Table of Contents

Inuit Nunangat, including Nunavik, is seeing an ever-increasing number of research projects. While mainstream approaches to research are colonial in nature and have historically contributed to the oppression of Indigenous peoples, a new paradigm is now emerging from Indigenous recommendations. Researchers are encouraged to collaborate with Inuit or Northern communities, organizations, and governments and to develop communication strategies to keep local populations informed. This paper focuses on outreach activities organized on several occasions throughout the Ice Monitoring project, in which we participated as PhD students. We share details on this periodic outreach program, which included a Facebook page, hosting an information table at the Co-op store, activities with high school classes, and participation in Raglan Mine’s Environmental Forum. We also discuss lessons learned and the transformation of our practice.

Various multiple-disciplinary terms and concepts (although most commonly “interdisciplinarity,” which is used herein) are used to frame education, scholarship, research, and interactions within and outside academia. In principle, the premise of interdisciplinarity may appear to have many strengths; yet, the extent to which interdisciplinarity is embraced by the current generation of academics, the benefits and risks for doing so, and the barriers and facilitators to achieving interdisciplinarity, represent inherent challenges. Much has been written on the topic of interdisciplinarity, but to our knowledge there have been few attempts to consider and present diverse perspectives from scholars, artists, and scientists in a cohesive manner. As a team of 57 members from the Canadian College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada (the College) who self-identify as being engaged or interested in interdisciplinarity, we provide diverse intellectual, cultural, and social perspectives. The goal of this paper is to share our collective wisdom on this topic with the broader community and to stimulate discourse and debate on the merits and challenges associated with interdisciplinarity. Perhaps the clearest message emerging from this exercise is that working across established boundaries of scholarly communities is rewarding, necessary, and is more likely to result in impact. However, there are barriers that limit the ease with which this can occur (e.g., lack of institutional structures and funding to facilitate cross-disciplinary exploration). Occasionally, there can be significant risk associated with doing interdisciplinary work (e.g., lack of adequate measurement or recognition of work by disciplinary peers). Solving many of the world’s complex and pressing problems (e.g., climate change, sustainable agriculture, the burden of chronic disease, and aging populations) demands thinking and working across long-standing, but in some ways restrictive, academic boundaries. Academic institutions and key support structures, especially funding bodies, will play an important role in helping to realize what is readily apparent to all who contributed to this paper—that interdisciplinarity is essential for solving complex problems; it is the new norm. Failure to empower and encourage those doing this research will serve as a great impediment to training, knowledge, and addressing societal issues.

Threshold concepts describe the core concepts that people must master if they are to effectively think from within a new discipline or paradigm. Here, I discuss threshold concepts relevant to the science and practice of sustainability, unpacking the persistent challenges and critiques that sustainability has faced over the decades. Sustainability is immensely popular, but also endlessly critiqued as being naïve, vague, and easy to co-opt. I argue that these challenges can be traced to sustainability’s status as a robust, alternative world view to the industrial, neoliberal paradigm. The threshold concepts discussed below are troublesome, and new learners face significant challenges when trying to learn them and move into the paradigm. Here, I review five threshold concepts that are widely discussed as important to sustainability: complexity, collaborative institutions, multiple ways of knowing, no panaceas, and adaptability. This list is not intended as comprehensive but exemplary of sustainability as a pluralistic paradigm. Recognizing the special status of these and other threshold concepts within sustainability, and the linkages and dependencies among them, is an important advance for sustainability education and practice. I also offer some suggestions on classroom activities that have proved effective in helping people through the process of learning these concepts.

Science and engineering research excellence can be maximized if the selection of researchers is made from 100% of the pool of human talent. This requires policies and approaches that encourage broad sections of society, including women and other underrepresented groups, to participate in research. Institutional policies, interpersonal interactions, and individuals’ attitudes are drivers of workplace culture. Here, some new evidence-based and systematic approaches with a focus on culture are proposed to foster women’s inclusion and success in science and engineering.

Computational methods, coding, and software are important tools for conducting research. In both academic and industry data analytics, open-source software (OSS) has gained massive popularity. Collaborative source code allows students to interact with researchers, code developers, and users from a variety of disciplines. Based on the authors’ experiences as graduate students and coding instructors, this paper provides a unique overview of the obstacles that graduate students face in obtaining the knowledge and skills required to complete their research and in transitioning from an OSS user to a contributor: psychological, practical, and cultural barriers and challenges specific to graduate students including cognitive load in graduate school, the importance of a knowledgeable mentor, seeking help from both the online and local communities, and the ongoing campaign to recognize software as research output in career and degree progression. Specific and practical steps are recommended to provide a foundation for graduate students, supervisors, administrators, and members of the OSS community to help overcome these obstacles. In conclusion, the objective of these recommendations is to describe a possible framework that individuals from across the scientific community can adapt to their needs and facilitate a sustainable feedback loop between graduate students and OSS.

Bats are susceptible to rabies. Although bats may appear to be asymptomatic carriers of rabies for a few days, eventually they fall ill to the viral infection and die. Two of at least four bat-specific variants of rabies virus in Canada have killed humans. Rabies is usually transmitted by biting, but bats are small mammals so their bites may go unnoticed. People exposed to rabid animals should receive postexposure prophylaxis (PEP). With 60 known human deaths from 1950 to 2009, rabies is rare in Canada and the United States of America compared with India where it kills over 100 people annually. In Asia and Africa, most human rabies is acquired from dog bites. In Brazil, dog and bat bites together account for >80% of human rabies. In Canada, rabies is a disease primarily confined to wildlife (foxes, racoons, skunks, and bats). The public image of bats is negatively affected by their association with diseases. Too often bats are victimized by allegations of their role in deadly diseases such as rabies, Ebola, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). In general, bats are not dangerous, but humans should seek treatment if they are bitten by one. (Graphical abstract shows a 4-g elegant myotis biting MBF’s finger—photo by Sherri and Brock Fenton.)

There is a gap between fundamental science and managers. There are many general solutions including the need to better leverage the primary scientific literature for decision-making. Herein, we provide a list of 10 simple rules to support environmental management through better scientific writing and suggest practices for more transparent publications. These rules can also be used as a checklist for reusing the primary literature when searching for relevant evidence in the environmental sciences. We need to better structure knowledge in papers for connections within sustainable societies.

In 2015, after documenting testimonies from Indigenous survivors of the residential school system in Canada, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released 94 Calls to Action to enable reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians. Without personal connections to Indigenous communities, many Canadians fail to grasp the depth of intergenerational impacts of residential schools and associated systemic racism. Consequently, reconciliation remains an elusive concept. Here we outline 10 Calls to Action to natural scientists to enable reconciliation in their work. We focus on natural scientists because a common connection to the land should tie the social license of natural scientists more closely to Indigenous communities than currently exists. We also focus on natural sciences because of the underrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in this field. We draw on existing guidelines and our experiences in northern Canada. Our 10 Calls to Action are triggered by frustration. The authors have witnessed examples where natural scientists treat Indigenous communities with blatant disrespect or with ignorance of Indigenous rights. These 10 Calls to Action challenge the scientific community to recognize that reconciliation requires a new way of conducting natural science, one that includes and respects Indigenous communities, rights, and knowledge leading to better scientific and community outcomes.

