| Resource Name |
Impacts and prognosis of natural resource development on aquatic biodiversity in Canada's boreal zone |
| Unique File Number |
379 |
| Information Type |
applied Research |
| Surface Water |
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| Aquatic Ecosystem |
A |
| Groundwater |
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| Groundwater & Surface Water |
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| Management for Natural & Industrial Hazards |
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| Strengths |
national/international review of studies for a range of disturbance types (forest management, pulp & paper effluent, hydroelectric impoundment, mining of minerals, oil sands extraction and peat mining. Biodiversity indicators considered were: fish, amphibians, macroinvertebrates, zooplankton, phytoplankton, periphyton. |
| Limitations |
very little research has been completed in BC, therefore few BC studies included. Does not include oil & gas exploration and extraction (only oil sands) |
| Challenges |
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| Outstanding Research Questions |
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| Outstanding Research Questions |
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| Information Subtype |
aquatic ecology |
| Organization |
NRCAN |
| Resource Name |
Kreutzweiser, D et al. 2013. Impacts and prognosis of natural resouce development on aquatic biodiversity in Canada's boreal zone. Environmental Reviews 21: 227-259. |
| Resource Purpose |
Conservation efforts to sustain water resources and aquatic biodiversity in boreal watersheds will require reliable information on the recent status of various indicator species and an improved understanding of the risks to aquatic biodiversity posed by resource development activities. We reviewed the recent state of knowledge on the responses of aquatic biodiversity to forest management, pulp and paper mill effluents, hydroelectric impoundments, mining of minerals and metals, oil sands extractions, and peat mining and offer a prognosis for aquatic biodiversity under each of these environmental stressors. Despite the prevalence of natural resource development in Canada’s largest forest ecosystem, there was a limited amount of published literature on the effects of many of the disturbance types on various indicators of aquatic biodiversity, making it difficult to produce a current and reliable status assessment. Across most of the boreal zone, there is a lack of coordinated, consistent data collection for many of the bioindicators and disturbance types discussed in this review. Forecasting the future state of aquatic biodiversity across the boreal zone is challenged by increasing natural resource development and its interactions with other stressors, especially climate change. The cumulative effects of multiple stressors coupled with resource development activities in boreal watersheds remain largely unknown. More importantly, the ecological thresholds for these cumulative effects (that is, the point at which aquatic ecosystems and their biodiversity cannot recover to a desired state within a reasonable time frame) are also unknown and remain gaps in our knowledge. The recent literature identifies a number of risks to aquatic biodiversity at local (tens of square kilometres) to regional (hundreds of square kilometres) scales associated with natural resource development. There are indications that many of these risks can be minimized by “greener” technologies for resource development and reclamation, practical conservation planning and regulation, and increased stewardship in watershed management, although the effectiveness of many of these measures cannot yet be assessed from the published literature. |
| Type of Information |
article |
| How does this help decision making? |
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| Program Status |
complete |
| NE Coverage |
national |
| Drinking Water |
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| Ecosystem |
y |
| Fish |
y |
| Groundwater |
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| Public Safety |
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| SW Quality |
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| SW Quantity |
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| Link |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/er-2013-0044 |
| Text Query |
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| Spatial Metadata |
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| Map |
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| Contact Email |
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