Search

The oil and gas industry has grown significantly throughout the boreal and arctic ecosystems of North America. A major feature of the ecological footprint of oil and gas exploration is seismic lines--narrow corridors used to transport and deploy geophysical survey equipment. These lines, which traverse forests, tundra, uplands, and peatlands, were historically up to10mwide. Over the past decade, seismic lines have decreasedinwidth (in some cases downto1.75-3m); however, their density has increased drastically and their construction is expected to continue in regions of Canada and the United States that are rich in oil and gas resources. We examine the literature related to the environmental impacts of, and restoration and reclamation efforts associated with, seismic lines in the boreal and arctic ecosystems of North America. With respect to conventional seismic lines, numerous studies report significant and persistent environmental changes along these lines and slow recovery of vegetation that translates into a lasting fragmentation of the landscape. This fragmentation has many ramifications for biodiversity and ecosystem processes, including significant implications for threatened woodland caribou herds. While modern, low-impact seismic lines have comparatively lower ecological effects at the site-level, their high density and associated potential edge effects suggest that their actual environmental impact may be underestimated. Seismic line restoration is a critical aspect of future integrated landscape management in hydrocarbon-rich regions of the boreal-arctic, and if widely applied, has the potential to benefit a wide range of species and maintain or re-establish key ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and biodiversity. Key words: linear disturbances, low-impact seismic lines, conventional seismic lines, environmental footprint, regulations, restoration methods. L'industrie petroliere et gaziere s'est developpee considerablement partout dans les ecosystemes boreaux et arctiques de l'Amerique du Nord. Une caracteristique majeure de l'empreinte ecologique de l'exploration petroliere et gaziere reside dans les profils sismiques--couloirs etroits utilises pour transporter et deployer l'equipement pour les leves geophysiques. Ces lignes, qui traversent des forets, la toundra, de hautes terres et des tourbieres, etaient historiquement jusqu'a 10 m de largeur. Au cours de la derniere decennie, les lignes sismiques ont diminue en largeur (dans certains cas aussi etroites que 1,75-3 m); cependant, leur densite a augmente considerablement et on s'attend a ce que leur construction continue dans les regions du Canada et des Etats-Unis qui sont riches en ressources petrolieres et gazieres. Nous examinons la litterature portant sur les impacts des lignes sismiques sur l'environnement et les efforts de restauration et de remise en etat associes a celles-ci dans les ecosystemes boreaux et arctiques de l'Amerique du Nord. En ce qui concerne les lignes sismiques traditionnelles, de nombreuses etudes font etat de changements environnementaux importants et persistants le long de ces lignes et du lent retablissement de la vegetation ce qui mene a une fragmentation durable du paysage. Cette fragmentation a beaucoup de ramifications au niveau de la biodiversite et des processus des ecosystemes,ycompris des repercussions importantes sur les troupeauxdecaribous des bois qui sont menaces. Tandis que les lignes sismiques modernes a faible impact ont des effets ecologiques comparativement inferieurs au niveau du site, leur forte concentration et les effets lisieres possibles y etant lies suggerent que leur reel impact sur l'environnement puisse etre sous-estime. La restauration de lignes sismiques est un aspect critique au niveau de la gestion future de paysage integree dans les regions riches en hydrocarbures de l'Arctique boreale et, si elle est appliquee a grande echelle, elle a la possibilite d'avantager un large eventail d'especes et de maintenir ou de retablir des services ecosystemiques cles comme la sequestration du carbone et la biodiversite. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : perturbations lineaires, lignes sismiques a faible incidence, lignes sismiques traditionnelles, empreinte ecologique, reglements, methodes de restauration., 1. Introduction Seismic lines, narrow linear clearings created during hydrocarbon exploration, are a common feature in the hydrocarbon-rich boreal and tundra ecosystems of North America (Fig. 1). As of 1999, [...]

This research note presents the results of a bibliometric analysis that was conducted to better understand the impact that Sustainable Forest Management Network (SFMN) funded research had in the forest-related social and Aboriginal research communities. We applied two indicators of research impact: (i) research outputs and (ii) citations. Our results suggest that the SFMN's research outputs were highest in the fields of economics, sociology, and political science and law. The number of research articles that acknowledged the SFMN was 30% of the total research output of the SFMN-funded Principal Investigators. These articles represented 3% of the social science articles published in the Forestry Chronicle (the journal most frequently used by SFMN-funded Principal Investigators). Research output related to Aboriginal forestry indicated that the SFMN had a significant influence on the development of the field. Our citation analysis indicated that the average number of citations per SFMN-acknowledged publication in the social sciences was approximately the same as the international impact standard in the field. These results suggest that the SFMN-funded research in the social sciences compared very well with the international research standards in forest-related social sciences. Resume: Cette note de recherche expose les resultats d'une analyse bibliometrique effectuee afin de mieux comprendre l'impact des projets de recherche finances par le Reseau de gestion durable des forets (RGDF) au sein des communautes scientifiques preoccupees par les aspects sociaux et les enjeux autochtones en foresterie. Nous avons utilises deux types d'indicateurs pour mesurer l'impact de la recherche: (i) la production scientifique et (ii) les citations. Nos resultats montrent que la production scientifique du RGDF est la plus prolifique dans les domaines de l'economique, de la sociologie, de la science politique et du droit. Le nombre d'articles scientifiques qui reconnaissent la contribution du RGDF 30% de la production totale des chercheurs principaux finances par le RGDF. Ces articles constituent 3% des articles en sciences sociales publies dans le Forestry Chronicle (la publication la plus frequemment utilisee par les chercheurs principaux finance s par le RGDF). La production scientifique reliee a` la foresterie autochtone montre que le RGDF a eu une influence marquante sur le developpement du domaine. Notre analyse des citations indique que le nombre moyen de citations par publication en sciences sociales attribuee au RGDF est approximativement le meme que la norme internationale dans ce domaine. Ces resultats indiquent que la contribution scientifique du RGDF dans le domaine des sciences sociales se compare tre`s bien aux normes internationales dans le domaine de la recherche en sciences sociales en lien avec la foresterie. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction The Sustainable Forest Management Network (SFMN) (1995-2009) was a Canadian Network of Centres of Excellence established with the objectives of stimulating fundamental and applied research, developing improved techniques and [...]

Various effects on plant growth associated with handling or touching plants are well documented from greenhouse and laboratory studies, but are generally unknown or ignored under field conditions. We examined the prevalence of the effects of handling, at levels typical of many ecological experiments, on aboveground biomass and damage by invertebrate herbivores for a total of 16 common species from three plant communities in western Canada. Significant effects of handling were observed in the alpine meadow and grassland, but not in the boreal forest. Handling reduced aboveground biomass and increased the mean intensity of invertebrate leaf damage for most species. A meta-analysis of the relationship between plant traits and response to handling indicated that woody plants and species without strong chemical or conspicuous morphological defenses were most strongly affected. Overall, our results indicate that potentially confounding effects of routinely sampling plants in the field are widespread and merit further investigation. Key words: alpine meadow; boreal forest; grassland; meta-analysis; observer effect; old field; thigmomorphogenesis; visitation.