A holistic assessment of the impacts of beef cattle production on ecosystem services in Alberta

This study examines the impacts of beef production on ecosystem service provision, focusing primarily on rangeland induced biodiversity and habitat provision and related services including recreation, water filtration, soil carbon and soil quality preservation provided to different beneficiaries in Alberta. Research on the impacts of beef production has focused on land use change and greenhouse gas emissions. We propose a holistic approach to evaluate the industry’s impact, positive and negative, on Alberta, with an opportunity to extrapolate conclusions to a global scale. This study contributes to sustainable management of the Alberta beef industry as per the objectives of the Canadian roundtable on sustainable beef production. The research will: 1) review national, provincial, and local data resources to identify assessable ecosystem services; 2) estimate trends in ecosystem services and biodiversity affected by Alberta beef production at local and provincial scales 1960-2014; and 3) identify data gaps and future research opportunities.

Faculty Supervisor:

James Byrne

Student:

Partner:

Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Lethbridge

Program: