OUR RESEARCH · RESTORE
Restoration and Reclamation
How do we restore freshwater ecosystems and measure whether conservation actions work? We study habitat offsetting, fish stocking, habitat enhancement, and ways to bring Indigenous and local knowledge into conservation decisions.
FOUR RESEARCH THEMES
Restoring habitats and strengthening conservation decisions
Habitat Offsetting and Banking
We evaluate whether habitat offsets and conservation banks deliver meaningful gains for freshwater biodiversity, and how offset design, measurement, and policy can improve outcomes.
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Efficacy of Stocking
We test whether fish stocking achieves restoration and fisheries-management goals, and investigate how stocked fish interact with existing aquatic communities.
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Building Fish Habitat Enhancement
We assess constructed and enhanced habitats, including spawning substrates and coarse woody structures, to understand how fish and aquatic communities respond over time.
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Incorporating Local and Traditional Knowledge
We explore how Indigenous and local knowledge can complement ecological science, strengthen understanding of environmental change, and inform collaborative freshwater conservation.
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Measuring restoration success
We combine field surveys, fish community monitoring, habitat assessments, ecological analysis, and partnerships with communities and resource managers to evaluate restoration strategies. Our goal is to distinguish interventions that produce lasting ecological benefits from those that fall short.
Research in Action
How effective is habitat banking?
Research examines how offset credits are calculated, the risks associated with habitat banks, and their potential to support freshwater biodiversity.
Building fish habitat enhancements
Long-term monitoring examines how habitat enhancements, including coarse woody structures and spawning substrate, affect freshwater ecosystems.
Publications and ongoing research
Explore publications and related restoration research, or return to Research Overview.
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Image credit: Mackenzie River Delta photograph by Adam Jones / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0; displayed with cropping. Illustrative landscape, not a study photograph.
