Dr. Jim Schieck described how cumulative effects studies could be done for biodiversity assessments. The long term monitoring done by the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute provides both a baseline and data for more detailed mapping and modeling.
He presents some preliminary results from a 2 year study to illustrate some of the concepts. The list of species and habitats that people want monitored is long. Realistically, however, good data requires being selective (focus on a few plants and birds) and then interpretation of human footprint from satellite photos, followed up with on-site monitoring from a large number of representative sites. He describes how this process could be leveraged to predict cumulative effects.
Dr. Jim Schieck is co-director with the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute and an ecologist with Alberta Innovates, Technology Futures. He presented at the PTAC Forum on Resource Access and Ecological Issues, November 26, 2012.
