Boreal Ecosystem Recovery and Assessment (BERA)

The boreal ecosystem in the Northern Alberta is strongly segmented by linear exploration corridors for petroleum exploartion, called seismic lines. Unfortunately, many of these lines are in a state of arrested succession and are unlikely to recover without active intervention. Restoration planning for such a large affected area demands knoledge about the possibility and the necessity of reforestation. This project will create a model to predict solar irradiance on lines since this is the key factor influencing soil temperature, plant growth and other parameters and processes in the ecosystem important for the restoration. Furthermore it can be a second approach to develop a strategy for creating an inventory of existing vegetation since locations of advanced-regeneration won’t require management interventions. The expected outcome include the basis for further development of predicting important ecosystem parameters based on the solar irradiance and the basis for decision making for efficient and prioritised restoration of the boreal forest.

Faculty Supervisor:

Greg McDermid

Student:

Partner:

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Calgary

Program: