There are four themes within BERA: Vegetation, Soils and Ecohydrology, Humans & Wildlife, and Remote Sensing. Each theme addresses one or two strategic priorities that are coupled with one or more tactical deliverables. These tactical deliverables are the specific targets for BERA’s models and planning tools.
Each theme dives deeper into the complex system that gives rise to our specific list of associated projects (below).
Links to supporting documents (research updates, research summaries) are provided as available. Please note that this table is a living document and will be updated regularly.
| VEGETATION THEME |
|
Project Focus | Project Codes and Title | Research Lead |
Tree Growth, Abundance & Height | VG1:1: Natural patterns in recovery trajectories of trees on seismic lines VG1.2: State of seismic line restoration in Alberta VG1.3: Cost-benefit analysis of passive to active restoration VG1.4: Prioritization of seismic line restoration treatments | Sutheimer (PhD) |
Landscape Fragmentation & Recovery Trajectory | VG2.1: Implications of defragmentation from seismic line recovery & restoration VG2.2: Site-level pathways of recovery on seismic lines VG2.3: Climate change & transition probabilities in tree regeneration on seismic lines VG2.4: State-and-transition models for seismic lines | Viliani (PhD) |
Herbivory & Tree Regeneration | VG3.1: Browse subsidy for moose/deer on seismic lines VG3.2: Relationships between browse subsidy & herbivory on regenerating trees | Quayle (MSc) |
Large-scale Recovery Models | IN1: Conceptual models | TBD |
IN2: Final models | TBD |
| SOILS AND HYDROLOGY THEME |
|
Project Focus | Project Codes and Title | Research Lead |
Hydrologic Changes & Water Balance | SY2.2: Effect of seismic lines on evapotranspiration | Bayatvarkeshi (PhD) |
Hydrologic Changes & Snow | SY1.2: Changes to snow accumulation and ablation and soil frost conditions on mounded and unmounded seismic lines | Weiland (MSc) |
SY2.1: Effects of seismic lines on snow accumulation and ablation at regional scales | Bayatvarkeshi (PhD) | |
Mounding, Soil Physics & Chemistry | Weiland (MSc) | |
Kleinke (MSc) | ||
SY3b: How does mound construction and local characteristic affect early seedling success | Fliesser (MSc) | |
SY3c: Changes to physical and chemical soil properties on treated and untreated seismic lines | Davidson (PDF) | |
Carbon Cycling & Greenhouse Gases: Lines and treatments | SY4.1 Effect of mounding treatments on peatland C exchange SY4.2 Effect of seismic line disturbance and mounding on soil C stocks | Tabassum (PhD) |
SY5.1 Changes to peat accumulation potential on peatland seismic lines SY5.2 Changes in methane flux on peatland seismic lines | Korsah (PhD) | |
Plant Functional Traits: Linkages to C mapping | IN3a: How does peatland plant community function change on mounded and unmounded seismic lines | Goud (PDF) |
IN3b: Using RGB photos to monitor plant community phenology and C exchange on peatland seismic lines | Davidson (PDF) | |
IN3c: Plant functional traits – direct measurements in peatlands | TBD (MSc) |
| HUMANS AND WILDLIFE THEME |
|
Project Focus | Project Codes and Title | Research Lead |
Wildlife, Line Width & Recovery | HW1.1: Response of boreal songbird communities to linear features of varying width HW1.2: Changes in edge effect based on line width, recovery state and forest type | Kalukapuge (PhD) |
Human Activity & Wildlife | HW2.1: Assessing human activity level based on ARU sounds along seismic lines HW2.2: Response of boreal birds to human activity on seismic lines. | TBD |
Wildlife & Wellsite Recovery | HW3.1: Response of small mammals to wellsite with varying recovery state HW3.2: Changes in edge effect based on recovery state and forest type | TBD |
Human-Vegetation Recovery | IN4: Does how we measure foot and footprint influence our understanding of wildlife responses? | TBD |
| REMOTE SENSING THEME |
| |
Project Focus | Project Codes and Title | Research Lead | |
Restoration Assessment (Status of Line) | Remote Sensing Traits | Yeomans (MSc) | |
RS4a.1: Plant traits – pixels and point clouds | Chan (MSc) | ||
RS4b.1: Hydrological traits | TBD (MSc) | ||
Line Characteristics | RS5.1: Age / Disturbance epoch | Klotz (MSc) | |
RS5.2: Surface topography and water-table position | Koch (MSc) | ||
RS5.3: Solar irradiance and establishment | Heglis (MSc) | ||
RS5.4: Advanced regeneration / Functional recovery | Byford (MSc) | ||
RS5.5: Other (center line, footprint, direction, orientation) | Technician | ||
RS5.6: Intensity of human use on seismic lines | Terentieva (PDF) | ||
Matrix Characteristics | RS 6.1: Canopy and Understory Metrics | TBD | |
Edge Characteristics | RS3.1: RADAR Interferometry | Heiss (MSc) | |
RS3.2: Edge structure and characterization | TBD | ||
Integration and Scaling | IN5: A remote-sensing approach to boreal restoration assessment | Shellian (PhD) | |
Restoration Monitoring | Tree Detection, Height, and Growth | RS1a: Remote detection of seedlings/saplings: technical and environmental controls | Terentieva (PDF) |
RS1b.1: Black spruce and tamarack survival and growth: silvicultural-treatment effects RS1b.2: Remote sensing of seedling/sapling height and growth: environmental controls | Shellian (MSc) | ||
RS1b.3: Remote sensing of seedling/sapling height and growth: technical controls | TBD |