The Canadian Genomics Partnership for Rare Diseases, spearheaded by Genome Canada, will integrate genome-wide sequencing to rare disease clinical care in Canada. Centralized and tiered models of data stewardship are proposed to ensure that the data generated can be shared for secondary clinical, research, and quality assurance purposes in compliance with ethics and law. The principal ethico-legal obligations of clinicians, researchers, and institutions are synthesized. Governance infrastructures such as registered access platforms, data access compliance offices, and Beacon systems are proposed as potential organizational and technical foundations of responsible rare disease data sharing. The appropriate delegation of responsibilities, the transparent communication of rights and duties, and the integration of data privacy safeguards into infrastructure design are proposed as the cornerstones of rare disease data stewardship.

Governments worldwide are releasing data into the public domain via open government data initiatives. Many such data sets are directly relevant to environmental science and complement data collected by academic researchers to address complex and challenging environmental problems. The Government of Canada is a leader in open data among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, generating and releasing troves of valuable research data. However, achieving comprehensive and FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) open government data is not without its challenges. For example, identifying and understanding Canada’s international commitments, policies, and guidelines on open data can be daunting. Similarly, open data sets within the Government of Canada are spread across a diversity of repositories and portals, which may hinder their discoverability. We describe Canada’s federal initiatives promoting open government data, and outline where data sets of relevance to environmental science can be found. We summarize research data management challenges identified by the Government of Canada, plans to modernize the approach to open data for environmental science and best practices for data discoverability, access, and reuse.

Ocean conditions can affect human health in a variety of ways that are often overlooked and unappreciated. Oceans adjacent to Canada are affected by many anthropogenic stressors, with implications for human health and well-being. Climate change further escalates these pressures and can expose coastal populations to unique health hazards and distressing conditions. However, current research efforts, education or training curriculums, and policies in Canada critically lack explicit consideration of these ocean–public health linkages. The objective of this paper is to present multiple disciplinary perspectives from academics and health practitioners to inform the development of future directions for research, capacity development, and policy and practice at the interface of oceans and human health in Canada. We synthesize major ocean and human health linkages in Canada, and identify climate-sensitive drivers of change, drawing attention to unique considerations in Canada. To support effective, sustained, and equitable collaborations at the nexus of oceans and human health, we recommend the need for progress in three critical areas: (i) holistic worldviews and perspectives, (ii) capacity development, and (iii) structural supports. Canada can play a key role in supporting the global community in addressing the health challenges of climate and ocean changes.

The identification of factors that predict trends in population abundance is critical to formulate successful conservation strategies. Here, we explore population trends of Canadian vertebrates assessed as “at-risk” by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada and the threats affecting these trends using data from the Canadian Living Planet Index. We investigate how threat profiles—the combination of threats for a given species—vary among species and taxonomic groups. We then investigate threat profile as a predictor of temporal trends—both exclusively and in combination with additional biotic and abiotic factors. Species had 5.06 (±2.77) threats listed on average, and biological resource use (BRU) was the most frequently cited. Our analysis also revealed an association between taxonomic group and population trends, as measured by the proportion of annual increases (years with a positive interannual change). By contrast, the predictive power of threat profile was poor. This analysis yielded some useful insight for conservation action, particularly the prioritization of abating BRU. However, the predictive models were not as meaningful as originally anticipated. We provide recommendations on methodological improvements to advance the understanding of factors that predict trends in population abundance for prioritizing conservation action.

Policy-makers ideally pursue well-informed, socially just means to make environmental decisions. Indigenous peoples have used Indigenous knowledge (IK) to inform decisions about environmental management for millennia. In the last 50 years, many western societies have used environmental assessment (EA) processes to deliberate on industrial proposals, informed by scientific information. Recently EA processes have attempted to incorporate IK in some countries and regions, but practitioners and scholars have criticized the ability of EA to meaningfully engage IK. Here we consider these tensions in Canada, a country with economic focus on resource extraction and unresolved government-to-government relationships with Indigenous Nations. In 2019, the Canadian government passed the Impact Assessment Act, reinvigorating dialogue on the relationship between IK and EA. Addressing this opportunity, we examined obstacles between IK and EA via a systematic literature review, and qualitative analyses of publications and the Act itself. Our results and synthesis identify obstacles preventing the Act from meaningfully engaging IK, some of which are surmountable (e.g., failures to engage best practices, financial limitations), whereas others are substantial (e.g., knowledge incompatibilities, effects of colonization). Finally, we offer recommendations for practitioners and scholars towards ameliorating relationships between IK and EA towards improved decision-making and recognition of Indigenous rights.

Insect outbreaks can cover vast geographic areas making it onerous to cost-effectively monitor populations to address management or ecological questions. Community science (or citizen science), which entails engaging the public to assist with data collection, provides a possible solution to this challenge for the spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana Clemens), a major defoliating pest in North America. Here, we lay out the Budworm Tracker Program, a contributory community science program developed to help monitor spruce budworm moths throughout eastern Canada. The program outsources free pheromone trap kits to volunteers who periodically check and collect moths from their traps throughout the budworm flight period, then return them in a prepaid envelope to the organizers. Over three years, the program engaged an average of 216–375 volunteers and yielded a data return rate of 68%–89%, for a total of 16 311–54 525 moths per year. Volunteer retention among years was 71%–89%. Data from this program offer compelling evidence for the range of long-distance moth dispersal. Although our program was designed for spruce budworm, this template could easily be adapted for forestry, urban forestry, and agricultural systems to monitor any of the numerous organisms for which there is an established trapping method.

Under climate change, species composition and abundances in high-latitude waters are expected to substantially reconfigure with consequences for trophic relationships and ecosystem services. Outcomes are challenging to project at national scales, despite their importance for management decisions. Using an ensemble of six global marine ecosystem models we analyzed marine ecosystem responses to climate change from 1971 to 2099 in Canada’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) under four standardized emissions scenarios. By 2099, under business-as-usual emissions (RCP8.5) projected marine animal biomass declined by an average of −7.7% (±29.5%) within the Canadian EEZ, dominated by declines in the Pacific (−24% ± 24.5%) and Atlantic (−25.5% ± 9.5%) areas; these were partially compensated by increases in the Canadian Arctic (+26.2% ± 38.4%). Lower emissions scenarios projected successively smaller biomass changes, highlighting the benefits of stronger mitigation targets. Individual model projections were most consistent in the Atlantic and Pacific, but highly variable in the Arctic due to model uncertainties in polar regions. Different trajectories of future marine biomass changes will require regional-specific responses in conservation and management strategies, such as adaptive planning of marine protected areas and species-specific management plans, to enhance resilience and rebuilding of Canada’s marine ecosystems and commercial fish stocks.

Sustainable forest management implies successful regeneration after disturbances. Low N availability and competition can, however, limit tree establishment in boreal ecosystems. To develop silviculture strategies that maintain productivity in such context, we established a field trial in northern Québec, Canada. We evaluated if a companion N₂-fixing species (Alnus alnobetula) promotes or hinders Picea mariana and Pinus banksiana establishment over six growing seasons. We tested if Alnus has a facilitation effect through nutritional processes and a competition effect through light interception. Foliar stable nitrogen isotope ratio (δ¹⁵N = ¹⁵N/¹⁴N, ‰) results confirmed that Alnus obtains a substantial part of its N through biological fixation and represents an N source in this system. Although we did not observe increased foliar N concentrations in either conifer species in the presence of Alnus, Pinus growth was nonetheless higher in presence of Alnus, whereas no difference was observed for Picea. In the plots where Alnus cohabited with the conifers, the former had a negative impact on seedling growth, suggesting a significant competition for light. Overall, the net effect of Alnus was positive for Pinus and neutral for Picea. Our results have significant implications for silviculture in N-limited systems, especially in the context of climate change that imposes increased levels of stress on regeneration.

Shale-gas production could impact freshwater quality through contamination of the physical and chemical habitat (e.g., fracturing fluids, untreated or treated effluent) or development-related impacts. Despite environmental concerns, information is lacking to support biomonitoring as a diagnostic tool to assess impacts of shale-gas production. We characterized water quality and biota in areas of high shale gas potential (Early Carboniferous bedrock in New Brunswick, Canada) and surrounding geologic areas, and we assessed patterns in benthic macroinvertebrate (BMI) and fish assemblages. Early Carboniferous stations differed primarily based on water chemistry, and BMI were associated with a gradient in conductivity and temperature across geologic classes. Concordance analysis indicated similar classification of stations by both organism groups, though fish were more related to turbidity and nutrients. Concordance among fish and BMI was strongest at high conductivity, Early Carboniferous stations. These results suggest that geology plays a strong role in driving abiotic habitats and biotic communities of streams, even at small spatial scales. Furthermore, they suggest BMI and fish can provide complementary information for biomonitoring in shale-gas development areas, with BMI responding to increased ion concentrations from surface water contamination, and fish responding to changes in nutrients and turbidity resulting from development.

Infectious agents are key components of animal ecology and drivers of host population dynamics. Knowledge of their diversity and transmission in the wild is necessary for the management and conservation of host species like Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Although pathogen exchange can occur throughout the salmon life cycle, evidence is lacking to support transmission during population mixing at sea or between farmed and wild salmon due to aquaculture exposure. We tested these hypotheses using a molecular approach that identified infectious agents and transmission potential among sub-adult Atlantic salmon at marine feeding areas and adults in three eastern Canadian rivers with varying aquaculture influence. We used high-throughput qPCR to quantify infection profiles and next generation sequencing to measure genomic variation among viral isolates. We identified 14 agents, including five not yet described as occurring in Eastern Canada. Phylogenetic analysis of piscine orthoreovirus showed homology between isolates from European and North American origin fish at sea, supporting the hypothesis of intercontinental transmission. We found no evidence to support aquaculture influence on wild adult infections, which varied relative to environmental conditions, life stage, and host origin. Our findings identify research opportunities regarding pathogen transmission and biological significance for wild Atlantic salmon populations.

In 2018, The International Maritime Organization, officially proposed consideration of a ban on heavy fuel oil (HFO) use by ships in the Arctic, because of the widely accepted understanding that HFO presents a threat to the marine environment. There is currently a lack of understanding of the scale and scope of HFO use by ships operating in Canadian Arctic waters, thus it is difficult to comprehensively evaluate the effect that such a ban may have in mitigating risk from HFO use. In this study, we conducted a spatial analysis of HFO use among ships operating in Canadian Arctic waters between 2010 and 2018. Our findings show that approximately 37% of the total number of ships that have travelled through the Canadian Arctic between 2010 and 2018 use HFO, and nearly all of these ships fall within three vessel categories: general cargo, bulk carriers, and tanker ships. In addition, HFO-fueled ships made up approximately 45% of the total distance (kilometres) travelled by all vessels between 2010 and 2018. The data also show that the majority of HFO use occurs in certain geographic areas, such as Baffin Bay near Pond Inlet and the Hudson Strait.

Estrogen receptor-α knockout (ERKO) in female rodents results in bone loss associated with increased osteocyte sclerostin expression; whether this also occurs in males is unknown. Here, we examined the effects of ERKO on femoral cortical geometry, trabecular microarchitecture, and osteocyte sclerostin expression of the femur and lumbar vertebrae. At 14 months of age, male ERKO and wild-type (WT) littermates (n = 6 per group) were sacrificed, and femora and vertebra were collected. Cortical geometry and trabecular microarchitecture were assessed via micro-computed tomography; osteocyte sclerostin expression was assessed via immunohistochemistry. ANCOVA with body weight was used to compare ERKO and WT for cortical geometry; t-tests were used for all other outcomes. Regardless of skeletal site, ERKO mice had greater trabecular bone volume and trabecular number and decreased trabecular separation compared with WT. In the femoral diaphysis, ERKO had lower total area, cortical area, and cortical thickness compared with WT. The percentage of sclerostin+ osteocytes was increased in ERKO animals in cortical bone but not in cancellous bone of the femur or the lumbar vertebrae. In conclusion, ERKO improved trabecular microarchitecture in aged male mice, but negatively altered femoral cortical geometry associated with a trend towards increased cortical sclerostin expression.

Invasive species are known to have negative ecological effects. However, few studies have evaluated the impacts of invasive species relative to the effects of invasive species control, thereby limiting our ability to make informed decisions considering the benefits and drawbacks of a given management approach. To address this gap, we compared the ecological effects of the invasive aquatic plant Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum L.) with the effects of lake-wide herbicide treatments used for M. spicatum control using aquatic plant data collected from 173 lakes in Wisconsin, USA. First, a pre–post analysis of aquatic plant communities found significant declines in native plant species in response to lake-wide herbicide treatment. Second, multi-level modeling using a large data set revealed a negative association between lake-wide herbicide treatments and native aquatic plants, but no significant negative effect of invasive M. spicatum. Taken together, our results indicate that lake-wide herbicide treatments aimed at controlling M. spicatum had larger effects on native aquatic plants than did the target of control—invasive M. spicatum. Our comparison reveals an important management tradeoff and encourages careful consideration of how we balance the real and perceived impacts of invasive species and the methods used for their control.

With the widespread loss of biodiversity, zoos and aquariums are striving to become leaders in biodiversity conservation and research. Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) is a nonprofit organization created to represent its members, including as agencies of conservation and science. However, the contribution of CAZA members to conservation and science has not been quantified. We used research productivity in the form of peer-reviewed publications to systematically quantify biodiversity conservation engagement by CAZA institutions. We extracted publications from the ISI Web of Science database and found that the annual number of publications increased over time. CAZA members published most in the area of veterinary science, with few publications in biodiversity conservation. Organization age, research-orientated mission statements, and financial assets were significant predictors of research productivity. CAZA institutions also published significantly less ( X ¯  = 12.5 ± 5.52 SE) than members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums ( X ¯  = 24.27 ± 5.08 SE), based in the United States. Zoos and aquariums are important resources in mitigating biodiversity loss, and are increasing their research output in this area. Nonetheless, only a small proportion of publications were in biodiversity conservation, and the majority of all publications occurred in zoo-centric journals.

Sympatric communities of organisms may exploit different ecological niches to avoid intra- and interspecific competition. We examined the isotopic niches of American black ducks (Anas rubripes) and mallards (A. platyrhynchos) wintering in coastal and urban areas of Atlantic Canada and compared isotopic niche with digestive tract morphologies and blood mercury (Hg) concentrations. Isotopic niche width (for δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) varied between the three groups of ducks studied, with coastally foraging black ducks exhibiting the widest isotopic niche, followed by coastal mallards, while urban feeding black ducks had a narrow isotopic niche. These niche differences had physical and chemical consequences: coastal black ducks had longer digestive tracts, a larger range in gizzard sizes, and higher and more variable Hg concentrations than urban black ducks and coastal mallards. This plasticity in ecological niche may reduce competition among and within species, and subsequently explain why winter numbers of black ducks and mallards have increased in Atlantic Canada.

Microplastics are a globally ubiquitous contaminant, invading the most remote regions, including the Arctic. To date, our understanding of the distribution and sources of microplastics in the Arctic is limited but growing. This study aims to advance our understanding of microplastics in the Arctic. Surface water, zooplankton, sediment, and snow samples were collected from Hudson Bay to north Baffin Bay onboard the CCGS Amundsen from July to August 2017. Samples were examined for microplastics, which were chemically identified via Raman spectroscopy for surface water and zooplankton and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for sediment. We found that 90% of surface water and zooplankton samples, and 85% of sediment samples, contained microplastics or other anthropogenic particles. Mean anthropogenic particle concentrations, which includes microplastics, were 0.22 ± 0.23 (per litre) for surface water, 3.51 ± 4.00 (per gram) for zooplankton, and 1.94 ± 4.12 (per gram) for sediment. These concentrations were not related to the human populations upstream, suggesting that microplastic contamination in the Arctic is from long-range transport. Overall, this study highlights the presence of microplastics across the eastern Canadian Arctic, in multiple media, and offers evidence of long-range transport via ocean and atmospheric currents. Further research is needed to better understand sources, distribution, and effects to Arctic ecosystems.

Efficacy of high-intensity resistance exercise becomes progressively compromised with aging. Previously, to investigate this, we developed a rodent model of high-intensity training consisting of stretch-shortening contractions (SSCs) and determined that following one month of training, young rats exhibit a robust stress response and 20% performance increase, whereas old rats display a muted stress response and 30% performance decrease. Whether these age-specific responses occur early in training and constitute primary factors in adaptation/maladaptation was not addressed. The aim of the present study was to characterize performance, remodeling, and stress response transcriptional profile 6–120 h following acute SSC exposure. For young rats, the stress response pathway was highly regulated (≥20 differentially expressed genes at each time point) and was accompanied by robust DNA demethylation, tissue remodeling, and isometric torque recovery. For old rats, a muted transcriptional profile (13 and 2 differentially expressed genes at 6 and 120 h, respectively) coincided with deficiencies in demethylation, muscle remodeling, and torque recovery. These findings occurred in the context of heightened chronic levels of stress response gene expression with aging. This demonstrates that age-related constitutive elevations in stress response gene expression was accompanied by diminished SSC-induced responsiveness in epigenomic regulation and tissue remodeling.

Cowichan Lake lamprey (Entosphenus macrostomus) is a threatened species resident to Mesachie Lake, Cowichan Lake, and adjoining Bear Lake and their major tributaries in British Columbia. Decreases in trapping success have created concerns that the population is declining. Some potential threats include water use, climate change, and management actions. Owing to the absence of long-term data on population trends, little information is available to estimate habitat quality and factors that influence it. We sought to fill this gap by examining associations between habitat area and variables representing suspected key drivers of habitat availability. Critical habitat areas were imaged using an unmanned aerial vehicle over a period of three years at three sites at Cowichan Lake and a subsequent habitat area was classified. Meteorological and anthropogenic controls on habitat area were investigated through automatic relevance detection regression models. The major driver of habitat area during the critical spawning period was water level during the storage season, which also depends on the meteorological variables and anthropogenic control. It is recommended that regulation of the weir should aim to ensure that the water level remains above the 1 m mark, which roughly equates to the 67% coverage of water on the habitat area used for spawning.

Harvest records suggest that the abundance of bobcats (Lynx rufus) has increased and the leading edge of their distribution has spread northward, while the trailing edge of the Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) range has contracted in Ontario, Canada. There has been a debate about whether these closely related felids might compete in areas of sympatry, but there is little research on sympatric populations of bobcat and lynx. Both species are found on the north shore of Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada, which provided an opportunity to investigate their spatial patterns and habitat use. We surveyed snowmobile routes for snow tracks over three winters and estimated probability of occupancy for the two felid species while accounting for detectability. Bobcat and lynx tracks were never found on the same survey route. Bobcat occupancy increased with habitat heterogeneity, whereas lynx occupancy increased with homogeneity. Our results fit with the common assumption of the generalist and specialist natures of bobcat and lynx, respectively. Our findings suggest that bobcats invaded former lynx territory after these areas became vacant. The story of the bobcat and the lynx is one of the loss of a unique, boreal specialist due to anthropogenic change, and eventual replacement by an adaptable generalist.

Fully 37% of species listed under Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA) are plants or lichens. The law does not automatically protect species on private land, and it is unknown how many at-risk plants grow mainly on private land. We analyzed official status reports and related documents for 234 plant species at risk to determine land tenure and evaluated differences in threats and changes in status. We also assessed how well plants were represented in two federal programs: the Natural Areas Conservation Program (NACP) and the Habitat Stewardship Program (HSP). Of SARA-listed plant species, 35% have the majority of their known populations on private land while <10% occur mostly on federal land. Species growing mainly on private land were no more or less likely to decline in status over time compared with others. Plant species at risk were less likely than other taxonomic groups to be found on land protected under the NACP. The proportion of HSP projects targeting plants is well below the expected proportion based on the number of listed species. We recommend that policy-makers promote and prioritize actions to increase the representation of plant species in federally funded programs, especially on private lands.

