MANAGING HUMAN-DOMINATED LANDSCAPES FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
How does landscape structure affect the provision of multiple ecosystem services? The composition and configuration of landscapes have important consequences for ecosystem services. Loss and fragmentation of natural habitat can reduce ecosystem functioning, biodiversity, and the ability of natural capital to supply services to people. Conversely, increasing the interspersion of people and ecosystems could increase human-environment interactions and the flow of nature's benefits to people. We work in natural, agricultural, and urban landscapes to understand how society can structure human-dominated landscapes to balance these counteracting processes and optimize multiple ecosystem services. Using empirical fieldwork, conceptual framework, spatial modelling, and remote sensing/GIS techniques, we hope to improve decisions, actions, and policies at landscape scales for multiple ecosystem services. |
INFORMING CONSERVATION DECISION-MAKING WITH ECOSYSTEM SERVICE DATA
How can we create landscapes that conserve biodiversity but also safeguard the benefits that natural areas provide to people? To help inform decision-making that simultaneously works for nature and people, group research has focused on providing applied information that can directly inform decision-making and management actions. We have worked with colleagues across Canada to map three key ecosystem services (carbon storage, freshwater supply, and nature-based recreation) and their hotspots across Canada. This knowledge is key to Canada meeting its 30by30 conservation target and gained considerable media coverage, including from the The Globe & Mail, The Narwhal, and Quirks & Quarks on CBC Radio. It has also lead to current collaboration with conservation organizations such as the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative and the Nature Conservancy of Canada. More recently we collaborated with researchers at Natural Resources Canada to investigate opportunities to develop critical mineral deposits in Canada (e.g,. those needed for batteries and electrification) and conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services. Further work includes a project with The Natural Capital Project at Stanford University to review current ecosystem service research and provide key recommendations around how to make this research more relevant to policy-makers.
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URBAN ECOLOGY & SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
How do patterns or urban land use and human actions affect ecosystem functioning, biodiversity, and ecosystem services? Global expansion of urban areas and populations has highlighted the critical need to manage urban ecosystems for biodiversity and human well-being. We are currently collaborating with Kai Chan at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability on two projects across Metro Vancouver. M.Sc. student Aaron Aguirre, funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada, is investigating how urban parks and landscape structure influence urban bat populations and activity. This project uses acoustic monitoring techniques to record bat calls and has a focus on endangered bat species like Little Brown Myotis (Myotis lucifugus). Ph.D. student Dan Forrest is exploring how human actions in urban areas, such as the presence of food waste and expansion of turf lawns, affect the presence of, and interactions between, bird species. Past projects include working with the City of Maple Ridge to understand how forest structure impacts the supply of multiple ecosystem services and investigating how urban landscape structure affects the vertical structure of urban forests and carbon storage in Brisbane, Australia. |
CREATING MULTI-FUNCTIONAL AND BIODIVERSE AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES
How can we manage agricultural systems to advance biodiversity conservation and human wellbeing while also ensuring farmer livelihoods? We have numerous ways to produce our food, including organic production, integrated pest management techniques, and diversifying our production systems. However understanding how and where to implement these methods to maintain or maximize biodiversity, multiple ecosystem services, and maintain food production is lacking. Current work seeks to understand patterns and drivers of agricultural ecosystem services and biodiversity levels across different scales of space and time to determine specific management actions can produce multi-functional working landscapes. One key project is the Long-Term Biodiversity Monitoring Monitoring Program at the UBC Farm. This program is engaged in assessing and monitoring biodiversity (including bumble bees, earthworms, plants, weeds, terrestrial mammals, bats, and acoustic soundscapes) at the farm over the long-term. A key part of this project is developing and testing simple and easily applied methods to monitor agricultural biodiversity, including using automated techniques such as camera traps and acoustic recorders as well as citizen science initiatives such as iNaturalist and Bumble Bee Watch. |