Withering wildlife: Will Canada Target 1 conservation goals effectively protect our unique biodiversity?

Alina C. Fisher and Tanya Samman, Environmental & Earth Sciences co-editors What comes to mind when you think of Canada’s parks? Vast tracts of wilderness? A place to hike or camp? The mandate of Parks Canada is to ensure natural areas for both ecological integrity and human enjoyment. But human enjoyment may not be as […]

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Long live loons and their research

Robert Alvo, guest contributor, Nature Conservancy of Canada In the 1970s, North Americans were already concerned about the effects of human activity on the common loon, a large charismatic diving bird that breeds on lakes. My bachelor’s thesis at Queen’s University examined this concern on 10 lakes in Ontario in 1980. On busy lakes, boats […]

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Call of the wetland

Nicole Kahal, guest contributor Have you ever heard frogs or toads calling in an urban environment? Or spotted a secretive salamander as it makes it way to an urban pond? If you live in Calgary, Alberta, the Miistakis Institute is interested in your observations. With Miistakis’ partners, we’ve designed a citizen science program called Call […]

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Keep them in your heart: Monitoring the Bicknell’s Thrush

Lené Gary, General Science editor “You must have the bird in your heart before you can find it in the bush.” – John Burroughs While that might be true, unless you’re planning a trip to the Greater Antilles, you won’t have much luck finding Bicknell’s Thrush in a bush right now. That’s because this rare, […]

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Saving the planet one species at a time

by Jennifer Poirier, New Science Communicator Guest Blogger Save the oceans. Save the rainforest. Save the planet. These are all incredible, daunting, pursuit-worthy goals, but to a student in Nova Scotia, these problems seem very distant. Although we ultimately all feel the effects of environmental issues, it’s easy to distance ourselves from large, looming disasters […]

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