Boreal and Northern Ecology
The ecology of Canada's boreal forest, peatlands and Arctic, following one invented research station in northern Saskatchewan: the circumboreal biome and its climate, boreal trees, soils and permafrost, succession, spruce budworm and other insect outbreaks, fire regimes and the Fire Weather Index, the 2023 and 2025 fire seasons, peatland carbon and methane, hare–lynx and other northern cycles, boreal woodland caribou, SARA recovery strategies and range plans, Arctic food webs, sea ice and polar bears, Arctic amplification, Indigenous knowledge, modern treaties, co-management and Guardians programs, TCPS 2 and OCAP, forestry, mining, hydro and linear features, the permafrost carbon feedback, and a capstone management plan for an invented boreal region, with seeded Python examples throughout.
BIOL-440 Year 4 3 credits 12 lessons · 4 h 46 min
Offered by HSM University · Biology
This is the Canadian version of this course. See the American version.
What you'll learn
- Describe the extent, climate, subzones and global importance of the circumboreal biome, and calculate climate indices such as growing degree-days.
- Explain the regeneration strategies of the main boreal trees, the formation of boreal soils, and the distribution, thermal regime and carbon content of permafrost, using the Stefan equation to estimate thaw depth.
- Analyse boreal forest dynamics, including post-fire successional pathways, short-interval reburns and gap dynamics, with Markov chain models of landscape composition.
- Explain the population dynamics of boreal insect defoliators and the role of delayed density dependence and climate in outbreaks and range expansion.
- Characterize boreal fire regimes, estimate fire cycles from stand-age data, interpret fire weather rating systems and evaluate the ecological and human effects of fire and its management.
- Distinguish bogs, fens and other northern wetlands, calculate peat carbon stocks and accumulation rates, and model the temperature dependence of methane emissions.
- Explain winter survival strategies of northern animals and the causes of the snowshoe hare–lynx cycle, using experimental evidence and predator–prey models.
- Evaluate the causes of caribou declines, estimate population trends and halving times, and assess conservation tools from habitat restoration to maternal penning and harvest co-management.
- Describe Arctic tundra, sea-ice and food-web ecology, quantify Arctic amplification and albedo feedbacks, and interpret greening, browning and permafrost thaw.
- Explain the role of Indigenous knowledge, land claims and co-management in northern ecology, and plan research that meets consent, licensing and data governance requirements.
- Assess the cumulative ecological effects of forestry, energy development, hydroelectric reservoirs and mining, including linear disturbance and methylmercury, and the prospects for restoration.
- Synthesize climate change impacts on northern ecosystems and people, and develop a scenario-based, adaptive management plan for a boreal region with Indigenous and other partners.
Course content
12 lessons · 4 h 46 min total · final exam
- 1 The circumboreal biome 24 min · quiz
- 2 Boreal trees, soils and permafrost 23 min · quiz
- 3 Forest dynamics, succession and insect outbreaks 24 min · quiz
- 4 Fire ecology 25 min · quiz
- 5 Peatlands and northern wetlands 24 min · quiz
- 6 Northern wildlife and predator–prey cycles 24 min · quiz
- 7 Caribou and the conservation of northern species 24 min · quiz
- 8 Arctic ecosystems 24 min · quiz
- 9 People, knowledge and co-management in the North 24 min · quiz
- 10 Resource development and northern landscapes 23 min · quiz
- 11 Climate change in the North 24 min · quiz
- 12 Capstone: a management plan for an invented boreal region 23 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Requirements
Recommended background. You can start any course at any time.
Description
The ecology of Canada's boreal forest, peatlands and Arctic, following one invented research station in northern Saskatchewan: the circumboreal biome and its climate, boreal trees, soils and permafrost, succession, spruce budworm and other insect outbreaks, fire regimes and the Fire Weather Index, the 2023 and 2025 fire seasons, peatland carbon and methane, hare–lynx and other northern cycles, boreal woodland caribou, SARA recovery strategies and range plans, Arctic food webs, sea ice and polar bears, Arctic amplification, Indigenous knowledge, modern treaties, co-management and Guardians programs, TCPS 2 and OCAP, forestry, mining, hydro and linear features, the permafrost carbon feedback, and a capstone management plan for an invented boreal region, with seeded Python examples throughout.
Part of the Science stream, typically taken in year 4.