Response of endangered turtle to environmental change can inform industry biodiversity mandate

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Quantifying the ways that animals respond to changing natural environmental conditions can inform how they will respond to changes induced by human activities. By studying these animal responses in such "natural experiments", scientifically-informed biodiversity, habitat restoration, and mitigation plans can be developed for Species At Risk that occur in areas where industrial activities impact the environment. One such contemporary environmental change has been the increase in water levels in the Great Lakes as part of the long-term natural cycling of lake levels. In collaboration with Bruce Power, a nuclear power generating company located on the shores of Lake Huron, researchers at Laurentian University will examine the population viability, spatial ecology and nest site selection in a local population of Endangered Spotted Turtles in response to the changing water levels of the lake. The collaborative project will provide important ecological information to directly assist Bruce Power's efforts to realize their biodiversity mandate, to meet legislative requirements of their Environment Monitoring Program, and to align with their partnership with the Council of the Great Lakes Region (CGLR) to conduct a 3-year study of the impacts of climate change on aquatic systems and power generation operations. Given that power generation is a major economic activity in Canada, the contributions of electricity companies like Bruce Power to environmental and social undertakings, will contribute through environmental responsibility, to the well-being of individual Canadians and the overall economic well-being of Canada.