The Chair, its partners and collaborators from the Université de Sherbrooke and the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, have set up a vast urban forest observatory using permanent plots located in four major Quebec cities (Montreal, Sherbrooke, Quebec City and Chicoutimi) along gradients of urbanization and human development.

Initially set up to monitor pollens, we are now measuring many variables and organisms, from microorganisms (microbiota) linked to tree leaves, roots and soils, to insects and ambient air. We are also interested in trophic relationships, such as between predators like cats and birds and the defoliation of trees by insect herbivory. Human health being at the heart of our concerns, we try to link these variables to health, such as allergies. Finally of course, these are also urban forest monitoring plots, and we have identified and measured all the trees, public and private, around the plots.

The system was set up in 2021 with the installation of 25 pollen traps spread across the whole of Montreal. In 2022, a vast forest inventory was carried out within a 100-meter radius of the traps. The goal for 2023? To carry out the inventory within a 200-metre radius!