Are human land uses impacting streams ecosystems in central Alberta?

Stream ecosystems and organisms that live within them can be impacted by human activities on the surrounding land. Detailed knowledge of which human activities influence stream ecosystems and their biological communities and how they impact them is important to watershed planners for developing effective management strategies. Aquatic ecosystems in the North Saskatchewan River basin are threatened by a number of human activities including urban expansion, agriculture and industrial activities, including coal mining and oil and gas extraction. Our project will use statistical methods to identify relationships between these human activities in the watershed, natural landscape features, water quality and physical habitat condition of streams and condition of benthic algal communities. We will identify human activities that most strongly impact stream-dwelling algae , which will help the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance make recommendations on watershed management activities for stakeholders.

Faculty Supervisor:

Rolf Vinebrooke;Craig Emmerton

Student:

Partner:

North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Alberta

Program: