Sustainable Resource and Land-Use Development
Research
Meeting the societal need for resource (e.g. oil and gas, timber) and land-use development while maintaining environmental sustainability can be challenging. As the human population grows, so does the need for resource and land-use development for that population. Developing sustainable development remains a global challenge. We strive to help assess and improve sustainable development in relation to aquatic ecosystems. For example, industrial activities related to the exploration and development of natural resources have created large networks of roads that we've shown to negatively impact aquatic ecosystems (Maitland et al. 2016a). Prioritization methods that consider at-risk species can help mitigate problem these problem stream crossings (Maitland et al. 2016b). Other projects include: assessing the impact of oil sands development on aquatic ecosystems (Donner et al. 2018; Shotyk et al. 2018; Sun et. al. 2017), assessing spills and determining bio-accumulation of metals in aquatic ecosystems. Click on the photos, articles or news items to learn more about some of the research we are conducting on sustainable resource development! Note: * Lab members.
Articles from Lab
Theis S.*, and M.S. Poesch (2022) Assessing conservation and mitigation banking practices and associated gains and losses in the United States. Sustainability.
Ponton D.E., Ruelas-Inzunza J., Lavoie R., Lescord G.L., Johnston T.A., Graydon J.A., Reichert, M., Donadt C., Poesch M.S., Gunn, J.A., and M. Amyot. (2022) Mercury, selenium and arsenic concentrations in Canadian freshwater fish and a perspective on human consumption intake and risk. Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances.
Theis S.*, and M.S. Poesch (2022) Current capacity, bottlenecks, and future projections for offsetting habitat loss using mitigation and conservation banking in the United States. Journal for Nature Conservation 67:126159.
Theis, S.*, Ruppert, J.W.R*, Roberts, K.*, Koops, M., Minns, K. and M.S. Poesch. (2020) Compliance with and ecosystem function of biodiversity offsets in North American and European freshwaters. Conservation Biology 34(1) 41-53.
Sinnatamby, R.N.*, Loewen, T.N., Luo, Y., Pearson, D.G., Bicalho, B., Grant-Weaver, I., Cuss, C.W., Poesch,M.S., and W. Shotyk. (2019). Spatial assessment of major and trace element concentrations from Lower Athabasca Region Trout-perch (Percopsis omiscomaycus) otoliths. Science of the Total Environment 655 (10): 363-373.
News from the Lab
CBC interviews Dr. Poesch about new article on offsetting in freshwater ecosystems (CBC News; CBC Radio)
Fish Friendly: Applying science to preserve native fish populations in the oilsands region (Magazine)
Lakes created ‘from scratch’ try to replace fish habitat in Alberta’s oilsands region (Edmonton Journal)