Jesse C. Vermaire

Environmental studies and environmental science today: inevitable mission creep and integration in action-oriented transdisciplinary areas of inquiry, training and practice

Since the 1970s when the first “named” environmental studies (ENST) and environmental science (ENSC) training programs emerged to tackle the growing crises facing the natural world and humanity, those two areas of inquiry and practice have remained rather distinct. However, as the complexity of environmental problems grows, it is apparent that transdisciplinary perspectives and teams represent the only means to identify and implement effective solutions. Despite the fact that ENST and ENSC programs often exist at the same institution, they tend to be housed in different faculties (i.e. ENST is often in humanities and social sciences, whereas ENSC is often in science). We argue that, as the demand for broadly trained highly qualified personnel able to work in all aspects of problem identification and solutions increases, neither ENST nor ENSC on their own is sufficient to achieve desirable policy and management outcomes. Those in ENST increasingly are expected to be competent in evidence assimilation and analysis, while those in ENSC are expected to recognize the value of the human dimension and embrace their role as knowledge brokers well versed in policy and management. The days of distinct ENST and ENSC programs are numbered as we re-envision how we think about, teach and practice ENST and ENSC. Failure to integrate these areas of inquiry will retard their collective ability to achieve the outcomes that are so needed in the face of dramatic human-induced rapid environmental change. The inherent overlap of ENST and ENSC must be embraced which means modulating our thinking, training and practice related to the environment.

The Canadian context for evidence-based conservation and environmental management

Canada has strong institutional capacity for science-based decision-making related to natural resource conservation and environmental management. Yet, the concept of using systematic reviews (conducted in accordance with established guidelines) to support evidence-based conservation and environmental management in Canada is in its infancy. Here we discuss the Canadian context for implementing more rigorous evidence-based approaches using systematic reviews. Of particular relevance to Canada is its vast size, broad diversity of ecosystems and heavy economic reliance on natural resources that vary widely in the type and scale of their environmental effects. These factors result in a wide variety of environmental monitoring needs over an extensive area that pose challenges to the scientific community charged with overseeing wise use of the environment. In addition, there are diverse and engaged user groups (e.g., hunters, trappers, fishers, bird watchers, foresters) and indigenous peoples that have constitutional rights to their natural resources. Traditional environmental knowledge is a complementary source of evidence in the Canadian environmental impact assessment process and therefore must be a part of evidence synthesis. Systematic reviews are not intended to replace local field studies, but rather have the opportunity to draw upon a broader suite of evidence that can be interfaced with local perspectives. The existing institutional structures in Canada could easily incorporate systematic reviews into their science advice and decision-making frameworks but to date, there are few examples of where this has occurred. Drawing on the expertise of a growing global collaboration for environmental evidence synthesis, Canadian institutions (federal, provincial and NGO) are poised to more broadly incorporate systematic reviews once their benefits are fully realized and the capacity to undertake such systematic reviews is fully developed. Systematic reviews offer a consolidated view of the available scientific literature on a given question. The results may offer significant value when working with stakeholders and decision makers contributing other sources of information to the question. For example, mechanisms to capture and integrate scientific knowledge with stakeholder and traditional knowledge may benefit from the scientific sources being filtered, interpreted and summarized for discussion. In other cases, where timeframes for decision making preclude formal systematic reviews, opportunities for more rapid evidence synthesis methods will be needed before the concept will be fully embraced.

Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Regimes Shifts in Shallow Lakes: Long-Term Response of Cyanobacterial Blooms to Historical Catchment Phosphorus Loading and Climate Warming

To evaluate the relative influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on ecosystem dynamics and regime shifts, we examined the algal response to historical catchment phosphorus loading from two shallow lakes located in Quebec, Canada. Roxton Pond is a eutrophic shallow lake with submerged macrophytes, and Lake Petit Saint-Francois (PSF) is a hypereutrophic shallow lake with no submerged macrophytes. Specifically, we inferred past cyanobacteria dynamics using pigment analyses, and tested whether the most parsimonious response model for cyanobacteria dynamics was congruent with the response model for phosphorus loading to the catchment. For both lakes, we found that an abrupt increase in cyanobacteria concentration lagged behind the initial increases in agricultural phosphorus use in the catchment as well as climate warming by over a decade. The delayed cyanobacterial response to these external drivers, observed in both lakes, suggests that intrinsic factors more than likely played important roles in ecosystem dynamics. These results show that cyanobacteria dominance in shallow lakes can be brought on by intrinsic responses to catchment phosphorus loading, climate warming, or both, but the timing depends on the antecedent conditions and the magnitude of the external forcing.

Late Holocene climatic variability in Subarctic Canada: insights from a high-resolution lake record from the central Northwest Territories.

We examined late Holocene (ca. 3300 yr BP to present-day) climate variability in the central Northwest Territories (Canadian Subarctic) using a diatom and sedimentological record from Danny’s Lake (63.48ºN, 112.54ºW), located 40 km southwest of the modern-day treeline. High-resolution sampling paired with a robust age model (25 radiocarbon dates) allowed for the examination of both lake hydroecological conditions (30-year intervals; diatoms) and sedimentological changes in the watershed (12-year intervals; grain size records) over the late Holocene. Time series analysis of key lake ecological indicators (diatom species Aulacoseira alpigena, Pseudostaurosira brevistriata and Achnanthidium minutissimum) and sedimentological parameters, reflective of catchment processes (coarse silt fraction), suggests significant intermittent variations in turbidity, pH and light penetration within the lake basin. In the diatom record, we observed discontinuous periodicities in the range of ca. 69, 88–100, 115–132, 141–188, 562, 750 and 900 years (>90% and >95% confidence intervals), whereas the coarse silt fraction was characterized by periodicities in the >901 and <61-year range (>95% confidence interval). Periodicities in the proxy data from the Danny’s Lake sediment core align with changes in total solar irradiance over the past ca. 3300 yr BP and we hypothesize a link to the Suess Cycle, Gleissberg Cycle and Pacific Decadal Oscillation via occasional inland propagation of shifting air masses over the Pacific Ocean. This research represents an important baseline study of the underlying causes of climate variability in the Canadian Subarctic and provides details on the long-term climate variability that has persisted in this region through the past three thousand years.

Long-term environmental change and shifts in the aquatic plant community of Jones Creek, Thousand Islands National Park, Ontario, Canada based on plant macrofossil analysis

Plant macrofossils and pollen were analyzed from sediment cores to identify long-term changes in the aquatic plant community of Jones Creek, Thousand Islands National Park, Ontario, Canada. Six sediment cores were recovered from Jones Creek in February 2014. One complete core and five top/bottom samples were analyzed for plant macrofossil abundance and diversity. Sediment analysis and 210Pb dating confirmed a productive wetland throughout the core, dating back beyond 1883 AD. Jones Creek is currently dominated by thick stands of cattails, particularly the hybrid white cattail (Typha x glauca Godr). The relative abundance of Typha pollen began to increase in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, reaching a relative abundance of nearly 40% in the modern day surface sediment. Common macrofossils recovered from the sediment record included seeds of Carex, Schoenoplectus, Najas, and Eleocharis. There is evidence that community composition, as recorded by the macrofossil record, has shifted in Jones Creek in response to human activities. In particular there has been a reduction in sedge species between historical and present day conditions as the wetland shifted from a sedge dominated wet-meadow wetland to a cattail dominated system. The results of our study indicate that future restoration efforts should be directed towards reintroducing native sedge species that were present prior to major changes in land-use that occurred in the St. Lawrence region throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.