Workshop Proceedings Gaps in Knowledge, Information, and Expertise Regarding Ontario's Biodiversity

Bill Crins
Senior Conservation Ecologist
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
PDF (96KB)

Knowledge Gaps Team

Four members of the Ontario Biodiversity Science Forum have focused on researching gaps in Ontario's biodiversity knowledge, information, and expertise. These members are Bill Crins, Nick Mandrak, Justina Ray, and Chris Wilson.

Context

Ontario's biodiversity is under constantly increasing pressure from growing population pressure and demands for space and natural resources. These natural resources (including elements of biodiversity) are finite.

Ecological sustainability requires restraint and precaution. We recognize that there are knowledge deficits regarding many elements of biodiversity in the province, and that these knowledge deficits may result in threats to elements of biodiversity.

Threats to Ontario's Biodiversity

Ontario's Biodiversity Strategy (2005) lists five threats to Ontario's biodiversity:

1. Pollution

2. Habitat loss

3. Invasive species

4. Unsustainable use

5. Climate change and cumulative impacts

These threats are not mutually exclusive. The pervasive and interacting components of the human footprint mean an increasingly integrative process is necessary for understanding how to diagnose, mitigate and prevent threats to biodiversity.

What we need to know

Knowledge and information gaps exist with regard to many aspects of biodiversity, including those needed to support legislation, regulation, and policy development.

We need to consider the range from coarse scales (how ecosystems are put together and how they work) to fine scales (species occurrence and distribution, genetic structure of populations), as well as natural vs. altered rates of change, and natural vs. altered pathways of change.

Why we need to know it

Lack of adequate knowledge and understanding of composition, structure and function at all scales will lead to poor planning and decision-making, and ultimately, to the loss of ecosystem goods and services upon which we rely. Examples include:

• Ecologically unsustainable harvest rates.
• Ecologically disruptive species introductions.
• Degradation or interruption of ecological services, such as water storage.
• Ontario's legislative, regulatory, and policy commitments related to biodiversity:
  • Endangered Species Act (2007), Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act (2006), Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act (2001), Greenbelt Act (2005), Lake Simcoe Protection Act (2008), Mining Act (2009), Far North legislation (2009).
  • Effectiveness monitoring of forest management guidelines.
  • International biodiversity commitments.
• Increasing pressures on natural resources.

Trends of Concern

Concerns include budget cutbacks to research, inventory and monitoring over the past two decades in provincial and federal government agencies. Unfortunately, universities and non-governmental organizations cannot make up for this shortfall.

There is a trend away from field-based research (sampling, field studies, identification of organisms) and organismal biology, towards molecular biology. This is resulting in a loss of natural history knowledge and identification skills for Ontario's biota, and an increasingly reductionist approach and loss of broader thinking and awareness.

What we need to know

Ecosystems and Landscapes

We require more knowledge of the following: ecosystem composition, structure, function, including aquatic ecosystems; ecological processes and rates, including hydrology, nutrient and material fluxes; decomposition, soils, trophic interactions; primary production, food webs, biotic turnover and succession, and landscape dynamics; and restoration ecology.

In addition, there are levels of uncertainty relative to generalization and application to other systems.

Species

There are knowledge gaps regarding taxonomy. The most diverse group, the invertebrates, is poorly known, e.g., diptera, hymenoptera, mites. Other poorly known groups include fungi, bryophytes, and algae.

The distribution and abundance of species is poorly understood in the northern boreal and sub-arctic portions of the province for most organisms. In addition, the status of many groups of organisms is poorly understood.

Conservation biology needs to answer why are certain groups, such as pollinators and aerial-foraging birds, declining? Ecologists need to understand species' habitat needs, inter-relationships, as well as ecosystem services.

Genes

For many species, especially for those that may perform key roles in ecosystem function, or for which there are conservation concerns, we need to understand: levels of genetic variability; breeding systems; behavioural attributes; population structure, demographics, viability; and metapopulation dynamics.

Cumulative Effects

Cumulative effects are the constellation of factors that affect populations, species, and ecosystems simultaneously, and/or those that accumulate over space or time. At present, the scope of most knowledge and research is too limiting. Future efforts must focus on:

evaluating and predicting "thresholds" beyond which biodiversity loss disrupts ecosystem functions and services; and understanding the limits to resilience of Ontario's ecosystems to climate change, and a myriad of other topics.