In 2017, mifepristone and misoprostol became available for early pregnancy termination as the combination pack Mifegymiso^® in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. We conducted 40 semi-structured telephone interviews with Ottawa residents who had abortions before mifepristone’s introduction (n = 20) and after mifepristone–misoprostol became available (n = 20) to explore their experiences obtaining care. We audio-recorded and transcribed all interviews and analyzed these data for content and themes using deductive and inductive techniques. Prior to the introduction of mifepristone, our participants reported obtaining abortion care at two facilities and many faced long wait times. Those who had an abortion after mifepristone became available reported obtaining care from a wider array of providers and few waited more than two weeks. However, several mifepristone–misoprostol users reported having to go through a process that involved as many as 10 health service encounters. Both groups reflected positively on their abortion experiences, but some patients who obtained mifepristone–misoprostol outside of an abortion clinic did not feel as well informed as they would have liked. The introduction of mifepristone appears to have expanded the number of service delivery points and reduced wait times for those seeking abortion care in Ottawa. Identifying ways to expand access to medication abortion information and streamline services appears warranted.

The ranavirus Frog Virus 3 (FV3) and the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) are significant contributors to the global amphibian declines and both pathogens target the amphibian skin. We previously showed that tadpoles and adults of the anuran amphibian Xenopus laevis express notable levels of granulocyte chemokine genes (cxcl8a and cxcl8b) within their skin and likely possess skin-resident granulocytes. Presently, we show that tadpole and adult X. laevis indeed possess granulocyte-lineage cells within their epidermises that are distinct from their skin mast cells, which are found predominantly in lower dermal layers. These esterase-positive cells responded to (r)CXCL8a and rCXCL8b in a concentration- and CXCR1/CXCR2-dependent manner, possessed polymorphonuclear granulocyte morphology, granulocyte marker surface staining, and exhibited distinct immune gene expression from conventional granulocytes. Our past work indicates that CXCL8b recruits immunosuppressive granulocytes, and here we demonstrated that enriching esterase-positive skin granulocytes with rCXCL8b (but not rCXCL8a) may increase tadpole susceptibility to FV3 and adult frog susceptibility to Bd. Furthermore, pharmacological depletion of skin-resident granulocytes increased tadpole susceptibility to FV3. This manuscript provides new insights into the composition and roles of immune cells within the amphibian skin, which is a critical barrier against pathogenic contributors to the amphibian declines.

Ranaviruses are an emerging group of pathogens capable of infecting all cold-blooded vertebrates. In Europe, ranaviruses pose a particularly potent threat to wild amphibian populations. Since the 1980s research on amphibian-infecting ranaviruses in Europe has been growing. The wide distribution of amphibian populations in Europe, the ease with which many are monitored, and the tractable nature of counterpart ex situ experimental systems have provided researchers with a unique opportunity to study many aspects of host–ranavirus interactions in the wild. These characteristics of European amphibian populations will also enable researchers to lead the way as the field of host–ranavirus interactions progresses. In this review, we provide a summary of the current key knowledge regarding amphibian infecting ranaviruses throughout Europe. We then outline important areas of further research and suggest practical ways each could be pursued. We address the study of potential interactions between the amphibian microbiome and ranaviruses, how pollution may exacerbate ranaviral disease either as direct stressors of amphibians or indirect modification of the amphibian microbiome. Finally, we discuss the need for continued surveillance of ranaviral emergence in the face of climate change.

High-latitude countries often contain the polar range edge of species that are common farther south, potentially focusing national conservation efforts toward range-edge populations. The global conservation value of edge populations is controversial, but if they occur where biodiversity is high, there need not be trade-offs in protecting them. Using 152 of 158 terrestrial mammal species in Canada, we tested how species’ distributions relate to their national conservation status and total mammal richness. We found that half of “Canadian” mammals had <20% of their global range in Canada. National threat status was strongly associated with range area; mammals considered “at risk” had 42% smaller Canadian ranges than mammals considered secure. However, after accounting for range area, taxa with smaller proportions of their global range in Canada were not more likely to be considered at risk, suggesting edge populations are not inherently more vulnerable. When we calculated mammal diversity across Canada (100 × 100 km grid cells), we found that hotspots of at-risk or range-edge mammals were twice as species rich as nonhotspot cells, containing up to 44% of Canadian mammal diversity per grid cell. Our results suggest that protecting areas with the most at-risk or range-edge mammals would simultaneously protect habitat for many species currently deemed secure.

Ranaviruses have been associated with rising numbers of mass die-offs in amphibian populations around the globe. However, most studies on ranaviruses to date focused on larval amphibians. To assess the role of postmetamorphic amphibians in the epidemiology of ranaviruses and to determine the role of viral immune-suppression genes, we performed a bath-exposure study on post-metamorphic wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) using environmentally relevant concentrations of wild-type Frog virus 3 (WT FV3), and a gene-knockout mutant (KO FV3), deficient for the putative immune-suppression gene vIF-2α. We observed a 42% infection rate and 5% mortality across the virus challenges, with infection rates and viral loads following a dose-dependent pattern. Individuals exposed to the knockout variant exhibited significantly decreased growth and increased lethargy compared with wild-type treatments. Although 85% of exposed individuals exhibited common signs of ranavirosis throughout the experiment, most of these individuals did not exhibit signs of infection by 40 d post-exposure. Overall, we showed that even a single short time exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of ranavirus may cause sublethal infections in postmetamorphic amphibians, highlighting the importance of this life stage in the epidemiology of ranaviruses. Our study also supports the importance of the vIF-2α gene in immune-suppression in infected individuals.

Ranaviral infections have been associated with mass mortality events in captive and wild amphibian, fish, and reptile populations globally. In Australia, two distinct types of ranaviruses have been isolated: epizootic haematopoietic necrosis virus in fish and a Frog virus 3-like ranavirus in amphibians. Experimental studies and serum surveys have demonstrated that several Australian native fish, amphibian, and reptile species are susceptible to infection and supported the theory that ranavirus is naturally circulating in Australian herpetofauna. However, ranaviral infections have not been detected in captive or wild lizards in Australia. Oral-cloacal swabs were collected from 42 wild lizards from northern Queensland and 83 captive lizards from private collections held across three states/territories. Samples were tested for ranaviral DNA using a quantitative PCR assay. This assay detected ranaviral DNA in 30/83 (36.1%) captive and 33/42 (78.6%) wild lizard samples. This is the first time molecular evidence of ranavirus has been reported in Australian lizards.

