Landscape ecology for conservation : Canadian boreal cryptogams in a global context

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The world's biosphere is changing at an unprecedented speed. The daily loss of species to extinction is now a reality; consequently, efforts in species conservation are of primary importance as the erosion of planetary diversity weakens the resilience of the biosphere. For many species outside of vertebrates, conservation efforts are hindered by the lack of basic biodiversity information such as distribution ranges and basic ecology. These knowledge gaps are not evenly distributed across the tree of life or the globe,These gaps are particularly evident for cryptogams, ast seven of the ten plant families with the least amount of biodiversity information available globally were bryophytes. Additionally, while abundant information is available in temperate regions, the quantity of biodiversity information available drops towards the tropical and boreal zones. Without information on species' distribution ranges, population sizes, and functional traits, it is impossible to evaluate whether species are of conservation concern. If the IUCN criteria for species at risk are applied, information is required on the distribution ranges of species, the habitats they occupy within this range, and their population sizes. As the biosphere is rapidly changing, it is also necessary to understand how species disperse across the landscape and their ability to track habitat envelopes in order to understand their level of vulnerability. Consequently, with this research program we will: (i) determine the importance of cross-scalar effects (i.e. the interaction between microhabitats and macroclimates) in determining regional habitats and consequently species' distribution ranges; (ii) determine how dispersal interacts with both distribution ranges and population sizes; and (iii) determine regional and continental species' distribution ranges and population sizes. This research is novel on several fronts. First, I will be describing the relative importance of processes that determine species composition at scales beyond the habitat patch for understudied groups of organisms. Second, biogeography boreal of bryophytes in Canada has long been ignored because of the vast expanse of the forests and an assumption that “everything was everywhere”. However, we know this is not true as the only biogeographical study of boreal bryophytes (published in the 1970s) indicated continental patterns but no studies have examined this question in detail since. Understanding the spatial variation in bryophyte species richness and community composition across the Canadian boreal forest is critical to understanding what natural areas within the boreal forest are representative or distinctive in their bryoflora, in order to identify representative or distinct ecosystems from their vegetation components. In that respect, this understanding is also critical to Goal C of Canada's 2020 Biodiversity Targets.