Visualizing our biodiversity in Átl’ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound

Since settlers arrived in the region, Indigenous knowledge holders have witnessed decisions over land use destroy natural habitats that sustained healthy ecosystems and food sources. We are now facing the cumulative impacts of these effects. Altering course has been slow and will increasingly depend on our ability to monitor biodiversity change.

To enhance our work on Other Effective Conservation Measures (OECMS), with funding provided by Environment and Climate Change Canada, we are supporting the creation of an integrative framework for biodiversity assessment for the Átl’ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound Biosphere Region (AHSBR).

Despite major technological advances to promote the availability of biodiversity and environmental data, many challenges remain in developing systems to synthesize this information in support of reliable biodiversity assessments. The UNESCO Biosphere Reserve system is an ideal model for addressing these challenges, offering unique opportunities for the integration of methods and technologies to support biodiversity assessment at the intersection of conservation and human development.

Andrew Simon, PhD student Dept Zoology, UBC

Synthesizing a growing biodiversity dataset using open-source tools, UBC PhD student Andrew Simon aims to map biodiversity in relation to critical environmental gradients, identifying essential biodiversity variables that can be used to inform conservation strategies in AHSBR. More fundamentally, this work will serve to model processes underlying shifts in species distributions and abundances to create systems enabling the detection and attribution of biodiversity change. The outcomes of this research will include a set of algorithms that facilitate iterative processes of biodiversity data aggregation, curation, analysis, and visualization: a framework for biodiversity assessment and reporting designed to support the AHSBR in the realization of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and Sustainable Development Goals.

This four-year long project will produce an innovative model for decision-making. For more information, contact Andrew Simon at adfsimon@zoology.ubc.ca. Learn more about Andrew’s background here.