This pamphlet provides a summary of a fuller report issued under the title: Classification of mid-seral black spruce ecosystems of northern British Columbia

This full report describes both forested and non-forested ecosystems of the Mountain Hemlock (MH) zone of British Columbia (also referred to as the subalpine MH zone, coastal subalpine forest, or coastal mountain hemlock forest). It is one of 14 technical reports intended to provide a comprehensive account of the biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification (BEC) system as well as some management implications for each zone in the province. These zonal reports should fill the gap between the general description given in “Ecosystems of British Columbia” (Meidinger and Pojar 1991) and the information on site identification and interpretation given in regional field guides (e.g., Banner et al. 1993, Green and Klinka 1994).

This pamphlet provides a summary of a fuller report also issued under the title: The mountain hemlock zone of British Columbia. It describes both forested and non-forested ecosystems of the Mountain Hemlock (MH) zone of British Columbia (also referred to as the subalpine MH zone, coastal subalpine forest, or coastal mountain hemlock forest). It covers classification, reviews of vegetation regions and environmental relationships, as well as silvicultural and resource management implications.

The Lake Minnewanka area is one of Banff National Park's most scenic and highly visited regions. Impacts such as the loss of significant montane habitat (characteristic of the Lower Bow Valley ecosystem) and social implications like crowding led to the need to develop a strategy for managing the area. The author worked with a planning team from the Canadian Parks Service(CPS) in Banff National Park (BNP) to develop the Minnewanka Area Plan. The primary purpose of the thesis is to evaluate the Minnewanka Area Plan to determine whether it effectively serves to maintain and enhance ecological integrity. A theoretical framework based on integrated ecosystem management was developed to evaluate the plan. Normative criteria from literature on recreational carrying capacity management and meaningful public participation were defined and applied to the plan. Overall, the plan was rated as successful according to the normative criteria. All of the criteria for an effective approach to carrying capacity management were considered and the plan reflected a fair and efficient public participation process. Stakeholder input influenced plan decisions to a high degree and several partnerships were developed through the planning process. Several inadequacies in the plan were identified through the evaluation. The adoption of an approach to ecosystem management called the Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) was recommended as a guiding principle within the plan. The step-by-step LAC model was seen as overly complex in the context of the case study. Indicators and a monitoring program which are central to the LAC process were not defined as part of the plan. The evaluation of the public participation process indicated that stakeholder participation was high early in the planning process and reflected a partnership relationship where stakeholders shared the power of decision-making. During completion of the draft and final plan, the process became one of public consultation where the level and frequency of participation was lowered. Recommendations for improving the efficacy of the Minnewanka Area Plan are made within the thesis. A simpler approach to visitor and resource management which maintains the essential criteria of the LAC approach is suggested. Measures for maintaining a high level of public participation and improving the accountability of the CPS in decision-making are proposed. The normative criteria based on carrying capacity management and meaningful public participation processes are presented as a model for facilitating integrated ecosystem management in area planning within national parks.

Removing just one species from an ecosystem can have radical results. Tony Sinclair's grand-scale biodviersity knockout experiment sets out to determine why.

Adam Wei is employing homegrown UBC technology to help manage the sustainability of China’s fir trees.

Recent shifts towards ecosystem based fisheries management (EBFM) around the world have necessitated consideration of effects of fishing on a larger range of species than previously. Non-selective multispecies fisheries are particularly problematic for EBFM, as they can contribute to erosion of ecosystem structure. The trade-off between catch of productive commercial species and abundance of low-productivity species is unavoidable in most multispecies fisheries. A first step in evaluation of this trade-off is estimation of productivity of different species but this is often hampered by poor data. This thesis develops techniques for estimating productivity for data-limited species and aims to help clarify EBFM policy objectives for the fisheries of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It begins with development of an age-structured model parameterised in terms of optimal harvest rate, UMSY. UMSY is a measure of productivity, comparable among species and easily communicated to managers. It also represents a valid threshold for prevention of overfishing. The model is used to derive UMSY for 54 Atlantic fish stocks for which recruitment parameters had previously been estimated. In most cases, UMSY was strongly limited by the age at which fish were first caught. However, for some species, UMSY was more strongly constrained by life history attributes. The model was then applied to twelve species of Australian deepwater dogshark (Order Squaliformes), known to have been severely depleted by fishing. Results showed that the range of possible values of UMSY for these species is very low indeed. These findings enabled a preliminary stock assessment for three dogsharks (Centrophorus spp.) currently being considered for threatened species listing. Preliminary results suggest they have been overfished and that overfishing continues. Finally, an Ecopath with Ecosim ecosystem model, representing the 1976 NSW continental slope, is used to illustrate trade-offs in implementation of fishing policies under alternative policy objectives. Results are compared with those of a biogeochemical ecosystem model (Atlantis) of the same system, built by scientists from CSIRO. While there were large differences in model predictions for individual species, they gave similar results when ranking alternative fishing policies, suggesting that ecosystem models may be useful for exploring broad-scale strategic management options.

