Habitat fragmentation from in situ oil sands: biodiversity responses and mitigation

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In situ oil sands represent one of the fastest growing footprints in Alberta's boreal forest raising environmental concerns over its effects on biodiversity. Although the overall footprint of in situ disturbances is relatively small (~5-15% of landscape), their effects are likely compounded by fragmentation (edge effects) and changes in connectivity. Indeed, much of the fragmentation from in situ disturbances is due to linear disturbances such as pipelines, roads, and seismic lines. These features alter movements of organisms thereby changing biotic interactions. Recent research has demonstrated that the federally threatened woodland caribou is sensitive to these changes via wolf-deer-caribou dynamics. However, little is known about responses to other non-vertebrate taxa, as well as how these responses vary as a function of amount of footprint, amount of fragmentation, and time since disturbance (lag effects), or potentially their interaction. In this project we will assess the impacts of in situ oil sands for a suite of biodiversity indicators and habitats in order to assess the scale and potential lag effects of impacts and subsequently to develop and test potential mitigation and restoration strategies including conservation offsets. Results of this research will inform biodiversity management of in situ developments and help guide where restoration strategies would be most cost-effective and beneficial to biodiversity conservation.