Biodiversity, glacier health and sea mountains featured in annual report

While many know of the canary in the coal mine analogy, a team of researchers are using Canada’s mountain ranges as their canary. And, like the coal miners, they say Canadians should be worried.

Each year the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) issues a State of the Mountains report, tallying what climate change is doing to glaciers and rivers, alpine flora and fauna as well as mountain communities and people. The report is co-edited by UBC Okanagan’s Lael Parrott, a professor of sustainability in the earth, environmental and geographic sciences department and ACC vice-president for access and environment.

“Mountains are indeed sentinels for understanding a rapidly changing world,” says Parrott. “And Canada’s mountains, like those around the world, are experiencing a variety of worrying changes. Glaciers are disappearing and many species of plants and animals are being forced to either adapt to changing conditions or perish.”

But, Parrott says, Canada’s mountain experts are also discovering new information that will help to address these challenges. And the report shares positive news, highlighting how Indigenous communities and Canada’s youth are mobilizing to create opportunities for conservation and sustainability.

“What stands out this year are the two articles on seamounts,” says Parrott. “It’s the first time we cover underwater mountain ranges. Just like terrestrial mountains, the complex topography and elevational changes in seamounts also create special niches that support high diversity and unique ecosystems.”

Parrott explains the report is a collection of contributions from Canadian experts, including those living in mountain communities, Indigenous peoples, scientists and natural resource managers. Experts explain how landslides and volcanic eruptions, always a significant risk to people and property, are increasing due to climate change and increased human activity in the mountains. Specialists also examine the downstream impact of mining, recent changes in mountain glaciers and the importance of the biodiversity of plants and animals in Canada’s mountains.

Other key findings in the report include an explanation of new tools to forecast avalanches, document biodiversity and predict the impacts of climate change.

“Of course, climate change permeates all of the articles,” says Parrott. “The impacts of climate change are felt so strongly at high elevations and these impacts manifest into increasing landslides, changing vegetation, melting glaciers and much more.”

The third annual State of the Mountains report is available online at: stateofthemountains.ca. Learn more about Parrott’s work at: ourstories.ok.ubc.ca/stories/lael-parrott.

“We’re hoping to raise Canadian’s awareness about the urgency of acting to protect our mountain environments,” she adds. “And that people will become advocates for mountain conservation and mountain stewardship.”

South Chilcotin Provincial Park. Photo credit: Lael Parrott

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

‘Virtual’ coral reefs become diagnostic tool to help manage the planet’s reefs

A UBC Okanagan researcher has developed a way to predict the future health of the planet’s coral reefs.

Working with scientists from Australia’s Flinders University and privately-owned research firm Nova Blue Environment, biology doctoral student Bruno Carturan has been studying the ecosystems of the world’s endangered reefs.

“Coral reefs are among the most diverse ecosystems on Earth and they support the livelihoods of more than 500 million people,” says Carturan. “But coral reefs are also in peril. About 75 per cent of the world’s coral reefs are threatened by habitat loss, climate change and other human-caused disturbances.”

Carturan, who studies resilience, biodiversity and complex systems under UBCO Professors Lael Parrott and Jason Pither, says nearly all the world’s reefs will be dangerously affected by 2050 if no effective measures are taken.

There is hope, however, as he has determined a way to examine the reefs and explore why some reef ecosystems appear to be more resilient than others. Uncovering why, he says, could help stem the losses.

“In other ecosystems, including forests and wetlands, experiments have shown that diversity is key to resilience,” says Carturan. “With more species, comes a greater variety of form and function—what ecologists call traits. And with this, there is a greater likelihood that some particular traits, or combination of traits, help the ecosystem better withstand and bounce back from disturbances.”

The importance of diversity for the health and stability of ecosystems has been extensively investigated by ecologists, he explains. While the consensus is that ecosystems with more diversity are more resilient and function better, the hypothesis has rarely been tested experimentally with corals.

Using an experiment to recreate the conditions found in real coral reefs is challenging for several reasons—one being that the required size, timeframe and number of different samples and replicates are just unmanageable.

