Jeannine-Marie St-Jacques

Associate Professor, Geography, Planning and Environment

Research areas: North American freshwater availability, decadal-to-centennial water variability, regional hydrology and climate, impacts of global warming, water management for sustained droughts and floods, paleoclimatology, tree-rings, pollen, instrumental data, climate models.

Contact information

Email:

jeanninemarie.st-jacques@concordia.ca

Biography

Jeannine-Marie St-Jacques received a PhD in Biology, specialty in environmental science from Queen's University in 2007 and joined Concordia University's Department of Geography, Planning and Environment in 2017. She holds masters degrees in botany and mathematics. After her doctorate, she spent nine years as a Research Associate at the Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative, University of Regina. Her expertise is in paleoclimatology, climatology and hydrology. Her research is funded by NSERC. She collaboratives with a broad spectrum of colleagues and students, both in Quebec and abroad, who have expertise in the environmental sciences and studies, climatology, climate modelling, hydrology, botany, geology, statistics, aquatic sciences and Indigenous Studies.

Education

MA Mathematics, University of California, BerkeleyMSc Botany, University of TorontoPhD Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario

Research activities

North American freshwater availability, decadal-to-centennial water variability, regional hydrology and climate, impacts of global warming, water management for sustained droughts and floods, paleoclimatology, paleo-tempestology, paleo-floods, paleo-fires, paleo-vegetation histories, Pre-European vegetation of North America, tree-rings, pollen, instrumental data, climate models.

Teaching activities

Courses

GEOG 298/264 Programming for the Environmental Sciences

GEOG 378 The Climate System

GEOG 398 AA Special Topics in Geography: Environmental History of the Americas

GEOG 498/476 Indigenous and Environmental History of the Americas since 1492

GEOG 498 Directed Reading Course in Quebec Paleoenvironmental Science

HENV 610 Advanced Quantitative Research Methods

HENV 625 Directed Studies An Introduction to Scientific Programming Using Matlab

Present student supervision

Alexandre Pace (PhD student, January 2021-present), co-supervised with Prof. D. Arseneault, UQAR, “Tree-ring-based climate reconstructions of southern Québec”  

Fateme Salemi (PhD student, September 2021-present), co-supervised with Prof. M. Peros, Bishop’s University, "Paleo-floods in the Ottawa River basin"

Antoine Lachance (PhD candidate, January 2023-present), co-supervised with Prof. M. Peros, Bishop’s University, “Paleotempestology of the St-Laurent Estuary, Canada over the Holocene using peatbog cores”

Duane Noel (PhD candidate, September 2023-present), co-supervised with Pascale Biron, “Impact of atmospheric conditions and long-term climate variability on river mobility and flood mapping”

Charlotte Whyte (MSc candidate, May 2022-present), co-supervised with Prof. M. Peros, Bishop’s University, “A high-resolution paleoenvironmental reconstruction of L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland: Setting the stage for Indigenous and Norse occupation over the Common Era”

Ryan Collins (MSc candidate, September 2022-present), co-supervised with Prof. Les Cwynar, University of New Brunswick, “A pollen-based reconstruction of the Acadian forest of New Brunswick over the last millennium”

Megan Tremblay (MSc student, September 2024-present), “A high-resolution paleo-fire and forest reconstruction of L’Ascension, Québec”

Thomas Cheung (undergraduate honour’s student fall 2024-winter 2025 and summer 2024 undergraduate research student)

Past student supervision

Marc-Olivier Brault (post doctoral fellow June 2018-May 2019) “Hydroclimate projections for the Athabasca River Valley, Canada, using CORDEX”

Duane Noel (Research Assistant, October 2021-August 2022), “The Influence of the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation on Flood Frequency in eastern Canada” 

Antoine Lachance (MSc, July 2020-December 2022), co-supervised with Prof. M. Peros, Bishop’s University, “Paleotempestology in the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Québec” 

Duane Noel (MSc September 2019-July 2021) “The Influence of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation on discharge variability on the western North American margin” 

Alexandre Pace (M.Sc. May 2018-July 2020) “A 211-year river reconstruction of the Chic-Choc and McGerrigle Mountains of the Gaspésie from tree-rings”

Claire O'Neill-Sanger (M.Sc. May 2018-July 2020) "A 2300-year reconstruction of environmental change from Mont-Orford National Park, southeastern Québec, using high-resolution pollen, charcoal and X-ray fluorescence records”