Molecular techniques are expected to be highly useful in detecting taxa causing harmful algal blooms (HABs). This is the first report in Canada evaluating HABs-related species identification using a combination of morphological and molecular approaches. Microscopy, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and metabarcoding with multiple markers (i.e., 16S, 18S-dinoflagellate and 18S-diatom, large subunit (28S) rDNA) were applied on samples (n = 54) containing suspected harmful algae (e.g., Alexandrium spp., Chattonella sp., Chrysochromulina spp., Dictyocha spp., Heterosigma akashiwo, Protoceratium reticulatum, Pseudochattonella verruculosa, Pseudo-nitzschia spp., Pseudopedinella sp.). Owing to methodology limitations, qPCR result interpretation was limited, although good detectability occurred using previously published assays for Alexandrium tamarense, H. akashiwo, and P. verruculosa. Overall, the multiple-marker metabarcoding results were superior to the morphology-based methods, with the exception of taxa from the silicoflagellate group. The combined results using both 18S markers and the 28S marker together closely corresponded with morphological identification of targeted species, providing the best overall taxonomic coverage and resolution. The most numerous unique taxa were identified using the 18S-dinoflagellate amplicon, and the best resolution to the species level occurred using the 28S amplicon. Molecular techniques are therefore promising for HABs taxa detection but currently depend on deploying multiple markers for metabarcoding.

Ranaviruses are worldwide pathogens of ectothermic vertebrates that can threaten herptile conservation efforts. Identifying transmission routes is critical for understanding disease ecology and promoting species conservation. Frog virus 3 (FV3) DNA was detected in mosquitoes during a ranavirus outbreak in semicaptive box turtles, but the role that insect vectors play under natural conditions is unknown. To address this knowledge gap, we collected mosquito species known to take blood meals from reptiles and amphibians (Aedes canadensis, Culex erraticus, Culex territans, and Uranotaenia sapphirina) from mid-May to early August, 2014, at four study sites in Vermilion County, Illinois, two of which had historic or ongoing FV3 outbreaks in box turtles and amphibians. Mosquitoes were batched by date and species, DNA was extracted, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction was performed for detection of FV3. FV3 was not detected despite one of the sites having an active FV3 outbreak during the study period. Our findings indicate that FV3 detection is uncommon in mosquitoes during outbreak and nonoutbreak conditions at these sites in Illinois. Thus, we cannot establish that mosquitoes contribute to transmission during natural mortality events without performing further studies.

Fish, amphibians, and reptiles exhibit temperature-dependent ranaviral disease. We performed an experimental infection at four different environmental temperatures (16, 22, 28, and 34 °C) to investigate the effect of temperature on ranaviral infection in Krefft’s turtle (Emydura macquarii krefftii). Infection rates and viral loads were determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction to detect ranaviral DNA in liver samples at 21 d postexposure. The rate of infection differed across the temperature treatment groups. Infection rates were 44%, 90%, 60%, and 10% for the 16, 22, 28, and 34 °C temperature groups, respectively. Highest viral load was observed in the 28 °C temperature group, and there was a statistically significant difference in viral load between the 16 and 28 °C temperature groups (p = 0.027). Based on the results of this study, the temperature of maximal infection rate for ranaviral infection in Krefft’s river turtles is estimated to be 23.2 °C (SD = 4.5). The findings of this study can inform management decisions in terms of disease control and treatment and form a platform for modelling disease outbreaks.

Agricultural drainage is a complicated and often conflict-ridden natural resource management issue, impacting contested ecosystem services related to the retention of wetlands as well as the productivity of farmland. This research identifies opportunities to transform the conflict over agricultural drainage in Saskatchewan, Canada, towards collaboration. We report on ethnographic research informed by a conservation conflict-transformation framework to evaluate the nature of the conflict and whether drivers of the conflict operate principally at the level of disputes over discrete ecosystem services or if they reach deeper into local social circumstances and build on larger unresolved conflict(s) among groups in the region. In addition to the conflict-transformation framework, we apply the Social–Ecological Systems Framework to elicit details regarding the substantive, relational, and material dimensions of this conflict. Our research suggests that processes for governing natural resources, such as those in place for governing drainage in Saskatchewan, need to have mechanisms to facilitate relationship building and shared understandings, need to be adaptable to people’s changing needs and concerns, and should focus on inclusivity and empowerment of actors to address conflict.

The increasing prevalence of cyanobacteria-dominated harmful algal blooms is strongly associated with nutrient loading and changing climatic patterns. Changes to precipitation frequency and intensity, as predicted by current climate models, are likely to affect bloom development and composition through changes in nutrient fluxes and water column mixing. However, few studies have directly documented the effects of extreme precipitation events on cyanobacterial composition, biomass, and toxin production. We tracked changes in a eutrophic reservoir following an extreme precipitation event, describing an atypically early toxin-producing cyanobacterial bloom and successional progression of the phytoplankton community, toxins, and geochemistry. An increase in bioavailable phosphorus by more than 27-fold in surface waters preceded notable increases in Aphanizomenon flos-aquae throughout the reservoir approximately 2 weeks postevent and ∼5 weeks before blooms typically occur. Anabaenopeptin-A and three microcystin congeners (microcystin-LR, -YR, and -RR) were detected at varying levels across sites during the bloom period, which lasted between 3 and 5 weeks. These findings suggest extreme rainfall can trigger early cyanobacterial bloom initiation, effectively elongating the bloom season period of potential toxicity. However, effects will vary depending on factors including the timing of rainfall and reservoir physical structure.

Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) have gained global attention because of renewed interest in protecting biodiversity during a time of Indigenous resurgence. However, few examples in academic literature illustrate Indigenous Peoples’ rationale and processes for developing IPCAs. This paper fills that gap, describing a participatory action research collaboration with the Kitasoo/Xai’xais Nation. We used document analysis, interviews, and community engagement to summarize the Nation’s perspectives while assisting Kitasoo/Xai’xais efforts to develop a land-and-sea IPCA. IPCAs are a tool for the Nation to address ongoing limitations of state protected area governance and management, to better reflect the Nation’s Indigenous rights and responsibilities, and to preserve cultural heritage and biological diversity while fostering sustainable economic opportunities. The Kitasoo/Xai’xais process benefits from research on other IPCAs, includes intergenerational community engagement, and is rooted in long-term territory planning and stewardship capacity building. The Kitasoo/Xai’xais IPCA faces challenges similar to other protected areas but is influenced by ongoing impacts of settler-colonialism. The Kitasoo/Xai’xais Nation applies Indigenous and western approaches along with responsibility-based partnerships to address many anticipated challenges. Our case study demonstrates that more efforts are needed by state and other actors to reduce burdening Indigenous Nations’ protected area governance and management and to create meaningful external support for Indigenous-led conservation.