That’s where computer simulation modelling comes in.

“Technically called an ‘agent-based model’, it can be thought of as a virtual experimental arena that enables us to manipulate species and different types of disturbances, and then examine their different influences on resilience in ways that are just not feasible in real reefs,” explains Carturan.

In his simulation arena, individual coral colonies and algae grow, compete with one another, reproduce and die. And they do all this in realistic ways. By using agent-based models—with data collected by many researchers over decades—scientists can manipulate the initial diversity of corals, including their number and identity, and see how the virtual reef communities respond to threats.

“This is crucial because these traits are the building blocks that give rise to ecosystem structure and function. For instance, corals come in a variety of forms—from simple spheres to complex branching—and this influences the variety of fish species these reefs host, and their susceptibility to disturbances such as cyclones and coral bleaching.”

By running simulations over and over again, the model can identify combinations that can provide the greatest resilience. This will help ecologists design reef management and restoration strategies using predictions from the model, says collaborating Flinders researcher Professor Corey Bradshaw.

“Sophisticated models like ours will be useful for coral-reef management around the world,” Bradshaw adds. “For example, Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef is in deep trouble from invasive species, climate change-driven mass bleaching and overfishing.”

“This high-resolution coral ‘video game’ allows us to peek into the future to make the best possible decisions and avoid catastrophes.”

The research, supported by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canada Foundation for Innovation, was published recently in eLife.

A UBCO researcher is using years of compiled data to determine how virtual reef communities will respond to threats including cyclones and coral bleaching. Photo credit: Jean-Philippe Maréchal.

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

Bears living near people rely on ‘immigrants’ and nocturnal behaviour to sustain populations

Researchers have determined that bear populations near people need two things to survive—adaptive behaviour to become nocturnal and immigrant bears moving into their region.

A study published this week looks at 40 years of data following the fate of more than 2,500 grizzly bears in BC. Researchers learned that bear populations living near people depend on other bears ‘immigrating’ from adjacent wilderness areas to sustain population numbers. And the bears need to change their behaviour, becoming nocturnal, to avoid conflict with humans.

Unfortunately, this adaptation takes time and many bears die before they learn to live with people, says study author Clayton Lamb, a Liber Ero post-doctoral fellow at UBC Okanagan’s campus.

“Human coexistence with large carnivores poses one of the greatest conservation challenges of our time,” says Lamb. “Bears that live near people are actively engaging in nocturnal behaviour to increase their own survival and reduce conflicts with people, but this is often not enough to sustain the population. These populations rely on a ‘lifeline’ of immigrants from nearby areas with low human impact.”

Lamb, who conducted some of this research while a doctoral student at the University of Alberta, works with Adam Ford, an assistant professor in biology at UBCO and principal investigator in the Wildlife Restoration Ecology (WiRE) lab. Researchers in the WiRE lab bridge the gap between applied and theoretical science to support new ideas in ecology and decision making. Ways to better coexist with wildlife is a key contribution from WiRE researchers.

While carnivores pose a real and perceived threat to people and property, Ford says, humans are genuinely fascinated by them.

“This creates a profound tension in conservation,” Ford adds. “How can people and carnivores coexist?”

Ford says when coexistence does occur, success is often attributed to the role of people acting to reduce human-caused mortality. However, evidence suggests the bears themselves also play a role.

“Bears in human-dominated areas increased their nocturnal behaviour by two to three per cent past their third year of age and this led to a two to three per cent increase in survival rates each year,” Ford says. “In wilderness areas we detected no significant age-related shift in bear nocturnality, suggesting that humans are inducing the bears to change their habits.”

Lamb says social tolerance for carnivores along with creative solutions for coexistence are on the upswing. Reducing human influence at night can restore carnivore movement and wildlife highway crossings can increase carnivore survival and connectivity without interfering with human transportation.

However, the current mortality rates are far too great to maintain existing bear populations without immigration. There’s a lot of dead bears, Lamb says, and survival is quite low for bears living near people, especially if they are young.

“There are two outcomes for young animals in landscapes of coexistence—adapt to people by becoming more nocturnal or die because of people,” he says. “Although it sounds bleak, grizzly bear populations are currently sustaining themselves near people in many places, and even increasing. Key examples include range expansions in southwest Alberta and the eastern Okanagan near Big White. But if we were to double the human population in BC or halve the wilderness areas, this balancing act of populations sustaining themselves with wilderness immigrants might collapse.”

The study, funded by the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program, Forest Enhancement Society of British Columbia, was published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Science journal.

Read more about WiRE Lab research including a mule deer project in BC’s Southern Interior and studies into BC’s wolf populations.

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

Aspiring pediatrician wins top student award

Teagan MacDougall reminds herself of one thing when the going gets tough—how worthwhile this will all be when she’s able to help sick children as a pediatrician.

Today, MacDougall graduates with a Bachelor of Science in microbiology (honours), celebrating not only the end of her undergraduate career, but also being awarded the Pushor Mitchell LLP Gold Medal Leadership Prize.

The $10,000 prize, now in its 11th year, is the highest honour available for an Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences student and recognizes a graduating student who has excelled academically and shown leadership while earning their degree.

Andrew Brunton, managing partner at Pushor Mitchell LLP, says the firm is proud to recognize the accomplishments of another exceptional student at UBC Okanagan.

“We are happy to support Teagan and hope she continues to chase her dream of becoming a pediatrician and is able to continue her great work in the community,” says Brunton. “We are proud to be a supporter of UBC Okanagan and to be able to add Teagan to the distinguished list of Pushor Mitchell LLP Gold Medal Leadership Prize winners.”

MacDougall grew up a short drive from the UBC campus in Lake Country, BC. After graduating high school, she relocated to Whistler to spend her days on the slopes and evenings working in the hospitality industry—before returning to the Okanagan and enrolling at UBCO in 2016.

Having enjoyed biology in high school, and knowing her end-goal was medical school—microbiology was a natural choice.

Though thrilled to be back in the classroom—bad study habits started to haunt her. She struggled during her first semester, trying to learn weeks of course material for an upcoming midterm in one night.

“I was up all-night studying, drank six red bulls, and I got 20 per cent,” she says. “It made me wonder whether or not I was cut out for university—I asked myself what I wanted to do. I could either walk away or try harder and I decided to try harder.”

MacDougall registered for a summer physics course—this time committing to give it her all.

She did just that—and completed the course with 97 per cent. From that moment forward, she never received a grade lower than an A.

Aside from academic achievements, MacDougall was deeply involved in research during her time at UBCO, volunteering in a biomedical research lab, and working as an undergraduate research assistant.

An honours student, MacDougall also produced original research investigating the persistency and viability of a fungal probiotic in the human gastrointestinal tract—winning first-place poster presentation at UBCO’s Undergraduate Research Conference.

In her sparse spare time, MacDougall founded Heroes for Little Heroes, a registered Canadian non-profit where volunteers wear princess and superhero costumes to visit medically-vulnerable children at local hospitals and disadvantaged children at social service institutions.

“The smile on their faces when they see a princess or superhero walk into the room—it’s so heartwarming,” says MacDougall.

“We do crafts, read books and just talk and keep them company—but, honestly, they’re the real heroes. They overcome huge adversities at a young age and still come out smiling—they’re so brave and inspire me to be resilient every day.”

Aside from pediatrics visits, MacDougall is also a volunteer at Kelowna General Hospital, doing patient visitations and providing information in the emergency department. She also serves as a youth mental health ambassador with the Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre at BC Children’s Hospital, a position that piqued her interest for personal reasons.

“During my teenage years, I suffered from an eating disorder,” she explains. “Although it was horrible—I try to think of it as a silver lining. That experience helps me to better understand and empathize with youth suffering from similar disorders.”

Over the next few months, MacDougall will work with the early detection research group at the BC Cancer Agency—while studying to take the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) this fall.

Though her medical school of choice is UBC’s Southern Medical Program on the Okanagan campus, MacDougall says she’s open to the idea of relocating if necessary.

“Wherever my journey takes me, the financial flexibility that comes with winning this award will allow me to further my education and continue growing my foundation with the goal of helping as many people as possible,” she says, thanking Pushor Mitchell and her professors for their support.

As she graduates today, she shares one final lesson not learned in a textbook.

“Hard work does pay off and I want my fellow students to know they are capable of much more than they know. No one should sell themselves short. Anything worth having is worth working for—it’s so simple, yet so true.”

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

Turns out ‘thinning’ saves water and can combat climate change

New research suggests a backyard gardener’s tried and true method of ‘thinning’ could benefit tree growth and water supply, and ultimately help fight climate change.

UBC Okanagan Professor Adam Wei says thinning—the selective harvesting of a young crop to make space for growth—could improve the overall growing conditions of lodgepole pine stands in the BC Interior. Lodgepole pine trees are prolific and often crowd each other which can affect tree growth.

The more rigorous forests are thinned, the more resilient they can be under the impact of climate change.

“Our study presented the short-term benefits of the juvenile thinning in terms of increasing tree-level radial growth, sap flow and reducing stand-level water absorption and evaporation,” says Wei. “While heavier thinning can mean more rigorous trees, it can also produce more ecological benefits, such as resistance to the effect of drought.”

Wei, who teaches forest hydrology in UBCO’s earth, environmental and geographic sciences department, says the world needs more healthy forests and thinning of some species of trees is a good way to improve the overall growing conditions of the individual trees in overcrowded forests.

Wei’s research team, consisting of scientists from the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, the University of Waterloo and universities in Spain and China, conducted a multi-year study over three blocks of trees in the upper Penticton experimental watershed.

After selective trees were harvested, the individual forest blocks were monitored closely over a two-year period. The researchers tracked tree diameter, sap flows, moisture retention and at the same time kept track of the weather conditions including wind, precipitation, temperature, sunshine and relative humidity.

“Our results generally agree with other studies showing that thinning can greatly increase tree-level radial growth while at the same time, decreasing stand-level transpiration due to the decrease in stand density,” says Wei.

The researchers had three study plots—one heavily harvested, the other lightly harvested and one left alone. While the trees benefit from having more space and daylight, the study also states juvenile thinning could mitigate the effects of drought, as fewer trees need rainwater and moisture from the ground.

“Our two-year results demonstrate that the more heavily thinned treatment reducing the number of trees per hectare from 27,000 to 1,100 had the more pronounced effect on tree growth, sap flow velocity and stand-level transpiration,” says Yi Wang, who conducted this research as part of her graduate studies. “Significant improvements in radial growth and tree transpiration in the heavily thinned stand corresponded with improved quality of daylight and soil water availability than the other two stands.”

Wei also notes the more heavily thinned stands did maintain the highest tree growth and the best moisture absorption even during a drought year. He suggests the information from this study will be useful in future years, especially when it comes to planning management strategies for forests impacted by climate change.

But he also notes, previous studies have determined that thinning trees may not guarantee a healthy forest.

“However, other forestry research has shown that tree species, the age at which forests are thinned, and the number of trees left after thinning all have a substantial effect on the health of the future forest and wood products, says Wei. “So forest management decisions on thinning must be made within a much broader context and take into consideration timber supply, forest health, carbon stocks, water conservation, wildfire risks and wildlife habitat.”

“More studies on long-term effects of thinning are still needed to support development of sustainable management for both water and wood,” says Rita Winkler, researcher with the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. “As well as for carbon sequestration and the many other ecological functions of lodgepole pine forests, particularly in the context of climate change.”

The study, partially funded by a collaborative research grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, was recently published in Forest Ecology and Management.

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

New service aims to make transparency, collaboration, and reproducibility easier than ever

With increasing interest in promoting transparency, collaboration, and reproducibility in academic research, the University of British Columbia announced today that it has become the first Canadian post-secondary institution to join the Center for Open Science’s online platform, Open Science Framework Institutions (OSFI).

OSFI is a highly flexible collaboration and research management tool that encourages best practices in project organization and reproducibility.

Mathew Vis-Dunbar is a librarian for the Southern Medical Program, biology and human kinetics at UBC Okanagan and has been leading UBC’s adoption of the system. He says the university’s embrace of open science is important for bringing greater transparency to academic research and for helping to maintain public trust in science.

“With recent concerns about a reproducibility crisis plaguing scientific research, the benefits of open science, where everything from research plans to the data and results of a study is posted for all to review and scrutinize, are well recognized,” says Vis-Dunbar. “Breaking down traditional barriers to collaborative research is also very effective at improving the quality and impact of research, making connections and accelerating the pace of scientific discovery.”

That is where OSFI comes in, says Jason Pither, associate professor of biology at UBC Okanagan and collaborator on the project.

“We all strive to publish ground-breaking research, but equally important is ensuring that our work is reproducible, and discoverable to all who wish to see it,” says Pither. “OSFI facilitates this. It is a free online platform that helps researchers organize their research projects and workflow, to keep track of all changes made along the way, and to store and share protocols and outputs.

Pither adds that it also integrates with many tools that researchers are already using, and makes large international collaborations easy.

“OSFI accommodates all aspects of the work that goes into research, such as storing data and making them accessible and discoverable,” he says. “And unlike other platforms, OSFI provides storage infrastructure that resides in Canada.”

“Our membership in OSFI will help UBC researchers lead Canada’s efforts towards greater transparency and rigour in academic research, and it’s a move I expect many other institutions to follow.”

To find out more about the initiative at UBC behind OSFI, visit:  openscience.ubc.ca/about

To find out more about the Center for Open Science and the OSFI platform, visit: cos.io

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

100 Debates on the Environment brings policies to the forefront

When: Thursday, October 3, from 7 to 9 p.m.
What: 100 Debates on the Environment, Kelowna-Lake Country candidates
Who: Federal candidates in Kelowna-Lake Country riding
Where: Arts and Sciences building, room ASC 140, 3187 University Way, UBC Okanagan

Organized by UBC Okanagan’s Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience and Ecosystem Services, election hopefuls will be on campus for a question and answer session on Thursday, October 3.

Each candidate will have to answer four questions—the same being asked of candidates across Canada that day and provided by 100 Debates on the Environment. The 100 Debates project is a non-partisan initiative with the goal to bring climate change and environmental policy issues to the forefront of the election.

After the questions are answered, candidates can address some locally focused topics. There will be time for audience questions near the end. Moderated by former Global Okanagan news anchor Rick Webber, the event is politically neutral.

The event is free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required: 100debates-kelownalc.eventbrite.ca

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning in the heart of British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. Ranked among the top 20 public universities in the world, UBC is home to bold thinking and discoveries that make a difference. Established in 2005, the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

Gibsons’ CAO shares experience developing eco-assets strategy

What: Nature’s Role as Municipal Infrastructure
Who: Emanuel Machado, Chief Administrative Officer, Town of Gibsons, BC
When: Wednesday, September 18 starting at 4:30 p.m.
Where: The Engineering, Management and Education building, room EME 1202, 3333 University Way, UBC's Okanagan campus

Natural assets and the ecosystem services they provide are a fundamental part of local government infrastructure. When properly managed, natural assets such as forests, wetlands and green spaces have many advantages over engineered infrastructure—including being less expensive to operate and maintain.

The Town of Gibsons, BC, was the first North American municipality to manage natural resources using asset management, financial management and ecology principles that are systematically applied to managing engineered assets.

Gibsons’ Chief Administrative Officer Emanuel Machado will share his experience in developing the town’s eco-assets strategy at a special event on September 18 at UBCO. Machado has worked with communities across Canada, promoting a greater use of renewable energy, net-zero buildings, water strategies, social plans and sustainability frameworks, all with a focus on people.

This event, presented by UBC’s Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience, and Ecosystem Services (BRAES), is free and open to the public. BRAES is a group of more than 30 researchers and graduate students working in ecology, biodiversity and conservation, and environmental sustainability on UBC’s Okanagan campus.

To learn more about BRAES, visit: braes.ok.ubc.ca

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning in the heart of British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. Ranked among the top 20 public universities in the world, UBC is home to bold thinking and discoveries that make a difference. Established in 2005, the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

UBC hosts ecologist who explains the science behind pollinator conservation

What: What's the Buzz? Understanding the status of native bees and what you can do to help
Who: York University ecologist Sheila Colla
When: Tuesday, April 16 at 6 p.m.
Where: room ASC 130, Arts and Sciences Building, 3187 University Way, UBC Okanagan

As April showers bring May flowers, those flowers are going to need something to help with pollination. Enter the simple bee.

In Canada, bees make up the most important group of pollinators. However, the status of most wild bee populations in Canada is unknown. UBC Okanagan’s Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience, and Ecosystems Services is hosting York University ecologist Sheila Colla, who will talk about the conversation of bees.

Her research uses scientific principles to address conservation issues and focuses on the lesser understood native species such as bees, butterflies and flowering plants.

On April 16, Colla will host a public talk where she will discuss native bee diversity and the ecosystem services they provide. She will give an overview of their conservation status and describe how people can help declining species at both the policy and individual levels.

While in Kelowna, Colla will meet with UBCO Professor Nancy Holmes, who runs the Border Free Bees project and UBC Assistant Professor Adam Ford who runs UBCO’s Wildlife Restoration Ecology Lab. She will also take part in a biodiversity seminar series, present her research at a graduate student seminar, meet with students and faculty and explore Kelowna’s nectar trail and.

Colla’s talk is open to the public, but registration is required. To register, visit: eventbrite.ca/e/whats-the-buzz-tickets-60139222032

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning in the heart of British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. Ranked among the top 20 public universities in the world, UBC is home to bold thinking and discoveries that make a difference. Established in 2005, the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca.

University experts comment on how climate change is transforming alpine environments

Mountains are bellwethers of climate shifts according to new reporting led by UBC researchers, who suggest these terrains are experiencing a variety of rapid and worrying changes.

Mountains comprise a quarter of the world’s land surface and are home to a quarter of the world’s human population. Across Canada, mountain landscapes cover 1.5 million square-kilometres.

“These giants respond rapidly and intensely to climatic and environmental variation,” says UBC Okanagan sustainability researcher Lael Parrott, report editor and contributor. “Both social and natural scientists are recognizing that mountains are sentinels of change.”

The State of the Mountains Report describes the abrupt effect of retreating glaciers on the flow of mountain rivers and watersheds. The report states entire mountain ranges are showing evidence of change.

“These observations can be considered a window to the future, providing a glimpse of some of the consequences associated with the rapid loss of mountain glaciers to come,” says Parrott.

Other updates in the report include changes in tourism, avalanche prediction, birds and mammals and treelines.

In spite of the serious consequences of some of the changes documented in the report, Parrott and other editors of the report remain optimistic. They suggest that the aim is to increase awareness and inform Canadians about the changes in mountain places. This, in turn, may lead to support for policies on headwaters protection to mitigate risks of flooding, conservation of alpine species and their habitats, as well as management of tourism.

“In times of change, mountains need stewards more than ever,” adds Parrott.

About the State of the Mountains Report

The 2018 State of the Mountains Report, published by the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC), is a collection of expert summaries written to raise awareness about the ways a changing climate is transforming the alpine environment. Editors include University of Alberta mountain historian Zac Robinson, mountain ecology researcher David Hik and Lael Parrott from UBC’s Okanagan campus.

The report is a follow up to a similar 2011 article, which was a summary of research being carried out across the country. The 2018 State of the Mountains Report was produced for the ACC, in partnership with The Royal Canadian Geographic Society. The “On the Map” pages in the May-June 2018 issue of Canadian Geographic complement the material in this report.

Both Lael Parrott and Zac Robinson serve on the Board of Directors of the Alpine Club of Canada. David Hik is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society.

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning in the heart of British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. Ranked among the top 20 public universities in the world, UBC is home to bold thinking and discoveries that make a difference. Established in 2005, the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world. For more visit ok.ubc.ca.