Taline Kalindjian (M.Env. September 2017- May 2018) “Understanding the public’s perception towards nuclear wastes by assessing public participation in environmental assessment: a dual case study of radioactive waste management in Canada”

Kelly Kyle (undergraduate honour’s student fall 2023-winter 2024 and Geotop summer 2024 undergraduate research student), “The first late Holocene paleo-fire reconstruction from the Acadian forest of New Brunswick”

Leonardo Brustolon (Mitacs summer undergraduate student 2024), co-supervised with Guillaume Fortin, Université de Moncton, “Reconstruction of climatic conditions in northern New Brunswick using paleoclimatic data”

James Beaver (undergraduate summer research student 2023), “Oxbow lake coring in the Ottawa River Valley and tree-ring sampling on Mont Groulx”

George Drummond (undergraduate honour’s student fall 2022-winter 2023), “The first late Holocene paleo-fire reconstruction from L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland”

Megan Tremblay (undergraduate honour’s BSc student, August 2021-present), "Forest fire reconstruction for Albany Pine Bush, New York"

Sabrina Mruczek (undergraduate honour’s BSc student, September 2020-May 2021) “Paleo-flood records from the Eastern Townships, Québec”

Charlotte Whyte (undergraduate honour’s BSc student, August 2020-August 2021) “Forest fire reconstruction for Scotstown Bog, Québec for three millennia after Deglaciation”

Jessica Lapenna (undergraduate honour’s BSc student at Bishop’s University, September 2020-May 2021), co-supervised with Prof. M. Peros, “Common Era fire history of two peat lands on the Magdalen islands using micro charcoal analysis”

Kayden Schwartz (Undergraduate Honour's B.Sc.) "Fire frequencies at Mont Orford, Eastern Townships, Québec, over the last two millennia”

Kayden Schwartz (summer undergraduate research assistant 2020) Concordia Undergraduate Student Research Fellow

Sabrina Mruczek (undergraduate summer research student, June 2020-August 2021), co-supervised with Prof. M. Peros, Bishop’s University, “Paleo-flood records from the Eastern Townships, Québec”

Duane Noel (NSERC undergraduate research assistant May 2018-August 2018, and May 2019-August 2019 and Undergraduate Honour's B.Sc.) "Effects of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation on flood maxima and frequency on the North American West Coast"

Zachary Masson (undergraduate research assistant Fall 2018-winter 2019)

Alexandre Pace (CUSRA undergraduate research assistant May 2017-May 2018)

Anna Michetti (summer undergraduate research assistant 2017)

Publications

Refereed Journals

1. Tremblay*, M.D., J.C. Stager, J.M. St-Jacques, S. Murphy, M. Peros and B.S. Carl (2024). A 13,000 year history of vegetation and fire in a rare inland pine barrens: the Albany Pine Bush (Albany County, New York, USA). Plos-One, 19 (12), e0314101, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0314101. IF 3.7.

2. Amon, L., J.M. St-Jacques, K. Hargan, C.M. Cotter Whyte*, D. Sachse, O. Rach and M. C. Peros (2024). From deglaciation to the early Holocene in the northern Appalachians: A multi-proxy paleo-environmental record from Scotstown Bog, Québec, Canada. Accepted by Journal of Quaternary Science, December 2, 2024. DOI: 10.1002/jqs.3685. IF 2.77.

3. Brault*, M.O., J.M. St. Jacques, Y. Andreichuk*, S. Gurrapu*, A.V. Pace* and D.J. Sauchyn (in review). Projected 21st century increased water stress in the Athabasca River Basin: the center of Canada’s oil sands industry. Revision requested by Atmosphere-Ocean, July 12, 2024. IF 1.76.

4. Pace*, A.V., J.M. St-Jacques, D.D. Noel* and G. Fortin (in review). Filling the Atlantic coastal tree-ring reconstruction gap: A 195-year record of spring discharge of the Sainte Anne River, Gaspésie, Québec, Canada. Revision submitted to Journal of Hydrology Regional Studies, Aug. 7, 2024. IF 5.12.

5. Noel*, D.D., J.M. St-Jacques and S. Gurrapu* (in review). Assessing the impact of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation on floods in western North America. Journal of the American Water Resources Association. IF 2.00.

6. Gurrapu*, S., D.J. Sauchyn, K.R. Hodder and J.M. St-Jacques (2021). Assessment of the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index in relation to streamflow prediction in the watersheds of western Canada. Canadian Water Resources Journal, 46: 52-72, doi/10.1080/07011784.2021.1896390. IF 2.00.

