Nova Scotia forests boast the second highest private ownership rate in Canada, with almost 3 of 4.5 million hectares owned by 30,000 woodlot owners and private corporations. Because of this, forest management practices vary widely. Though the Nova Scotian forests traditionally consist of large, mature, unevenly aged trees that support both important biodiversity and a […]

This study will examine the relationship between reclamation methods and when deactivated roads become suitable for caribou, using developing UAV technology to monitor caribou while testing UAV effectiveness in the field. This will be done by establishing long-term cameras along reclaimed road sites, monitoring wildlife movement through the study areas and by completing aerial wildlife […]

The present study investigates the impact of Eurasian honeybees on the functional diversity and reproductive ability of native stem-nesting bees. Honeybees have the potential to compete with native stem-nesting bees, however, currently no studies have examined this interaction in North American temperate forests. The main goal of this project is to develop a more mechanistic […]

An emerging strategy for managing natural resources such as Canada’s forests more sustainably and responsibly is to use knowledge of how Mother Nature has done it to help guide our hand. This so-called ‘ecosystem-based” approach has gained favour with provincial and federal governments, as well as national and international certification agencies. One of the foundations […]

This MITACS internship will support Julie Fortin, an MSc student whose focus is on developing new techniques for analyzing oblique historical mountain survey images based on the world’s largest systematic collection of historical mountain survey images, the Mountain Legacy Project. Her research is driven by questions about shifts in biodiversity over time, built atop biodiversity […]

La Corporation de la forêt d’enseignement et de recherche Macpès est un organisme qui a pour mandat d’assurer la gestion et la promotion d’un territoire forestier dédié à l’enseignement et à la recherche. En 2015, un suivi de l’entomofaune a été débuté sur ce territoire, et la Corporation souhaite pérenniser ce suivi afin d’obtenir des […]

Veneer drying has traditionally been done using a qualitative approach. Although it is effective in assessing how any modification in parameters impacts veneer quality, it often yields a significant loss in quality due to delays involved in reaching the kiln’s steady state following parameter modification. However, kilns are now being equipped with various sensors that […]

Structurlam products Ltd is a renowned Canadian company for its quality mass timber products and ability to fabricate complex design. The company developed a new generation hybrid composite glulam structural element while the performance is still unknown. The proposed research here will investigate the performance of this element under bending and compression. Both the regular […]

The Bicknell’s thrush (Cathurs bicknelli) is a rare songbird with the most restrictive breeding range in North America. The Bicknell’s thrush spends its summer months breeding in high elevation, stunted growth forests – a habitat that the species specializes in. In New Brunswick, there has been a documented population decline of 11.5% per year since […]

Forest management in Canada will be more and more constrained by species habitat requirements as well as the risks and results of natural disturbances. The recent, sever Mountain Pine Beetle outbreak in the interior of British Columbia resulted in a harvest shortage of lodgepole pine in this region. Forest managers now rely heavily on non-pine […]

L’industrie forestière est un pilier de l’économie Canadienne. Sa compétitivité dépend des certifications environnementales et donc de sa capacité à démontrer la compatibilité de ses pratiques avec le maintien de la fonctionnalité et biodiversité de l’écosystème. Seulement, dans le contexte actuel des changements climatiques, cette équation se complexifie. Les modifications des conditions de température et […]

Global climate change is altering the conditions in which our ecosystems exist. As those conditions gradually shift, ecosystems may cross critical points and experience irreversible collapse. Managers need tools to identify those points before they are crossed. This project will test one potential tool in the bogs of British Columbia. At the verge of collapse, […]