Research Groups and Projects
Climate Change and Biodiversity
Fred Bunnell, founder and former director of CACR, and his colleagues continued their work on effects of climate change on biodiversity, primarily focused on wetlands. They also are assisting the BC Ministry of Environment and the forest industry with application of the recently adapted provincial conservation framework that was developed by Fred and co-workers, and with developing more cost-effective approaches to monitoring biodiversity.
Environmentalism in Canada
David Tindall and his research team recently conducted nation-wide social surveys of the general public, and environmental organization members, regarding attitudes about protected areas and parks, as well as other environmental issues. This is part of a larger project examining environmentalism in Canada.
Conservation and Development in Africa
Rob Kozak, Joleen Timko, and others have started the AFRICAD initiative which aims to pursue conservation-based approaches that address poverty alleviation and local livelihood development in forested areas of significant biodiversity value in sub-Saharan Africa.
Conservation Policy
Paul Wood has been continuing his work on the ethics and social acceptability of using genomic tools in reforestation, and has started on a separate project to examine the ethics of using genomic tools in salmon management. He and his students have also been working on stakeholder involvement in groundfish management, professional ethics, and how best to implement the Supreme Court’s requirements for consultation and accommodation of First Nations’ interests.
Remote Sensing, Biodiversity and Terrestrial Ecosystem Mapping
Nicholas Coops is leading projects applying remote sensing to forest growth and biodiversity issues, including modelling mountain pine beetle damage and mapping biodiversity using satellite data. Of recent interest is the integration of hyperspectral remote sensing and LIDAR data to produce a TEM-based classification of Gulf Islands National Park Reserve in BC. The Gergel Lab explored the utility of imagery from the QuickBird high-spatial resolution satellite to aid TEM in coastal BC, and explored the role of TEM misclassification error in influencing estimates of ecosystem productivity.
Wildlife Biodiversity after the Bark Beetle Epidemic
Since 1995, Kathy Martin and students have studied wildlife ecology in the interior mixed forests that support high biodiversity. Over 40% of wildlife species show significant population trends in relation to forest health with the largest change in resident cavity nesters. Current students will study the impacts on cavity nesters in post-beetle epidemic forests.
Belowground Ecosystem Group’s Soil Biodiversity Research
Sue Grayston, Cindy Prescott, Suzanne Simard, Chris Chanway and students are exploring the links between the composition and diversity of soil microbial communities and key processes in the cycling of carbon and nutrients in forest ecosystems. Current projects include assessing variable retention harvesting as a tool to maintain soil functions and productivity in coastal forests, fertilizing forests as a means of increasing sequestration of carbon in soil, recreating a functioning forest soil in reclaimed oil sands sites in Alberta, using stable isotope probing to identify keystone species in soil food webs.
Stream and Riparian Research Laboratory
John Richardson continues to lead collaborators on the ecology and management of riparian-stream ecosystems, including the influence of reserve strips, ecology of invertebrates and amphibians, and resource limitation in streams.
Centre for Forest Conservation Genetics
The Centre’s mandate is to study population and ecological genetic structure of indigenous forest tree species, assess the current degree of genetic conservation in both nature reserves and collections, and evaluate genetic diversity in populations of forest trees to meet current and future environmental challenges. The CFCG is also the home of the climate model ClimateBC, and is undertaking a variety of research to predict the fate of BC’s native tree populations and ecological zones in a rapidly changing climate.
Salmon Migration and Fish/Forestry Research
Scott Hinch and colleagues are using physiological biopsy telemetry and lab experiments to study salmon migration behaviour and swim performance, and reveal limitations to ocean and river survival. Long-term field experiments in both southern coastal and northern interior regions of BC are being used to study the impacts of riparian forest practices on fish and habitat in small streams, and the processes of recovery.
Sustainable Forest Management Research Laboratory
Led by John Innes, this lab is an interdisciplinary research unit focusing on sustainable forest management through an understanding of both human and natural systems. Research projects in Canada, China, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and South Africa focus on forest certification, criteria and indicators, effectiveness monitoring, climate change, cumulative impact assessment, geomorphologic processes, biodiversity and social and cultural indicators for resource-dependent and First Nation communities.
The Genetic Data Centre
Directed by Carol Ritland, this group conducts state-of-the art DNA genotyping and sequencing, including projects on coat colour and population structure of Kermode bears, killer whales on the west coast, Alaskan carnivores, western tent caterpillars and social spiders.