7. O’Neill-Sanger*, C.E., J.M. St-Jacques, M. Peros and K.A. Schwartz* (2021). Reconstructed high-resolution forest dynamics and human impacts for the past 2300 years from the Parc national du Mont-Orford, southeastern Québec, Canada. Holocene, 31: 1019-1032, doi/10.1177/0959683621994642. IF 3.09.

8. Martin, J., G.T. Pederson, C.A. Woodhouse, E.R. Cook, G.J. McCabe, K.J. Anchukaitis, E.K. Wise, P. Erger, L. Dolan, M. McGuire, S. Gangopadhyay, K. Chase, J. Littell, S. Gray, S. St. George, J. Friedman, D. Sauchyn, J.M. St-Jacques, and J. King (2020). Increased drought intensity driven by warming in the United States’ largest river basin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117: 11328-11336, doi/10.1073/pnas.1916208117. IF 12.77.

9. Kaufman, D.S. et al. [and 105 others, including J.M. St-Jacques] (2020). A global database of Holocene paleo-temperature records. Nature Scientific Data 7:115. IF 8.5.

10. Brown, S.R., A. Baysinger, P.M. Brown, J.L. Cheek, J.M. Diez, C.M. Gentry, T.A. Grant III, J.M. St-Jacques, D.A. Jordan, M.L. Leef, M.K. Rourke, J.H. Speer, C.E. Spradlin, J.T. Stevens, J.R. Stone, B. Van Winkle, and N.E. Zeibig-Kichas (2020). Fire history across forest types in the southern Beartooth Mountains, Wyoming. Tree-Ring Research 76: 27-39, https://doi.org/10.3959/TRR2018-11. IF 1.47.

11. Martin, J., G.T. Pederson, C.A. Woodhouse, E.R. Cook, G.J. McCabe, E.K. Wise, P. Erger, L. Dolan, M. McGuire, S. Gangopadhyay, K. Chase, J. Littell, S. Gray, S. St. George, J. Friedman, D. Sauchyn, J.M. St-Jacques, and J. King (2019). 1200 years of Upper Missouri River streamflow reconstructed from tree rings. Quaternary Science Reviews 224: 105971, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105971. IF 4.46.

12. St-Jacques, J.M., A. Chipanshi, T. Hadwen, A. Friesen and D. Sauchyn (2019). Searching towards creating a sustainable integrated mesonet for the Canadian Prairie Provinces. Atmosphere-Ocean 57(5): 378-389, https://doi.org/10.1080/07055900.2019.1686340. IF 1.76.

13. Wise, E.K., C.A. Woodhouse, G.J. McCabe, G.T. Pederson and J.M. St-Jacques (2018). The hydroclimatology of the Missouri River Basin. Journal of Hydrometeorology 19: 161-182, doi: 10.1175/JHM-D-17-0155.1. IF 4.87.

14. Shuman, B.N., C. Routson, N. McKay, S. Fritz, D. Kaufman, M.E. Kirby, C. Nolan, G.T. Pederson and J.M. St-Jacques (2018). Placing the Common Era in a Holocene context: millennial-to-centennial patterns and trends in the hydroclimate of North America over the past 2000 years. Climate of the Past 14: 665-686, doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-665-2018. IF 4.30.

15. St-Jacques, J.M., I. Andreichuk*, E. Barrow and D.J. Sauchyn (2018). Projecting Canadian Prairie Runoff for 2041-2070 using North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP) Data. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 54: 660-675, doi: 10.1111/1752-1688.12642. IF 3.20.

16. PAGES2k Consortium** (2017). A global multiproxy database for temperature reconstructions of the Common Era. Nature Scientific Data 4: 170088, doi: 10.1038/sdata.2017.88. IF 8.5.

17. Kujawa, E.R., S. Goring, A. Dawson, R. Booth, R. Calcote, E. Grimm, S. Hotchkiss, S. Jackson, B. Lynch, J. McLachlan, J.M. St-Jacques, C. Umbanhowar Jr. and J. Williams (2016). The effect of land cover change on pollen-vegetation relationships in the American Midwest. Anthropocene 15: 60-71. IF 3.97.

