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Rhizosphere microbes influence one another, forming extremely complex webs of interactions that may determine plant success. Identifying the key factors that structure the fungal microbiome of the plant rhizosphere is a necessary step in optimizing plant production. In a long-term field experiment conducted at three locations in the Canadian prairies, we tested the following hypotheses: (1) diversification of cropping systems influences the fungal microbiome of the canola (Brassica napus) rhizosphere; (2) the canola rhizosphere has a core fungal microbiome, i.e., a set of fungi always associated with canola; and (3) some taxa within the rhizosphere microbiome of canola are highly interrelated and fit the description of hub taxa. Our results show that crop diversification has a significant effect on the structure of the rhizosphere fungal community but not on fungal diversity. We also discovered and described a canola core microbiome made up of one zero-radius operational taxonomic unit (ZOTU), cf. Olpidium brassicae, and an eco-microbiome found only in 2013 consisting of 47 ZOTUs. Using network analysis, we identified four hub taxa in 2013: ZOTU14 (Acremonium sp.), ZOTU28 (Sordariomycetes sp.), ZOTU45 (Mortierella sp.) and ZOTU179 (cf. Ganoderma applanatum), and one hub taxon, ZOTU17 (cf. Mortierella gamsii) in 2016. None of these most interacting taxa belonged to the core microbiome or eco-microbiome for each year of sampling. This temporal variability puts into question the idea of a plant core fungal microbiome and its stability. Our results provide a basis for the development of ecological engineering strategies for the improvement of canola production systems in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change obliges societies to develop adaptive strategies in order to maintain sustainable management of resources and landscapes. However, the development and implementation of these strategies require dialogue between researchers and policy-makers about what they understand for adaptation. This dialogue can be hindered by language differences, the hidden agendas, and conflicting concerns of those involved. In this research study, we explored the mechanisms that underlie the implementation process of assisted migration (AM), an adaptation strategy that aims to limit the impact of climate change. We conducted a comparative analysis of 80 semistructured interviews with actors in the forestry sectors in Canada and France. In Canada, our results show a division between the provinces strategies, causing a debate about AM because researchers are wary of the geoengineering and economic arguments that frame AM in areas where the effects of climate change remain unclear. In contrast, we found that the observation of climate impacts is a strong trigger for the application of AM despite an awareness of its associated risks. In France, we explained the absence of AM implementation by a lack of information flow between research and foresters regarding the concept of AM, a cultural attachment of French foresters to their forest landscapes and that climate change effects are not clear yet. Clarity on what implies a true ecological engineering approach in ecological restoration can help maintaining adaptive actions like AM within the general scope of ecosystem management and minimize simplistic applications of adaptation strategies because of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there anything distinctive about Canadian technology education? Is technology education positioned to help young Canadians prosper and move forward in making Canada a more innovative and sustainable country? Moreover, is technology education preparing young citizens to undertake eco-innovation in a resource-constrained low-carbon future? The rapidly deteriorating state of our shared biosphere and the serious implications for the life of the planet have been part of one of the dominant global discourses over quarter century. As Prugh (2015, p. 129) pointed out: “The human sustainability dilemma now encompasses the entire biosocioeconomic system of Earth.” The manner in which we design, manufacture, use, and dispose of technologies has no small place in this story. After a decade the United Nations designated as the decade of “Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014” (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2015), it would be reasonable to expect that Canadian technology education curricula would reflect the all-too-obvious reality that we are living far beyond our ecological means and that major changes in the way we design, manufacture, and apply our technologies are urgently required. Although some provinces have made real progress toward improving their curricula to reflect our new ecological reality, in many ways technology education as a whole remains an industrial project, uncritical of our profligate production and conspicuous consumption and therefore relatively unresponsive to the emerging challenges and opportunities of sustainability. This article will examine the content of six provincial and two international secondary technology studies curricula as they relate to sustainability and eco-technology issues and the urgent need to reimagine and redesign our technoculture to follow more sustainable forms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The integration of science and traditional knowledge (TEK), a cornerstone of contemporary cooperative management, entails translating First Nation people' s life experiences into forms compatible with state wildlife management (e.g., numbers and lines on maps), with all the risks of distortion inherent in any translation process. Even after such a translation, however, knowledge-integration remains fraught with difficulties, many of which seem on the surface to be technical or methodological. Surprisingly, despite these difficulties, the literature is full of accounts of successful co-management. I call for a more critical and nuanced analysis of co-management, one that takes different perspectives into account and calls into question what we mean by "success" in the first place. To this end, I examine the case of the Ruby Range Sheep Steering Committee (RRSSC), a co-management body in the southwest Yukon that some have held up as a model of success. Over the course of three years, RRSSC members gathered information about Dall sheep (Ovis dalli dalli) from many sources and managed to express it all in forms compatible with scientific wildlife management. Yet, even then—with a single exception—RRSSC members failed to integrate their knowledge about sheep. Although there were numerous technical and methodological obstacles to knowledgeintegration, the underlying reasons for this failure were ultimately political. Thus, a focus on the political dimensions of knowledge-integration is essential to an understanding and assessment of co-management. Key words: traditional knowledge; cooperative management; space; time; trust; power; Dall sheep; wildlife; First Nations; Yukon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]