Centre for Applied Conservation Research
HIGHLIGHTS OF 2012 – 13 Avian Biodiversity in Temperate and Tropical Forests
Kathy Martin delivered a Plenary Lecture to the Pan-African Ornithological Congress in Tanzania and extended her study of cavity-using vertebrates to include forests worldwide. Kathy`s `nest-web` concept has helped quantify interactions between cavity-using vertebrates, forest dynamics, management and insect outbreaks in Europe, Africa, North and South America, Australia and Asia.
North American Ornithological Congress
Kathy also led a huge team of local volunteers to host 1,500 ornithological practicioners at UBC in August 2012. Dean Innes welcomed attendees of several ornithological societies at the Chan Centre, where Peter Arcese received the 2012 Doris Spiers Award for Contributions to Canadian Ornithology.
Achievements of Recent Graduate Students
Joe Bennett`s PhD appeared as papers in Invasion Biology, Conservation Biology and Perspectives in Plant Ecology and Evolution to help re-focus invasive species management in the Georgia Basin. As a new Fellow at the Center for Environmental Decisions (UQ), Joe prioritizes species conservation in New Zealand, is identifying rules to balance sample size and taxonomic effort in environmental assessment, and leads research on environmental contaminants and fisheries in arctic environments. Richard Schuster joins Joe at the CED as an Endeavour Fellow this fall to formalize models to maximize biodiversity conservation, carbon storage and the persistence of At Risk species, and also won a UBC Killam Teaching Assistant Prize for outstanding contributions to Forest Sciences, Natural Resource Conservation and Forest Resources Management. Beth MacDonald MSc received the best thesis award in Forestry for 2012.
Carbon and Biodiversity in the Georgia Basin
Peter and Richard Schuster collaborated with Environment Canada, Parks Canada and 3-Tree Consulting to provide the first predictive carbon maps for the Coastal Douglas-Fir Zone, now listed by Biodiversity BC as the Province’s most imperiled ecosystem. The predictive maps employ 1 of 3 methods accepted by the Pacific Carbon Trust and now are in use by Federal, Provincial and NGO planners. Peter also gave plenary lectures on native and exotic species interactions to annual meetings of the Pacific Ecology Conference, BC Parks, Garry Oak Recovery Team, Invasive Species Council of BC, Pender Island Conservancy and SeaDoc Society (US).
2012 Werner and Hildegaard Hesse Research Award
Werner and Hildegaard Hesse supported research in the Arcese Lab for years and left over $1m to UBC to support scholarships and research awards after their passing. Ryan Germain and Richard Schuster shared in this award to predict how climate change will affect habitat for birds and to conduct expert elicitations to prioritize conservation investments in the Coastal Douglas-Fir Zone (http://hesse-award.sites.olt.ubc. ca/2010/11/18/werner-and-hildegard-hesse-research-award-inornithology/.
International Conservation Training with the Wildlife Institute of India
Many members of CACR were instrumental in teaching multiday workshops on conservation and spatial planning in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India, including spatial statistics, programming, genetics, conservation planning, landscape change and remote sensing to advance Indian programs in endangered species management, conservation planning, sustainable livelihoods and climate change. An upcoming visit by Sarah Gergel will further develop long-term collaborative workshops in India. Centre for Applied Conservation Research Forest Sciences Centre 3004-2424 Main Mall Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Fax: 604.822.5410 www.forestry.ubc.ca/conservation
2012 Annual Report 43