18. Correa-Metrio, A., M. Velez Caicedo, J. Escobar, M. Lopez-Perez, J.M. St-Jacques, J.H. Curtis and J. Cosford. (2016) Mid-elevation ecosystems of Panama: future uncertainties in light of past global climatic variability. Journal of Quaternary Science 31: 731-740. IF 2.74.

19. Gurrapu*, S., J.M. St-Jacques, D.J. Sauchyn and K. Hodder. (2016) The influence of the PDO and ENSO on the annual flood frequency of southwestern Canadian prairie rivers. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 52: 1031-1045. IF 3.20.

20. Sauchyn, D., J.M. St-Jacques, E. Barrow, M.W. Nemeth, R.J. Macdonald, A.M. Sheer and D.P. Sheer. (2016) Adaptive water resource planning in the South Saskatchewan River Basin: use of scenarios of hydroclimatic variability and extremes. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 52: 222-240, doi: 10.1111/1752-1688.12378. IF 3.20.

21. Sauchyn, D.J., J-M. St-Jacques and B.H. Luckman. (2015) Long-term variability and reliability of the flow of the Athabasca River, Alberta, Canada. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112: 12621-12626, doi:10.1073/pnas.1509726112. IF 12.77.

22. Sauchyn, D.J., J.R. Vanstone, J.M. St. Jacques and R. Sauchyn. (2015) Dendrohydrology in western Canada and applications to water resource management. Journal of Hydrology, 529: 548-558, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.11.049. IF 6.71.

23. St. Jacques, J.M., B.F. Cumming, D.J. Sauchyn and J.P. Smol. (2015) The bias and signal attenuation present in conventional pollen-based climate reconstructions as assessed by early climate data from Minnesota. PLoS-ONE, 10(1): e0113806, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0113806. IF 3.58.

24. St. Jacques, J.M., Y.A. Huang*, Y. Zhao, S.L. Lapp* and D.J. Sauchyn. (2014) Detection and attribution of variability and trends in Canadian Prairie Provinces' streamflow. Canadian Water Resources Journal, 39(3): 270-284, doi:10.1080/07011784.2014.942575. IF 2.00.

25. St. Jacques, J.M., S.L. Lapp*, Y. Zhao, E. Barrow and D.J. Sauchyn. (2013) Twenty-first century northern Rocky Mountain river discharge scenarios under greenhouse forcing. Quaternary International, 310: 34-46, doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2012.06.023. IF 2.45.

26. Lapp*, S.L., J.M. St. Jacques, D.J. Sauchyn and J.R. Vanstone*. (2013) Forcing of hydroclimatic variability in the northwestern Great Plains since AD 1406. Quaternary International, 310: 47-61, doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2012.09.011. IF 2.45.

27. Lapp*, S.L., J.M. St. Jacques, E.M. Barrow and D.J. Sauchyn. (2012) GCM projections for the Pacific Decadal Oscillation under greenhouse forcing for the early 21st century. International Journal of Climatology, 32: 1423-1442, doi:10.1002/joc.2364. IF 3.65.

28. St. Jacques, J.M., D.J. Sauchyn and Y. Zhao. (2010) Northern Rocky Mountain streamflow records: global warming trends, human impacts or natural variability? Geophysical Research Letters, 37: L06407, doi:10.1029/2009GL042045. IF 5.58.

29. Rühland, K., J.M. St. Jacques, B.D. Beierle, S.F. Lamoureux, A.S. Dyke and J.P. Smol. (2009) Lateglacial and Holocene paleoenvironmental change recorded in lake sediments, Brock Plateau (Melville Hills), Northwest Territories, Canada. Holocene, 19: 1005-1016. IF 3.09.

30. St. Jacques, J.M., B.F. Cumming and J.P. Smol. (2009) A 900-yr diatom and chrysophyte record of spring mixing and summer stratification record from varved Lake Mina, west-central Minnesota, USA. Holocene, 19: 537-547. IF 3.09.

31. St. Jacques, J.M. and D.J. Sauchyn. (2009) Increasing winter baseflow discharge and mean annual streamflow from possible permafrost thawing in the Northwest Territories, Canada. Geophysical Research Letters, 36: L01401, doi:10.1029/2008GL035822. IF 5.58.

32. St. Jacques, J.M., B.F. Cumming and J.P. Smol. (2008) A 900-year pollen-inferred temperature and effective moisture record from varved Lake Mina, in west-central Minnesota, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews, 27: 781-796, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.01.005. IF 4.46.

