About Us

The Ontario Biodiversity Science Forum was created to help improve our knowledge and understanding of the province's biodiversity, one of challenges identified in Ontario's 2005 Biodiversity Strategy. It aims to focus the biodiversity science agenda and foster science partnerships by identifying knowledge gaps and recommending science priorities in areas such as:

• Improving our understanding of ecosystem functions and relationships (e.g., interspecific and
intraspecific competition, predator-prey relationships, population-habitat linkages, impacts of
problem wildlife and reintroduced wildlife on agriculture, taxonomy, genetic diversity, light pollution)
• Evaluating existing and aiding the development of new habitat/ecosystem and species/population
management guides, best management practices and other conservation tools
• Improving our understanding of the economic and non-economic valuation of biodiversity
• Identifying gaps in available expertise (e.g., Ontario taxonomy/systematics) and recommending
solutions to address such gaps
• Supporting enhanced training (i.e., science and technology transfer).

The Science Forum may include, but is not limited to, members from academia, museums, government, Aboriginal peoples, industry and non-governmental organizations. The members of the current Ontario Biodiversity Science Forum formed in September of 2007 and represent the first ever term of the Ontario Biodiversity Science Forum.

Ontario Biodiversity Science Forum Members
Bill Crins	Ministry of Natural Resources
Chris Wilson	Ministry of Natural Resources
Dawn Bazely	York Institute for Research and Innovation for Sustainability (IRIS)
Justina Ray	Wildlife Conservation Society
John Fitzgibbon	University of Guelph
Kandyd Szuba	Domtar Inc. and Forest Ecosystem Science Co-operative
Marie-Josee Fortin	University of Toronto
Nicholas Mandrak	Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Ole Hendrickson	Environment Canada
Robert Rempel	Ministry of Natural Resources
Tattersall Smith (Chair)	University of Toronto