Knowledge mobilization: Local community engagement, sustainability and adaptive governance

Knowledge mobilization is a complex process aimed at generating and disseminating information and expertise. It relates to decision-making in a complex and uncertain environment and requires the development of multiple networks to integrate different institutions and steer their resources. Managing such dynamic social-ecological networks can be addressed as a matter of adaptive governance which integrates […]

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The fixating effect of LCA during ideation in eco-design: a case study

Although life cycle assessment (LCA) is a robust eco-design tool, its capacity to inspire creative ideas among designers is unclear. LCA is often used as a portrait of a product’s environmental hotspots, which are then addressed as design compromises. This highly technical design method usually leads to incremental improvements of products, and appears to do […]

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Grassland butterfly conservation and headstarting program

Grasslands are one of the most endangered habitat in North America. In Manitoba, over 90% has been lost in the last 100 years and with it a suite of prairie adapted species. The Poweshiek skipperling is one such species which in recent years has plummeted in abundance for unknown reasons. Less than 500 individuals remain […]

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Applying complex systems theory and transition management to sustainable agriculture: a case study of Mount Wolfe Farm

Repercussions of conventional large-scale agriculture have been seen in the form of environmental damage and biodiversity loss. There are sustainable alternatives; however, due to the current agricultural system there are barriers to scaling them out. By utilizing aspects of transition management, these limitations can be identified and frameworks can be built to address them. This […]

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Swishwash Island Tidal Marsh Restoration

This project focuses on physical and biological elements of small tidally influenced marsh channels on Swishwash Island in the central arm of the Lower Fraser River Estuary. In addition to fish data; marine invertebrate, vegetation, sediment, and toporgraphic data will also be collected and analyzed. This will provide insight into the practise of monitoring tide […]

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Impact and Vulnerability of Caribbean fisheries

Marine fisheries are complex, multifaceted endeavors that are deeply interconnected with both the ecological and social systems within which they operate. To manage a given fishery resource effectively, practitioners have account in the past years for ecological interactions with other marine species and socio-economic interactions with commercial and subsistence harvesters. However, even fisheries management systems […]

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Overcoming Barriers to Sustainable Purchasing: A Case Study of Avocado Co-op

In order to meet global climate change goals, it is necessary for consumers to shift their preferences for products towards more sustainable and eco-friendly options. Two common barriers that consumers experience when purchasing green products are: 1) perceived difficulty of buying green, and 2) skepticism about the quality of green brands. Avocado Co-op is attempting […]

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Evaluating the impacts of landscape development on carnivore activity patterns and species interactions

Understanding the impacts of human-driven disturbance on carnivore communities is an important step for prioritizing conservation decisions and managing land-use policies. Disturbances such as landscape development may influence how species structure their activity periods over the 24-hour cycle and potentially compromise the capacity for competitors to avoid costly encounters with each other. Few studies to […]

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Quantifying soil organic carbon sequestration performance of the City of Calgary Willow Biomass and Marginal Land Reclamation Demonstration Project: Assessing provincial carbon emissions offset credit opportunities

The emerging emissions trading market provides the province of Alberta an opportunity to diversify its economy and drive climate change mitigation innovation. By improving the carbon credit generating efficiency, more economic opportunities and carbon sequestration industrial applications become feasible. The City of Calgary Dewatered Biosolids Land Application – Willow Biomass and Marginal Land Reclamation Demonstration […]

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Interacting effects of contaminants and climate change on the health of the western Arctic beluga whales

The Arctic environment is changing rapidly, and this change may influence the health of organisms that live there, such as belugas. In periods of low sea ice extent, belugas in the Beaufort Sea showed altered expression genes involved in various aspects of health. Further, polychlorinated biphenyls, contaminants of concern, were also associated with altered gene […]

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Characterizing wetlands of different restoration ages in central Alberta using drone-based information (an extension to current Mitacs project: IT10213)

Wetlands provide important ecosystem services to human communities, such as groundwater recharge, storing floodwater, and supplying fishery resources. In Alberta, wetlands cover ~21% of the province, forming one of the Canada’s largest wetlands reserves; however, many of these wetlands have been impacted or lost through human activities. Over the past 30 years, there have been […]

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