33. St. Jacques, J.M., B.F. Cumming and J.P. Smol. (2008) A statistical varve verification method using seasonal differential pollen deposition. Journal of Paleolimnology, 40: 733-744, doi: 10.1007/s10933-008-9196-4. IF 2.32.

34. St. Jacques, J.M., B.F. Cumming and J.P. Smol. (2008) A pre-European settlement pollen-climate calibration set for Minnesota, USA: developing tools for palaeoclimatic reconstructions. Journal of Biogeography, 35: 306-324. IF 4.81.

35. St. Jacques, J.M., M.S.V. Douglas, N. Price, N. Drakulic and C.P. Gubala. (2005) The effect of fish introductions on the diatom and cladoceran communities of Lake Opeongo, Ontario, Canada. Hydrobiologia, 549: 99-113. IF 2.82.

36. St. Jacques, J.M., M.S.V. Douglas and J. McAndrews. (2000) The effect of the mid-Holocene hemlock die-off on diatom communities in Van Nostrand Lake, Ontario. Journal of Paleolimnology, 23: 385-397. IF 2.32.

37. Abu-Mostafa, Y. and J. St. Jacques. (1985) Information capacity of the Hopfield model. IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 31: 461-464. IF 2.98.

*publication with a student, **member of

Refereed Chapters

Sullivan, S.M.P., D.M.P. Manning, J.M. St-Jacques and R. Moncayo Estrada. (2018) Chapter 9. Multiple stressors in North America: perspectives for the New World, In "Multiple Stressors in River Ecosystems. Status, Impacts, and Prospects for the Future", Sergi Sabater, Arturo Elosegi, Ralf Ludwig (editors), Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands, (refereed chapter).

Sauchyn, D.J., B. Bonsal, S. Kienzle, J.M. St. Jacques, J. Vanstone* and E. Wheaton. (2015) Adaptation according to mode of climate variability: a case study from Canada’s Western Interior, In “Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation”, Walter Leal Filho (editor), International Climate Change Information Programme (ICCIP) and Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 1353-1379, doi 10.1007/978-3-642-40455-9_93-1 (refereed chapter).

Technical Reports

Alberta WaterSMART and Alberta Innovates – Energy and Environment Solutions. (2016) Climate Vulnerability and Sustainable Water Management in the South Saskatchewan River Basin Project Final Report: Adaptation for Sustainable Water Management in the SSRB. 144 pages. Last accessed January 16, 2016 from http://www.ai-ees.ca/.
St-Jacques,J.-M. and D.J. Sauchyn. (2015) Interim Report on Modeling Red Deer River Basin Runoff using NARCCAP Data. Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative Technical Report prepared for Alberta WaterSMART, Hydrologics, Inc. and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), October 2015. 19 pages.
Sabrina R. Brown*, Justin L. Cheek, Thomas A. Grant III, Jeannine-Marie St. Jacques, David A. Jordan, Carrie E. Spradlin, Mary K. Rourke, Henri D. Grissino-Mayer and Peter M. Brown. (2015) Fire History in the Beartooth Mountains, Wyoming. In: Speer, J.H. (ed.) Final report of the 25^th Annual North American Dendroecological Fieldweek, submitted to the National Science Foundation USA, May 2015. Pages 45-58.
Alberta WaterSMART and Alberta Innovates- Energy and Environment Solutions. (2014) Phase III: Oldman and South Saskatchewan (OSSK) River Basins Summary Report. Part of the South Saskatchewan River Basin Adaptation to Climate Variability Project. 113 pages. Last accessed December 31, 2014 from http://www.albertawater.com/index.php/work/research-projects/ssrb-adaption.
Alberta WaterSMART and Alberta Innovates - Energy and Environment Solutions. (2013) Climate Variability and Change in the Bow River Basin: Final Report. Part of the South Saskatchewan River Basin Adaptation to Climate Variability Project. 39 pages. Last accessed December 31, 2014 from http://www.albertawater.com/index.php/work/research-projects/ssrb-adaption.
St.Jacques, J.M. and D.J. Sauchyn. Climate Data Acquired from a Private Weather Provider: Final Report on the Daily, Monthly, Seasonal and Hourly Data. Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative Technical Report prepared for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Science and Technology Branch, June 30, 2013, 81 pages.
St.Jacques, J.M. and D.J. Sauchyn. Climate Data Acquired from a Private Weather Provider: Preliminary Report on the Daily Data. Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative Technical Report prepared for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Science and Technology Branch, March 28, 2013, 94 pages.