Approaches to addressing the gaps

Approaches to addressing the gaps include: inventory and monitoring - what is where and how is it changing; research - hypothesis-testing, inter-relationships, patterns and underlying processes; tool development - habitat supply, predictive occurrence, gap analysis, and scenario-testing models.

Knowledge can be based on, and gaps filled by, western science, aboriginal traditional knowledge, local community knowledge, or any combination of these sources. In order to maintain or enhance inventory, monitoring, and research efforts, a pool of knowledgeable experts and practitioners must be sustained. Enhanced education, training, and mentoring opportunities are needed.

Research

Sound decisions affecting biodiversity should be based on information continually collected in an adaptive management loop. This includes: improving the understanding of natural patterns of biodiversity and their underlying sustaining, or causative processes; determining the direct and indirect impacts of human use of resources on biodiversity; understanding and anticipating the effects of different management actions and scenarios, and adapting accordingly.

Inventory and Monitoring

Although biological inventories are a fundamental basis for understanding and managing biodiversity, they are usually given lower priority than less expensive, more narrowly defined issue-driven activities.

Monitoring is a key component of evaluating the effectiveness of management actions and is essential in adaptive management. It is the primary means by which trends can be detected and then assessed.

Tools

We need to develop methodologies and technologies for measuring and assessing various components of biodiversity. Gaps also exist regarding the effective communication and transfer of scientific results and the sharing of expertise. We must make better use of media and information technologies to communicate biodiversity issues and available knowledge to the public.

Education/ Training/ Mentoring

In recent decades, emphasis in post-secondary curricula has shifted from organismal focus to ecological or issue-based focus; resulting in the loss of the "…ologies" in research and teaching. There has been improved training on ecological processes and inter-relationships, including their disruption, however a reduction in species-level knowledge has occurred.

There is an increased emphasis on the genetic component of diversity, but only recently focusing on species of conservation concern.

Considerations for a balanced approach to biodiversity training include: each level in the diversity hierarchy (ecosystems, species, genes) provides different insights into biological conservation needs and approaches; no single level in the hierarchy can serve as an adequate surrogate for the others; and that within a level in the hierarchy (e.g., species), generalists rarely can serve as surrogates for the needs of specialists.

There is a need to foster biodiversity inventory youth employment programs. This includes: identification workshops for poorly-studied taxa; multi-taxon field crews; and target sensitive, transitional, and under-represented geographic areas.

We must encourage conceptual, organismal, and field-based courses in schools and universities. There is also a need to incorporate science (information and research) into all levels of management.

Challenges and opportunities

Wilderness is a part of Canadian culture, and so there is some public awareness of biodiversity issues. However, there is little awareness of gaps and uncertainties in available biodiversity knowledge and science expertise.

There are opportunities to engage the public, but it is up to the agencies, non-governmental organizations, and universities to take advantage of these opportunities. We must: strengthen environmental and ecological awareness in the education system; clarify and communicate issues; and target uncertainties as research priorities.

Summary

There is a need for continued inventory, monitoring, and research on components of biodiversity, including composition, structure, and functions. Adaptive mechanisms for the management of elements of biodiversity are required, including feedback loops to improve management approaches. All aspects of biodiversity conservation require enhanced training, education, and capacity building.

References

Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. (2001). Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act. Accessed August 29, 2009. URL:
http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_01o31_e.htm

Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. (2005). Greenbelt Act. Accessed August 28, 2009. URL:
http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_05g01_e.htm

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. (2005). Ontario's Biodiversity Strategy. Accessed August 24, 2009. URL: http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR_E000066.pdf

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. (2007). Endangered Species Act. Accessed August 29, 2009. URL:
http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_07e06_e.htm

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. (2006). Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act. Accessed August 29, 2009. URL:
http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_06p12_e.htm

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. (2009). Far North Act. Accessed August 29, 2009. URL:
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&BillID=2205&detailPage=bills_detail_the_bill

Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. (2009). Mining Act. August 28, 2009. URL: http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90m14_e.htm

Ontario Ministry of the Environment. (2008). Lake Simcoe Protection Act. Accessed August 28, 2009. URL: http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/source/regs/english/2009/elaws_src_regs_r09219_e.htm