Boreal Landscapes: MAMMAL monitoring IN THE CANADIAN OIL SANDS REGION
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The Oil Sands Monitoring (OSM) program is a joint federal-provincial program headed by Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Government of Alberta. It is funded by industry to explore the effects of oil sands development and other forms of development on our water, air, and land. It is the largest research and monitoring effort in the western boreal forest.
Within OSM, the Terrestrial Biological Monitoring (TBM) program examines the responses of birds, and mammals to development. Read more about it on the Alberta government or Canadian government websites. |
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TBM is a team of researchers from several Universities, institutes, and consultancies. The TBM is guided by an independent Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) made up of specialists from First Nations, ENGOs, industry, and government. Under the TBM, we have been co-leading the Mammals Component, using camera-trap arrays spread across multiple landscapes. It is one of the biggest camera-trapping efforts in Canada. Past and current data from across the program are available at the OSM DATA PORTAL.
In 2020 we launched our new mammal monitoring program based on the BADR design: Before-After Dose-Response. This nested design monitors mammals and birds within and among Landscape Units, or LUs. Landscape Units are distributed across the OSR in a constrained random stratified design, to cover the range of development stemming from mining activities (MINE), In-situ development (IN-SITU), exploration (PRE-IN-SITU), and natural landscaped with minimal OS development, but some forest harvesting and roads (LOW). EXPLORE THIS INNOVATIVE DESIGN. |
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We capture about a million images per year. We analyze all images manually, noting species, age and sex classes (if possible), distinctive individual characteristics, and behaviours.
We use these data in a series of statistical models to understand how each species is changing over time, and how those changes are reated to oil sands or other forms of human-induced development. |
Within each LU we deploy 50 remote wildlife cameras, also in a constrained random stratified design that aims to capture the range of natural and man-made features on the landscape.
Cameras are deployed for a full-year, and then rotated to another LU. Our goal is to repeat each LU every three years, to understand changes over time in mammal communities. 
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Want to do your own science on the effects of oil sands on mammals?
You can access all of the data on mammal communities in our DATA PORTALS below.
In 2021-2022 we put BADR on the ground on two landscape units: a high-disturbance landscape and a low-disturbance landscape.
In 2023 we went for full implementation and deployed another 4 landscapes: two high-disturbance landscapes and two low disturbance landscapes.
In 2025 funding cuts led to a change of plan: we left cameras in three LUs and pulled the 4th. Our goal for 2026-7 is to re-align with the 3-year repeat rotation cycle. |
In 2022 we went for full implementation and deployed another 4 landscapes: two high-disturbance landscapes and two low disturbance landscapes.
In 2024 we did a 3-year repeat of sampling in LU2 and LU3, and deployed another 2 landscapes: two high-disturbance landscapes and two low disturbance landscapes. |
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Publications
Barnas, A., B. Brad Anholt, A. Cole Burton, Kathleen Carroll*, Steeve Cote, Marco Festa-Bianchet, Martin Hugues St-Laurent, and J.T. Fisher. 2024. The influence of habitat alteration on density of invading white-tailed deer should not be discounted. Global Change Biology 30(9), e17498. Gaston, M.V., A.F. Barnas, R.M. Smith, S. Murray, and J.T. Fisher. 2024. Native prey, not landscape change or novel prey, drive distribution of cougar (Puma concolor) expansion at the northeast range edge. Ecology and Evolution 14(4): e11146. Barnas, Andrew F., A. Ladle, J.M Burgar, A. Cole Burton, M.S Boyce, L. Eliuk, F. Grey, N. Heim, J. Paczkowski, F.E.C Stewart, E. Tattersall*, and J.T. Fisher. 2024. How landscape traits affect boreal mammal responses to anthropogenic disturbance. Science of the Total Environment 915: 169285. J.T. Fisher, M. Dickie, J.M. Burgar, A.C. Burton, and R. Serrouya. 2023. Density estimates of unmarked mammals: comparing two models and assumptions across multiple species and years. Canadian Journal of Zoology 102.3: 286-297. Fuller, H.W., S. Frey, and J.T. Fisher. 2022. Integration of aerial surveys and resource selection analysis indicates human land-use supports boreal deer expansion. Ecological Applications, 33(1), p.e2722. Fisher, J.T., and A. Ladle. 2022. Syntopic species interact with large boreal mammals' response to anthropogenic landscape change. Science of the Total Environment 822: 153432. Roberts, D., D. Beausoleil, R. Hazewinkel, A. Mahaffey, D. Sayanda, F. Wyatt, E. Bayne, J. Dennett, J.T. Fisher, and M. Dubé. 2021. A decadal synthesis of terrestrial biological monitoring in the Alberta oil sands region. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management 18(2): 388-406. |
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