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Glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) are highly effective, nonselective herbicides that have been used in British Columbia’s forest industry since the early 1980s to remove deciduous vegetation competing with commercially important coniferous tree…

Applications of environmental DNA (eDNA) represent one of the most significant recent advances in aquatic species monitoring. eDNA has the potential to dramatically increase the effectiveness and efficiency of fisheries monitoring across large…

River networks have a high amount of thermal habitat heterogeneity which is a critical abiotic factor driving freshwater fish distribution. The fitness repercussions of residing outside a species’ optimal thermal limits, and the resulting…

Life histories of Pacific salmon are remarkable in that they return to specific freshwater sites to spawn after multiple years of ocean residence. In Chapter 1, I investigated site fidelity at a reach scale for Interior Fraser Coho Salmon (…

Predation of fish raised and released as part of conservation aquaculture programs can pose a threat to the recovery of endangered populations. Therefore, understanding the impact of specific predators is important to inform these programs. In…

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in many common broad-spectrum herbicides used in forestry operations to reduce the presence of unwanted, competitive plant species. As a result of aerial applications, non-target forest understory plants receive a…

Urbanization is considered one of the greatest human-caused threats to biodiversity. Human development and encroachment on native habitats and its impacts on species, however, is nuanced; while it has been found to create detrimental impacts on some…

Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide commonly used in Canadian forests to control competitive vegetation. The non target plant species are exposed to a sublethal dose of glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) due to aerial applications that cause…

The Chun T’Oh Wudujut is a provincial park located in the Interior Cedar-Hemlock biogeoclimatic zone. My objective was to assess the use of carabid beetles as bioindicators of change in this unique interior temperate rain forest ecosystem. Using a…

I investigated the behavioural, physiological, and movement responses of barren-ground caribou to the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road in the central Northwest Territories. Previous research on the zone of influence around industrial infrastructure…

Kokanee, the non-anadromous life history form of Oncorhynchus nerka, use lacustrine habitat in watersheds draining into the north Pacific Ocean. Kokanee have also been widely introduced into reservoirs following impoundment of rivers due to the…

Hatchery enhancement of declining Pacific salmon populations has long been a foundation of salmon management; however, the influence of hatchery release practices on freshwater residence time and survival to estuarine entry is not well-understood.…

The Arctic is warming at an unprecedented rate, with implications for the marine ecosystem and species that are important for the tradition, culture, and livelihoods of Indigenous people. Inuit in the western Canadian Arctic have identified a need…

Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) are declining worldwide. Across Canada, numerous populations have been extirpated over the past 50 years. In many cases, the mechanism of these declines is unsustainable predation exacerbated by apparent competition.…