To validate the technique and conduct such research, a large number of samples with historical information from a large geographic area is required to investigate these questions.