This assessment has been requested by the Minister of Canadian Heritage on behalf of the Canadian Museum of Nature, and is supported by other members of the Federal Biodiversity Information Partnership. The charge to the Panel focuses specifically on the state of taxonomic and biosystematics research in Canada — research that discovers, distinguishes, identifies and classifies species of organisms. These areas of research support effective approaches to biodiversity conservation, the maintenance of ecosystem services and our ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

As part of the assessment the Panel is conducting a web-based survey of taxonomic research and expertise in Canada.

If you have taxonomic expertise (broadly defined, irrespective of taxon), please fill out the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NT2PLN2. All responses will be treated in confidence. More...

With the creation of fourteen new proposed protected areas, located for the most part in the North and covering a total area of 18,043 km2, and the expansion of George river’s protected area, the network now counts close to 2,500 protected areas that meet the highest standards set by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Establishing this network is tangible evidence of Québec’s will to protect the biodiversity associated with its natural environments.

On March 29, 2009, Quebec committed itself to protect 12% of its territory by 2015.

The list of new protected areas is appended and may also be consulted on the web site of the Ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs: www.mddep.gouv.qc.ca.

Summary report: Québec reaches its target of 8.12 % of protected areas on its territory.

Bill Fuller was a key Canadian participant in the scientist-led 1964-74 International Biological Program (IBP), an initiative of the International Council of Scientific Unions involving 58 countries. The IBP’s Conservation of Terrestrial Communities programme aimed to identify and preserve representative examples of the world’s ecosystems for present and future biological research and education, for preservation of species, their genes, and habitats, and as benchmarks for comparison with ecosystems managed by humans (see Everett B. Peterson, 1974).

After the international science programme came to a close in 1974, most of the data and any follow-up implementation fell to people in provincial and territorial jurisdictions who had protected area responsibilities, if it was to fall anywhere. But the need for action in the federal sphere, and for a national view, initiatives, and encouragement was clear. Bill Fuller found ways - through a period of official federal government indifference - to keep the “IBP sites” identification in Canada alive, updated, and valued at a national level.

First, a new interim Associate Committee on Ecological Reserves (ACER – a nice acronym for Canadian ecology) was formed by the National Research Council, with Bill as its Chair.

Since the NRC liked its Associate Committees to be task-based and temporary, it asked Environment Canada to consider housing the ongoing effort. There was no obvious home agency. The department, founded in 1971, was still working out whether and how it wanted its components to work together. Each agency knew the living environment functions as a whole, but each had its own traditions and fields of primary activity. The NRC’s request came to the Policy & Program Development Directorate, which had a bridging mandate. With Bill Fuller’s supportive prodding, the Canadian Council on Ecological Areas (CCEA) was formed in 1982, to take on the IBP-CT data base and mission at the national level.

The CCEA’s first Chairman was David Munro, former head of the Canadian Wildlife Service. Its members were drawn from NGOs and the science community, and from provincial and federal agencies who had enduring inspirations or responsibilities regarding protected natural areas. The Canadian Wildlife Service provided the first secretariat for the CCEA, in the person of Sylvia Normand.

Thanks to Bill Fuller, Canadians’ early scientific results for ecological areas were honoured at a national level, kept alive, and brought forward into today’s essential work of turning knowledge into ecological conservation, and conservation into ecological knowledge.

The work continues through the CCEA http://www.ccea.org/index.html. It’s one of Bill Fuller’s legacies to us.

Invasion of non-native plant species can have a significant impact on the function and integrity of natural ecosystems. In Jasper National Park, large areas of Russian thistle have been observed in native montane grassland communities used for winter grazing by bighorn sheep and other ungulates. There is concern that these areas of invasion may be increasing in size. Areas invaded by Russian thistle appear to coincide with areas subject to sustained use by sheep, elk and possibly deer. Critical areas are believed to be overgrazed, reducing range condition and permitting Russian thistle to become established and compete with, or replace, already stressed native plant species and reducing wildlife forage.

To manage and protect the ecological integrity within Canada’s National Parks it is important to fully understand how native plant communities within the parks respond to the influence of alien species and the role of herbivores in this process. Increasing the knowledge of native plant community response to a particular invasive species may lead to improved ecological restoration, and management methods. Potential overgrazing of winter range habitats may be facilitating the establishment of Russian thistle in native montane grasslands. This study examines the role of wildlife grazing and range condition on Russian thistle establishment. Outcomes from this study will assist park managers in determining appropriate Russian thistle control, as well as identifying ungulate management strategies for winter range use.

Specifically, this research project attempts to address the extent and character of Russian thistle infestations in the park, mechanisms of Russian thistle invasion, the role of wildlife grazing on Russian thistle establishment, how Russian thistle impacts native plant communities, and strategies that may aid in managing this species. Research results will benefit land managers within the park, and other park managers and land managers who are involved with ungulate grazing and invasive species.

Homeplace award winner...Laura Gray, PhD program, Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta. Dr. Andreas Hamann (supervisor)
Posted June 16, 2009
Climate change has become a prevalent topic in ecological research since we are beginning to see the effects of warming temperatures on plant populations. In western Canada, research has already identified climate change as a cause for loss of local tree populations, for example through extreme drought events or indirectly through range expansion of pests and diseases. The International Panel on Climate Change suggests that the global temperature will continue to rise approximately 0.2oC per decade which raises the question if tree populations in a protected by a static network of reserves and parks are adequately protected.

The aim of my research is to determine how adequate the current network of protected areas w ill be in protecting native tree species in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan as Canada faces climate warming. By modeling tree species habitat under a variety of climate change projections, I will be able to identifying (1 ) how long the current network of protected areas will be able to protect native tree, and (2) whether any “future proof” reserves exist that maintain habitat under most or all scenarios. Conservation efforts should be targeted toward those areas.

Many thanks are due to Drs. Guy Swinnerton, professor emeritus, University of Alberta, Elizabeth Halpenny, University of Alberta, Bill Crins, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Rob Wright, Saskatchewan Tourism, Parks, Culture and Sport for evaluating submissions.

• summary reports and spreadsheets are now available for the first time;
• the Google Earth protected areas maps have been optimized for significantly better performance;
• jurisdictional updates are now incorporated immediately into both the maps and reports, so the data can be considered current at all times.

To view Canada's protected areas maps and reports, click on the ''Maps and Reports'' link in the left hand menu.

Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve Expanded to Protect World-Class Fossils
Posted April 20, 2009
In response to new fossil discoveries directly adjacent to the existing Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve, an expansion has been established under the Wilderness and Ecological Reserves Act. This additional area has been formally established as part of the reserve and contains complex fossils older than those previously identified within the original ecological reserve boundary. The expansion doubles the size of the reserve to 5.7 km2. More...