Early land survey records can be used to reconstruct the historical distribution and abundance of tree species prior to the large-scale impact of industrialized societies. Comparing these records to current vegetation patterns enables an examination of the shifts that have occurred in plant communities since the arrival of European settlers in North America. I used presettlement (1859-1874) land survey records from southeastern Vancouver Island and Saltspring Island, British Columbia, Canada to reconstruct the relative abundance and density of tree species in these areas. I then collected equivalent vegetation data from the same points in the modern landscape, which enabled me to compare the two points in time and identify the changes in large-scale vegetation patterns that have occurred since European settlement. My results show a significant increase in the relative abundance of maple (Acer macrophyllum) and cedar (Thuja plicata), and a corresponding decrease in Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menzeisii). Furthermore, there has been a considerable increase in tree density in undeveloped areas. The 1859 records indicate that at least one third of the land surveyed was made up of prairies or open “plains,” while a combination of open woods and forests made up the remaining two thirds. Based on comparable density measures from 2007, prairies and plains now represent less than 5% of the undeveloped landscape, while forests comprise nearly 90%. These changes are likely due to a combination of factors that have been influenced by European settlement, most notably logging and fire suppression. The suppression of fire has led to an infilling of trees into previously open areas and has led to the rapid decline of the open prairie and savanna habitat types once common in this area. The results of this study can inform conservation efforts throughout the study area, particularly those involving the restoration of prairie or savanna habitats.

During oil-sands mining all vegetation cover, soil, overburden and oil-sand is removed, leaving pits several kilometres wide and hundreds of metres deep. These pits are reclaimed by a variety of treatments using mineral soil or a mixed peat and mineral soil as the capping layer and planted with trees with natural colonisation from adjacent sites. A number of reclamation treatments covering different age classes were compared with a range of natural forest ecotypes to identify the age at which the treatments become similar to a natural site with respect to vegetation composition and key soil attributes relevant to nutrient cycling. Ecosystem function was estimated from plant community composition, litter decomposition, development of an organic layer and bio-available nutrients. Key response variables including moisture, pH, C:N ratios, bio-available nutrients and ground-cover were analysed by non-metric multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis to discover which reclamation treatments were moving towards or merging with natural forest ecotypes and at what age this occurs. On reclaimed sites, bio-available nutrients including nitrate generally were above the natural range of variability but ammonium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and manganese were generally very low and limiting to ecosystem development. Plant diversity was similar to natural sites from 5 years to 30 years after reclamation, but declined as reclaimed sites approached canopy closure. Grass and forb leaf litters decomposed faster than aspen or pine in the first year, but decomposition on one reclamation treatment fell below the natural range of variability. Development of an organic layer appeared to be facilitated by the presence of shrubs, while forbs correlated negatively with first-year decomposition of aspen litter. The better restoration amendments for tailings sands involved repeated fertilisation of peat: mineral mixtures in the early years of plant establishment, these became similar to a target ecotype at about 25 years. Good results were also shown by subsoil laid over non-saline overburden and fertilised once, these became similar to a target ecotype at about 15 years. Other treatments receiving a single application of fertiliser remain entrenched in the early reclamation phase for up to 25 years.

In the current context of escalating climate catastrophes paralleled with depleting energy resources, degrading fresh water supplies and diminishing agricultural lands, there is an increasing preoccupation with the prospects of a fast approaching ecological global crisis. Arid regions, which under normal circumstances are places of acute extremes, are afflicted by these trends more profoundly. Dryland ecosystems are places where survival hangs on a most fragile equilibrium, therefore any anomaly or scarcity can be detrimental to their viability. Alternatively, due to their unique ecosystem properties, not available in other more moderate environments, deserts can represent places of immeasurable potential for a prosperous subsistence. The Negev desert accounts for two thirds of the land area of Israel and is employed as a case study for this exploration. The thesis investigates the following four narratives: FERTILE VISIONS dissects the ethos of blooming the desert and the inherent contradictions of realized utopias. EPHEMERAL FLOWS constructs a broad framework of the Negev’s ecosystem, while mapping the operating forces and their affect on the system’s stability. VITAL SIGNS curates a catalogue of strategies, systems and technologies in the fields of water management, solar energy and controlled environments. Their juxtaposition starts to suggest plausible hybrids. Finally, EFFECTIVE TERRAINS defines design strategies for new models of desert living, based on integrated infrastructural systems. It envisions a prototype for a community planned through the synthetic interweaving of the existing desert ecosystem with water, energy and agricultural production.