Philippe Riel wins the CRMR Summer 2024 Support Scholarship, valued at $5,000!
Congratulations to Philippe Riel, recipient of the Renewable Materials Research Centre (CRMR) Summer 2024 Scholarship, valued at $5,000. Philippe is pursuing a master’s degree in forestry sciences, with a thesis under the supervision of Alexis Achim and Véronic Landry.
This support scholarship aims to promote university studies and research aligned with the CRMR’s research areas by providing financial assistance to graduate student at the end of his or her program, without any other funding sources. The committee selected Philippe’s application based on his academic performance, personal and scientific achievements, and the quality and progress of his research project.
Congratulations to Philippe, and a sincere thank to the committee for their support throughout the process!
Project title and abstract: Wood properties as indicators of past droughts; the case of the cellulose microfibril angle.
Climate change is affecting precipitation patterns and the frequency and intensity of droughts in the Canadian boreal forest. Black spruce, a dominant species in this forest, is of considerable economic and ecological value. However, the impact of ongoing climate change on its growth and wood quality remains largely unknown. The aim of this study was therefore to assess the effect of drought on the angle of cellulose microfibrils in black spruce wood, a property closely linked to the material’s rigidity. Samples were taken from two moss spruce sites, one in Quebec and the other in Ontario. The angle of microfibrils in the S2 sublayer of the cell wall was measured using Raman spectroscopy. No significant difference was observed between the average microfibril angle for initial and final wood. In terms of microfibril angles for codominant trees, there was a significant interaction between initial wood width and drought intensity expressed in degree days.
Our results suggest that under conditions of water stress, black spruce can produce not only narrow initial wood, but also wide initial wood with a low microfibril angle. It seems that as climate change intensifies, black spruce wood in the Canadian forest could maintain relatively high growth by decreasing the microfibril angle in the early wood.