Boreal Landscapes - Oil sands monitoring
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The Oil Sands Monitoring (OSM) program is a joint federal-provincial program, funded by industry, to explore the effects of oil sands development on water, air, and land. It is the largest research and monitoring effort in the western boreal forest.
The Terrestrial Biological Monitoring (TBM) program examines amphibians, birds, and mammals. TBM is made up 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. In 2020 we launched our new mammal monitoring program based on the BADR design: Before-After Dose-Response. This nested design monitors biodiversity within and among Landscape Units, or LUs. Explore more on this innovative design here. 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. |
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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 2022 we went for full implementation and deployed another 4 landscapes: two high-disturbance landscapes and two low disturbance landscapes.
In 2024 we redeployed cameras 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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