Bioassessment of the ecological integrity of freshwater ecosystems using aquatic macroinvertebrates: the case of Sable Island National Park Reserve, Canada.

Due to ubiquitous distribution of taxa, relatively low-cost and efficient sampling procedure, and known responses to environmental gradients, macroinvertebrate indicators are often a central component of biological monitoring of freshwater resources. This study examined establishing a baseline reference of benthic macroinvertebrate indicators in a biomonitoring approach as a means for monitoring the freshwater ponds of Sable Island National Park Reserve (SINPR), Canada. We compared water quality parameters monitored from 2015 to 2019 to a biomonitoring approach deployed in May, June, and August of 2019. A total of 27 taxa were recorded from the 30,226 specimens collected, with highest abundances of Corixidae, Amphipoda, Oligochaeta, and chironomid species Polypedilum bicrenatum. We found significant variability of community structure between different months of sampling (p = 0.001) and between ponds (p < 0.0001). A high correlation was found between dissolved organic carbon, sulfate, and the diversity of macroinvertebrate indicators, while conductivity, ammonia, and calcium were found to be correlated with species richness. While we found that water chemistry parameters exhibited spatial and temporal differences, the diversity of macroinvertebrate indicators is likely to be a more resilient metric for comparison between ponds. Further, our findings demonstrate that biomonitoring can be effective in systems with a low number of small, shallow, freshwater pond ecosystems. As our study deployed a high-resolution identification of biological indicators, we were able to establish a baseline reference for future monitoring as well as identify specific associations between pond water quality and biological assemblages that can be used as a context for the management of SINPR's freshwater resources. Continued monitoring of these ecosystems in future years will help to understand long-term environmental changes on the island.

An urgent call for circular economy advocates to acknowledge its limitations in conserving biodiversity.

This discussion paper explores the relationship between biodiversity and the circular economy and the potential implications of this relationship. The circular economy has emerged as an alternative model to a traditional linear economy. It aims to tackle the resource exploitation that accompanies a linear economy and decouple economic growth from reliance on primary resources. In the face of global environmental degradation and an urgent need for change, the concept has become popular around the world and has led to the release of national policies and strategies on the circular economy. Problematically, while the basic concept is clear, it is ambiguous in how it will achieve some of its objectives, and it fails to address some key issues. In light of the accelerating rate of change, precipitous biodiversity decline is one such key issue. Through a content analysis of relevant circular economy publications, authors demonstrate that biodiversity protection is rarely mentioned in theory and policy. While the circular economy holds many benefits for society, its evasion of scrutiny has prevented it from manifesting in a comprehensive solution to environmental issues. The circular economy advocates for biomimicry, ecosystem service valuation, bioeconomy, and renewable energy. Each of these, however, has its own set of conflicts with biodiversity protection. Given the imminent need to protect biodiversity, the authors call for further research on the interaction between biodiversity and the circular economy, and for circular economy advocates to explicitly acknowledge the concept's limitations, thereby revealing the need for intersectional and complementary policies which aim to protect biodiversity.

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment: what are the big questions?

BACKGROUND: Over the past 10-15 years, a substantial amount of work has been done by the scientific, regulatory, and business communities to elucidate the effects and risks of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the environment. OBJECTIVE: This review was undertaken to identify key outstanding issues regarding the effects of PPCPs on human and ecological health in order to ensure that future resources will be focused on the most important areas. DATA SOURCES: To better understand and manage the risks of PPCPs in the environment, we used the "key question" approach to identify the principle issues that need to be addressed. Initially, questions were solicited from academic, government, and business communities around the world. A list of 101 questions was then discussed at an international expert workshop, and a top-20 list was developed. Following the workshop, workshop attendees ranked the 20 questions by importance. DATA SYNTHESIS: The top 20 priority questions fell into seven categories: a) prioritization of substances for assessment, b) pathways of exposure, c) bioavailability and uptake, d) effects characterization, e) risk and relative risk, f ) antibiotic resistance, and g) risk management. CONCLUSIONS: A large body of information is now available on PPCPs in the environment. This exercise prioritized the most critical questions to aid in development of future research programs on the topic.

Generation of priority research questions to inform conservation policy and management at a national level.

Integrating knowledge from across the natural and social sciences is necessary to effectively address societal tradeoffs between human use of biological diversity and its preservation. Collaborative processes can change the ways decision makers think about scientific evidence, enhance levels of mutual trust and credibility, and advance the conservation policy discourse. Canada has responsibility for a large fraction of some major ecosystems, such as boreal forests, Arctic tundra, wetlands, and temperate and Arctic oceans. Stressors to biological diversity within these ecosystems arise from activities of the country's resource-based economy, as well as external drivers of environmental change. Effective management is complicated by incongruence between ecological and political boundaries and conflicting perspectives on social and economic goals. Many knowledge gaps about stressors and their management might be reduced through targeted, timely research. We identify 40 questions that, if addressed or answered, would advance research that has a high probability of supporting development of effective policies and management strategies for species, ecosystems, and ecological processes in Canada. A total of 396 candidate questions drawn from natural and social science disciplines were contributed by individuals with diverse organizational affiliations. These were collaboratively winnowed to 40 by our team of collaborators. The questions emphasize understanding ecosystems, the effects and mitigation of climate change, coordinating governance and management efforts across multiple jurisdictions, and examining relations between conservation policy and the social and economic well-being of Aboriginal peoples. The questions we identified provide potential links between evidence from the conservation sciences and formulation of policies for conservation and resource management. Our collaborative process of communication and engagement between scientists and decision makers for generating and prioritizing research questions at a national level could be a model for similar efforts beyond Canada.

Lessons for PPGIS from the application of a decision-support tool in the Nova Forest Alliance of Nova Scotia, Canada.

The effectiveness of a decision-support tool created to identify protected-area potential within the Nova Forest Alliance (NFA) of Nova Scotia, Canada is assessed from the perspective of a public participatory geographic information system (PPGIS) approach. The application sought to create an integrated GIS-based decision-support tool for community-focused communication and conservation assessment among NFA partners (including private woodland owners, government agencies, forest companies, and non-government organizations) and potential application within other model forests in Canada. The application illustrated that the GIS-based tool, once set up and populated with the necessary data, was able to generate effective visual alternatives to support decision making within the NFA community and elsewhere. However, from a PPGIS perspective, the application faced challenges that influenced the efficacy of its implementation: (1) limitations arose around data quality, use and sharing policies; (2) although opportunities for participation by the NFA partnership were initiated, these proved insufficient to achieve adequate engagement, buy in and support for the process and outcomes; and (3) the expert-grounded GIS-based tool requires a greater degree of expertise than may currently be present in the community. These challenges limit its ongoing use in the NFA and its potential utility in other model forests. For PPGIS-decision-support applications to be effective in the NFA and elsewhere, it is suggested that the following conditions be met: (1) implementation of geographically based data policies to allow for greater data accessibility, specifically with fewer bureaucratic and private sector barriers; (2) engagement of community partners in the initial project design, goal-setting and subsequent stages, even if this requires extensions to anticipated timelines; and (3) development of effective participatory technical systems that meet the needs of participants without being so complex as to constitute a barrier to their use.