Comparing Cultural to Natural Disturbance Patterns

How do industrial disturbance patterns differ from those of Mother Nature? As ecosystems shift further away from their natural range they lose ecological memory & are less resilient and less sustainable.

This research project from the Healthy Landscapes Program measures the differences between natural and industrial disturbance patterns.

How do industrial disturbance patterns differ from those of Mother Nature? As ecosystems shift further away from their natural range they lose ecological memory & are less resilient and less sustainable.

This project measures the differences between natural, historic disturbance patterns from wildfire, and those from decades of industrial activity. The analysis includes two scales: sub-landscape and biome.

At the sub-landscape scale, the disturbance patterns since 1960 from three areas in the Alberta foothills, and four in northeastern Alberta were compared to their historic ranges using the NEPTUNE decision support tool and indicators.  

At the biome scale, satellite imagery was used to evaluate coarse-scale measures of disturbance across the Canadian boreal.

The project team included:

• Nicholas Coops, UBC Forest Resource Management
• Paul Pickell, PhD student, UBC Forest Resource Management
• David Andison, Bandaloop Landscape-Ecosystem Services