Ranaviruses are emerging pathogens associated with worldwide epizootics in farmed and wild ectothermic vertebrates. In this study, we determined the full genomes of eight ranaviruses isolated from marbled sleeper goby (Oxyeleotris marmorata), goldfish (Carassius auratus), guppy (Poecilia reticulata), tiger frog (Hoplobatrachus tigerinus), Asian grass frog (Fejervarya limnocharis), and East Asian bullfrog (H. rugulosus) cultured or imported into Thailand. These ranaviral isolates induced the same cytopathic effects (i.e., progression of coalescing round plaques) in epithelioma papulosum cyprini (EPC) cell cultures. Transmission electron microscopy of infected EPC cells revealed cytoplasmic viral particles with ultrastructural features typical for ranaviruses. Pairwise genetic comparisons of the complete major capsid protein coding sequences from the Thai ranaviruses displayed the highest identity (99.8%–100%) to a ranavirus (tiger frog virus; TFV) isolated from diseased tiger frogs cultured in China, a slightly lower identity (99.3%–99.4%) to a ranavirus (Wamena virus; WV) isolated from diseased green tree pythons (Morelia viridis) illegally exported from Papua New Guinea, and a lower identity to 35 other ranaviruses (93.7%–98.6%). Phylogenomic analyses supported the eight Thai ranaviruses, Chinese TFV, and WV as a subclade within a larger frog virus 3 clade. Our findings confirm the spread of TFV among cultured fish and amphibians in Asia and likely in reptiles in Oceania. Biosecurity measures are needed to ensure TFV does not continue to spread throughout Southeast Asia and to other parts of the world via international trade.

Socio-economic barriers to participation in science are harmful to the enterprise. One barrier is the phenomenon of scientists paying for expenses related to the conduct of research that are not reimbursed (which we termed “Scispends” for social media discourse). We conducted an online survey that asked self-selecting respondents to report the amount of money they spent on nonreimbursed expenses, including both costs incurred in the past 12 months and one-time startup costs associated with their current position. We received 857 responses that met criteria for inclusion and reported descriptive statistics summarizing nonreimbursed expenses across career stages. We found the median total of nonreimbursed expenses for the past 12 months was $1680 and the median one-time expenses were $2700, and that as a proportion of income these expenses were highest for those earliest in their careers. We found 13% of respondents spent more on unreimbursed expenses than they earned in a year. All cost categories were skewed, with most respondents reporting little or no expense, whereas a minority experienced high expenses. These results should be interpreted with caution due to survey’s exploratory design, but they suggest that formal surveys should be conducted by scientific societies, funding agencies, and academic institutions to properly assess the causes of nonreimbursed expenses and determine how this barrier can be minimized.

To explore whether non-high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-c) is associated with depression, a total of 26 819 Canadians aged 45–85 from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) were included in analysis. Non-HDL-c, the difference between total-c and HDL-c, was categorized into five levels, i.e., <2.6, 2.6 to <3.7, 3.7 to <4.8, 4.8 to 5.7, and ≥5.7 mmol/L. History of clinical depression was collected by questionnaire at an in-home interview, and current potential depression status was determined by CES-D10 (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale 10 questions version) score, i.e., ≥10 vs. <10. Logistic continuation ratio model for ordinal data was used to estimate the odds of being at or above a higher non-HDL-c category for depression status. Compared with those without clinical depression history and currently undepressed, the adjusted odds ratios (95% CI) were 1.09 (1.02, 1.17) for those without clinical depression history but currently depressed, 1.05 (0.98, 1.12) for those had clinical depression history but currently undepressed, and 1.21 (1.10, 1.32) for those had clinical depression history and currently depressed. The average of non-HDL-c for four depression groups were 3.64, 3.71, 3.69, and 3.82 mmol/L, respectively, and group 4 was statistically higher than others (p < 0.001). In conclusion, people with both current depression and a history clinical depression are at an increased risk of having high level of non-HDL-c.

The relationship between Indigenous peoples and the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems has received increased attention in recent years. As a result, it is becoming more critical for researchers focusing on terrestrial ecosystems to work with Indigenous groups to gain a better understanding of how past and current stewardship of these lands may influence results. As a case study to explore these ideas, we systematically reviewed articles from 2008 to 2018 where research was conducted in North America, South America, and Oceania. Of the 159 articles included, 11 included acknowledgement of Indigenous stewardship, acknowledged the Indigenous Territories or lands, or named the Indigenous group on whose Territory the research was conducted. Within the scope of this case study, our results demonstrate an overall lack of Indigenous acknowledgement or consideration within the scope of our review. Given the recent advancements in our understanding of how Indigenous groups have shaped their lands, we implore researchers to consider collaboration among local Indigenous groups as to better cultivate relationships and foster a greater understanding of their ecosystems.

In the early months of 2020, the spread of the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 shook the world, which responded with various measures of quarantine, social distancing, and mass shutdowns. These measures have affected Canadian graduate students, especially those in lab-based science research programs who have been unable to access their workplaces. As a period of reopening may be approaching, and universities and research centers discuss ways to allow for work to resume cautiously, a discussion on the long-term impact of the pandemic on graduate students is necessary. Many students expressed significant concern regarding motivation with the shift to online courses; financial stress in terms of personal debt, bills, and tuition fees; as well as disrupted education and career plans. Uncertainty over the current economic situation and potential research material shortages lead to worry related to the quality and quantity of results and the impact these may have on funding. Luckily, universities, hospitals, governmental agencies, and employers have implemented a variety of programs and financial aid to help students in these trying times. Assuring the continuation of such measures is critical, and graduate students’ drive to succeed will manifest in novel ways to tackle the challenges that the COVID-19 lockdown has imposed.

Guidance on improving the visual aspects of science communication range from “recipe”-style instructions to hyper-focused aspects of data visualization. Currently lacking in the peer-reviewed literature is a primer in graphic design tailored to a high-level overview of basic design principles and associated jargon related to layout, imagery, typeface, and colour. We illustrate why these aspects are important to effective communication. Further, we provide considerations on when to solicit professional assistance and what to expect when working with graphic designers. Having the fundamental principles of good design in your toolbox facilitates the production of effective visual communication related to your research and fruitful scientist–designer collaborations.

Agriculture is practiced on 3–4 million acres of First Nations reserve lands in the Saskatchewan Prairies—predominantly by non-Indigenous farmers. A confluence of factors including an increase in agricultural land holdings on reserve and greater autonomy in land management have renewed conversations on how First Nations can realize the full economic benefits and exert greater control over agricultural activities that affect the reserve land base. We hosted a Forum on Indigenous Agriculture to share current knowledge on the contemporary status of Indigenous agriculture and to co-formulate research, capacity building, and policy priorities. First Nations’ roles in agriculture are diverse and were categorized in three broad contexts: as farmers, relying on traditional Indigenous or western practice, or a synergy of both; as landlords negotiating lease agreements; and as agribusiness entrepreneurs. Five themes emerged from the forum: centring Indigenous knowledge and traditional relationships to the land, capacity building, building respectful partnerships and relationships, financing farming and equitable economies, and translating research to policy and legislation. The forum provided foundational data to inform research and capacity building to meet community-defined goals in agriculture on reserve lands and by First Nations people.

