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Vulnerability assessments (VAs) have been widely used to understand the risks posed by climate change and identify opportunities for adaptation. Few studies, however, have evaluated VAs from the perspective of intended knowledge users or with reference to established best practices. In this paper, we identify and evaluate VAs focusing on the built environment in northern Canada. We document 16 completed VAs, which range from engineering-based studies of the vulnerability of specific infrastructural assets (e.g. building foundations, roads) to community-based assessments characterizing the vulnerability of the built environment in general in specific communities. We then evaluate projects based on the extent to which they incorporate best practices for vulnerability assessment, informed by a review of the scholarship and interviews with practitioners and knowledge users in the north ( n = 21). While completed VAs have increased our understanding of the risks posed by climate change, none perform well across all evaluation criteria, and interviewees identified the need for improvement to VAs to inform decision making. Specifically, there is a need for greater emphasis on stakeholder engagement and effective communication of research findings, and interdisciplinary collaboration to capture the multiple drivers of vulnerability, cost impacts, and examine the performance of infrastructural assets under different climate scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For over two decades, municipal climate progress has been inventoried and analysed using a common reporting framework. While useful for highlighting the extent of municipal engagement in greenhouse gas mitigation efforts, we know little about how comprehensive this reporting framework is. Are municipal governments engaging in mitigation activities outside this framework? And what about climate adaptation activity for which no long-standing milestone reporting framework has existed? Based on results from a national survey of municipal governments in Canada, the paper reveals that municipal governments are engaged in many climate activities and processes that common inventories and reporting systems do not capture. The paper argues that these ‘in between activities’ – the not-yet counted climate actions that take place between and outside of milestone initiation and completion – have practical importance for future climate action and theoretical importance by complementing growing evidence about the nature of municipal climate activities and climate governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the application of qualitative scenarios to understand community vulnerability and adaptation responses, based on a case study in the Slave River Delta region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Three qualitative, graphic scenarios of possible alternative futures were developed, focusing on two main drivers: climate change and resource development. These were used as a focal point for discussions with a cross-section of residents from the community during focus groups, interviews and a community workshop. Significant overlap among the areas of perceived vulnerability is evident among scenarios, particularly in relation to traditional land use. However, each scenario also offers insights about specific challenges facing community members. Climate change was perceived to engender mostly negative livelihood impacts, whereas resource development was expected to trigger a mix of positive and negative impacts, both of which may be more dramatic than in the 'climate change only' scenario. The scenarios were also used to identify adaptation options specific to individual drivers of change, as well as more universally applicable options. Identified adaptation options were generally aligned with five sectors-environment and natural resources, economy, community management and development, infrastructure and services, and information and training-which effectively offer a first step towards prioritization of 'no regrets' measures. From an empirical perspective, while the scenarios highlighted the need for bottom-up measures, they also elucidated discussion about local agency in adaptation and enabled the examination of multi-dimensional impacts on different community sub-groups. An incongruity emerged between the suite of technically oriented adaptation options and more socially and behaviourally oriented barriers to implementation. Methodologically, the qualitative scenarios were flexible, socially inclusive and consistent with the Indigenous worldview; allowed the incorporation of different knowledge systems; addressed future community vulnerability and adaptation; and led to the identification of socially feasible and bottom-up adaptation outcomes. Despite some caveats regarding resource requirements for participatory scenario development, qualitative scenarios offer a versatile tool to address a range of vulnerability and adaptation issues in the context of other Indigenous communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Given the known and potential impacts of climate change on ecosystem composition, structure, and function, some recent studies question the efficacy and relevancy of current protected area policies and management objectives. For example, in a rapidly changing climate is it practical to continue to identify and protect ‘representative’ samples of the natural heritage estate? This paper examines a number of climate-related issues that now confront agencies and organizations responsible for the protection of natural heritage areas, including the roles of protected areas, representation targets, ecological integrity, protected area design, management techniques, research and monitoring needs, and agency capacity to respond. Potential avenues for adaptation are proposed in light of these issues. The development and implementation of a cross-jurisdictional landscape-scale strategic conservation framework focused on protecting, connecting, and restoring ecosystems will be fundamental to enhancing ecological resilience to climate change. We conclude that even though climate change presents unprecedented and significant challenges, the protected area contribution to ecosystem function and human health and well-being will remain an essential and worthwhile investment in the 21st century. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Biological control is a popular tool for invasive species management, but its success in nature is difficult to predict. One risk is that invasive plants, which may have adapted to lower herbivore pressure in the introduced range, could rapidly evolve defences upon re‐association with their biocontrol agent(s). Previous studies have demonstrated that populations of the invasive plant purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) exposed to biocontrol exhibit traits consistent with the rapid evolution of defence. However, to date, no one has tested this hypothesis under field‐natural levels of herbivory. Using seed from 17 populations of purple loosestrife growing in eastern Canada, that varied in their history of exposure to their biocontrol agent, the leaf beetle Neogalerucella spp., we transplanted 1,088 seedlings from 136 maternal families into a common garden under ambient herbivory. Over the following three and half years, we assessed plant performance in the face of biocontrol by measuring early‐season plant size, defoliation, flowering, and season‐end biomass. We discovered that a population history with biocontrol explained little variation in herbivory or plant performance, suggesting that adaptation is not hindering biocontrol effectiveness. Instead, plant size, subsequent defoliation, and spatio‐temporal variables were the main predictors of plant growth and flowering during the study. The high individual variability we observed in plant performance underscores that flexible strategies of allocation and phenology are important contributors to the persistence of invasive plants. Our findings suggest that plant adaptation to biocontrol is unlikely to be a strong impediment to biological control in this species, however, the high survival and variable defoliation of plants in our study also indicate that biocontrol alone is unlikely to result in significant population decline. We recommend that the application of multiple forms of control simultaneously (e.g. thinning plus biocontrol) could help to prevent the existence of refuges of large, reproductive individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arctic is a global hotspot of climate change, which is impacting the livelihoods of remote Inuit communities. We conduct a longitudinal assessment of climate change vulnerability drawing upon fieldwork conducted in 2004 and 2015 in Ikpiarjuk (Arctic Bay), Nunavut, and focusing on risks associated with subsistence harvesting activities. Specifically, we employ the same conceptual and methodological approach to identify and characterize who is vulnerable, to what stresses, and why, assessing how this has changed over time, including re-interviewing individuals involved in the original study. We find similarities between the two periods, with many of the observed environmental changes documented in 2004 having accelerated over the last decade, exacerbating risks of land use: changing sea ice regimes and wind patterns are the most widely documented at both times, with new observations reporting more frequent sighting of polar bear and orca. Socio-economic and technological changes have altered the context in climate change impacts are being experienced and responded to, both exacerbating and moderating vulnerabilities compared to 2004. The adoption of new technology, including GPS and widespread use of the internet, has helped land users manage changing conditions while sharing networks remain strong, despite concern noted in the 2004 study that they were weakening. Challenges around access to financial resources and concern over the incomplete transmission of some environmental knowledge and land skills to younger generations continue to increase sensitivity and limit adaptive capacity to changing climatic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canadian agriculture is a spatially heterogeneous industry and therefore, climate change currently does and in the future, would have different impacts in different regions. At a regional level, these impacts are related not only to different climate characteristics, but also to differing enterprise combinations. In general, for many Canadian regions, such impacts are estimated to be positive; however, increased frequency of extreme climate events may moderate these changes. A review of studies suggests a wide range of impacts on crop production-varying from large negative to large positive changes in yields of various crops. For livestock, empirical studies related to climate change impacts on livestock are lacking, although conceptually, impacts are negative due to adverse impacts on forage, pastures, and feed grain production, and on livestock productivity. Besides lack of research on the livestock sector, a number of other research gaps can be identified. The wide range of estimated impacts of climate change on crop yields may be a result of studies employing different methodologies, assumptions related to nature of climate change, especially regional precipitation, projection period, CO. fertilization effect, shift of agro-ecosystems, extreme climate events, air and water pollution, insect pests and diseases, and integrated effects, among others. Although many studies suggest that climate change could bring beneficial changes, the exact nature of these changes is not known. Research regarding agriculture productivity under future extreme climate event frequency, severity, duration and area is also lacking. Effects of climate change on weeds, insect pests and diseases are rarely considered. In many parts of the country, irrigation has been adopted as a practice to counteract vagaries of nature. However, climate change would affect water availability as temperatures and associated water demands climb, glaciers retreat (affecting water availability on the Prairies), and as aquifer yields decline. Climate change impact analyses would also require knowledge of adaptation measures that can be undertaken over the short-term and long term. Such knowledge of adaptation measures is also scarce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined critical impacts of climate change on Inuit diet and nutritional health in four Inuit communities in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Western Arctic, Canada. The first objective was to combine data from community observation studies and dietary interview studies to determine potential climate change impacts on nutritional quality. The second objective was to address the scale of data collection and/or availability to compare local versus regional trends, and identify implications for adaptation planning. Information was compiled from 5 reports (4 community reports and 1 synthesis report) of climate change observations, impacts and adaptations in 12 Inuit communities (2005-2006), and from a dietary report of food use from 18 Inuit communities (1997-2000). Changing access to, availability of, quality of, and ability to use traditional food resources has implications for quality of diet. Nutritional implications of lower traditional food use include likely reductions in iron, zinc, protein, vitamin D, and omega-3 fatty acids, among others. The vulnerability of each community to changing food security is differentially influenced by a range of factors, including current harvesting trends, levels of reliance on individual species, opportunities for access to other traditional food species, and exposure to climate change hazards. Understanding linkages between climate change and traditional food security provides a basis for strengthening adaptive capacity and determining effective adaptation options to respond to future change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses climate change and the peripheral populations' conservation in Canada. It notes the debate that has sparked over the inclusion of peripheral populations in the national species conservation and the three population-level responses such as range migration, adaptation, and extirpation. It indicates that the range of species maybe squeezed if the leading edge of peripheral populations is threatened by other anthropogenic pressures. It proposes that better understanding of the dynamic processes of conservation biology and the practice of conservation is important in conserving the at-risk species in the country.

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The growth, length at age, time of spawning, food, and movements of the genetically distinct, resident northern Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.) in Gilbert Bay, Labrador, were studied over four consecutive years (1998–2001). Angling and plankton nets were used to sample all stages of the life history. During the study, 2453 cod were tagged with Floy t-bar tags, but none were recaptured outside the bay. Length-at-age is smaller than those of other Atlantic cod off Newfoundland and Labrador. Males mature at 31.0–35.5 cm total length (TL) and 4–6 years of age, and females at 31.4–42.1 cm, 4–8 years of age. Spawning starts shortly after ice retreats from the bay, usually in mid-May, and lasts for ∼3 weeks, a much shorter duration than reported for other northern cod. Timing appears critical to the retention of spawning products in the bay. Stomach contents indicated a wide range of benthic prey but that food availability may be low, contributing to the slow growth rate, individual cod targeting a small number of prey types. Gilbert Bay cod could be threatened if they continue to be managed as part of the Newfoundland–Labrador northern cod stock. Copyright 2002 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Focuses on the Plant and Microbe Adaptations to Cold Meeting held in Québec in May 2003. Scientists gathered by the event; Key traits for winterhardiness of ecologically and economically herbaceous and lignous species; Discussion on the impact of climate change on plant and microorganism survival at low temperatures and on northern ecology.