The Royal Society of Canada Task Force on COVID-19 was formed in April 2020 to provide evidence-informed perspectives on major societal challenges in response to and recovery from COVID-19. The Task Force established a series of working groups to rapidly develop policy briefings, with the objective of supporting policy makers with evidence to inform their decisions. This paper reports the findings of the COVID-19 Long-Term Care (LTC) working group addressing a preferred future for LTC in Canada, with a specific focus on COVID-19 and the LTC workforce. First, the report addresses the research context and policy environment in Canada’s LTC sector before COVID-19 and then summarizes the existing knowledge base for integrated solutions to challenges that exist in the LTC sector. Second, the report outlines vulnerabilities exposed because of COVID-19, including deficiencies in the LTC sector that contributed to the magnitude of the COVID-19 crisis. This section focuses especially on the characteristics of older adults living in nursing homes, their caregivers, and the physical environment of nursing homes as important contributors to the COVID-19 crisis. Finally, the report articulates principles for action and nine recommendations for action to help solve the workforce crisis in nursing homes.

Planning for adaptation to climate change requires regionally relevant information on rising air and ocean temperatures, sea levels, increasingly frequent and intense storms, and other climate-related impacts. However, in many regions there are limited focused syntheses of the climate impacts, risks, and potential adaptation strategies for coastal marine areas and sectors. We report on a regional assessment of climate change impacts and recommendations for adaptation strategies in the NE Pacific Coast (British Columbia, Canada), conducted in collaboration with a regional planning and plan implementation partnership (Marine Plan Partnership for the North Pacific Coast), aimed at bridging the gaps between climate science and regional adaptation planning. We incorporated both social and ecological aspects of climate change impacts and adaptations, and the feedback mechanisms which may result in both increased risks and opportunities for the following areas of interest: “Ecosystems”, “Fisheries and Aquaculture”, “Communities”, and “Marine Infrastructure”. As next steps within the region, we propose proactive planning measures including communication of the key impacts and projections and cross-sectoral assessments of climate vulnerability and risk to direct decision-making.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the challenges governments face in balancing civil liberties against the exigencies of public health amid the chaos of a public health emergency. Current and emerging pandemic response strategies may engage diverse rights grounded in civil liberties, including mobility rights, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and the right to liberty and security of the person. As traditionally conceived, the discourses of civil rights and public health rest on opposite assumptions about the burden of proof. In the discourse of civil and political rights of the sort guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the onus rests on government to show that any limitation on rights is justified. By contrast, public health discourse centers on the precautionary principle, which holds that intrusive measures may be taken—lockdowns, for example—even in the absence of complete evidence of the benefits of the intervention or of the nature of the risk. In this article, we argue that the two principles are not so oppositional in practice. In testing for proportionality, courts recognize the need to defer to governments on complex policy matters, especially where the interests of vulnerable populations are at stake. For their part, public health experts have incorporated ideas of proportionality in their evolving understanding of the precautionary principle. Synthesizing these perspectives, we emphasize the importance of policy agility in the COVID-19 response, ensuring that measures taken are continually supported by the best evidence and continually recalibrated to avoid unnecessary interference with civil liberties.

In the event of the current COVID-19 pandemic and in preparation for future pandemics, open science can support mission-oriented research and development, as well as commercialization. Open science shares skills and resources across sectors; avoids duplication and provides the basis for rapid and effective validation due to full transparency. It is a strategy that can adjust quickly to reflect changing incentives and priorities, because it does not rely on any one actor or sector. While eschewing patents, it can ensure high-quality drugs, low pricing, and access through existing regulatory mechanisms. Open science practices and partnerships decrease transaction costs, increase diversity of actors, reduce overall costs, open new, higher-risk/higher-impact approaches to research, and provide entrepreneurs freedom to operate and freedom to innovate. We argue that it is time to re-open science, not only in its now restricted arena of fundamental research, but throughout clinical translation. Our model and attendant recommendations map onto a strategy to accelerate discovery of novel broad-spectrum anti-viral drugs and clinical trials of those drugs, from first-in-human safety-focused trials to late stage trials for efficacy. The goal is to ensure low-cost and rapid access, globally, and to ensure that Canadians do not pay a premium for drugs developed from Canadian science.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental health of the people of Canada. Most have found it challenging to cope with social distancing, isolation, anxiety about infection, financial security and the future, and balancing demands of work and home life. For some, especially those who have had to face pre-existing challenges such as structural racism, poverty, and discrimination and those with prior mental health problems, the pandemic has been a major impact. The Policy Briefing Report focuses on the current situation, how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated significant long-standing weaknesses in the mental health system and makes specific recommendations to meet these challenges to improve the well-being of the people of Canada. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a detrimental effect on mental health of people in Canada but the impact has been variable, impacting those facing pre-existing structural inequities hardest. Those living in poverty, and in some socially stratified groups facing greater economic and social disadvantage, such as some racialized and some Indigenous groups and those with preexisting mental health problems, have suffered the most. Some occupational groups have been more exposed to the virus and to psychological stress with the pandemic. The mental health care system was already overextended and under resourced. The pandemic has exacerbated the problems. The care system responded by a massive move to virtual care. The future challenge is for Canada to strengthen our knowledge base in mental health, to learn from the pandemic, and to provide all in Canada the support they need to fully participate in and contribute to Canada’s recovery from the pandemic.

Ranaviruses are globally emerging infections of poikilothermic vertebrates and belong to the viral family Iridoviridae. The six species of ranaviruses are responsible for unknown numbers of infections and disease and mortality events around the world in amphibians, fish, and reptiles. Genomic investigations have shown that there are 24 core genes shared by all iridoviruses. In this study, we examine the utility of each of these genes in reconstructing phylogenetic relationships across six species of Ranavirus. We also performed dot-plot analysis for the 17 isolates in the study. For large-scale differentiation, using the major capsid protein gene creates a tree similar to the whole genome tree. Other comparable genes include open reading frame (ORF) 19R (a serine–theonine protein kinase) and ORF 88R (Erv I/Alr Family protein). The poorest candidate for phylogenetic reconstruction, due to high homology, was ORF 1R (a putative replication factor and (or) DNA binding-packing protein). There are a plethora of genes that may be useful to examine phylogenies at smaller scales (e.g., to examine local adaptation); however, they do not necessarily belong to the set of highly conserved core genes.