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Some ombrotrophic peatlands in temperate regions have been characterized by a process of rapid densification of their forest cover for several decades. This phenomenon is particularly marked in southern Québec (Canada), where a number of peatlands now contain mixed forest stands. The present study aimed to document the woody encroachment dynamics of a peatland colonized by Larix laricina (Du Roi) K. Koch and Acer rubrum L. The specific objectives were to characterize the contemporary dynamics of the forest cover through analysis of dendrometric, dendrochronological, and aerial photographs, and to reconstruct the evolution of tree species present in situ since the peatland’s origin through botanical identification of ligneous remains collected in excavations of the peat as well as macrofossil analysis of a sedimentary core. The vegetation cover underwent rapid transformation beginning in the 1970s, first by the densification of L. laricina, followed by the expansion of A. rubrum. This transformation followed several millennia during which the peatland continuously presented a shrub-dominated cover with a few scattered coniferous trees. The rapid expansion of a mixed forest cover is a unique event in the peatland’s history. Acer rubrum progressively replaced L. laricina and, in the more or less long-term, should become the dominant species.

Canada was an early adopter of methane regulation in the oil and gas sector, and recently announced a more ambitious goal to reduce 75% of methane emissions by 2030. New stricter methane regulations should also help reduce loading of air pollutants typically associated with methane emissions (H2S, VOCs, ozone). To examine regional emission trends and to derive an inventory estimate for Canada’s upstream oil and gas sector, we measured methane emissions at 6650 sites across six major oil and gas producing regions in Canada. Our research suggests that methane emissions from the oil and gas industry are underestimated in Canada by ~1.5. For Canada’s largest producing province, Alberta, we found a greater than 1000-fold variation in methane intensity per unit of fossil energy production within the cohort of oil and gas producers. Producer self-published methane emission intensities in ESG materials showed a low bias and tended to mirror regulatory submissions that require reporting only on specific source types. Our measurements suggest that methane-associated pollutants produced by oil and gas activities are also underestimated and communities near these activities may face higher loading of methane-accessory contaminants than might be predicted by Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI). Using accepted pollutant emission factors, reported flaring and other combustion activity, the federal methane inventory, and our methane measurements, we generated air quality exposure maps reflecting air pollutant loads on Canadian communities. Stricter methane regulation has the potential to significantly decrease methane, but also pollutant loads in several heavy oil communities including the Lloydminster - Bonnyville area.

Canada is a signatory to the Global Methane Pledge and is aiming to achieve a 75% cut in methane from 2030 levels from oil and gas production through regulatory updates and a 50% cut in waste sector emissions using new regulations. Despite numerous large-scale studies that have measured and identified emission sources from Canada's oil and gas sector, there are virtually no measurements of emissions from landfills in Canada. As such, inventory values for landfill emissions are based on a combination of industry-submitted data and emission factors. Canada could design better policies and regulations if policymakers had access to actual emission rates and source types. Therefore, we designed and carried out a large-scale measurement campaign targeting minimally 125 landfills across Canada, using aircraft mass balance measurements and truck-based measurements (i.e., downwind and onsite transects) coupled with Gaussian inversions to determine emission rate. This study focuses on methodologies used to determine source locations, or methane hotspots, on the landfill surface. In Particular, source attribution methods included a Lagrangian back trajectory footprint analysis of mobile surveys, onsite mixing ratios and winds measured with the truck, as well as Landsat thermal retrievals that have been shown in prior studies to correlate with methane hotspots. Measurements were carried out between June and December 2022 using one or more measurement methodologies for a total of 143 sites. We performed truck-based measurements of mixing ratios across navigable portions of 59 landfills. All indicators showed some correlation to mixing ratios collected onsite, although Lagrangian analysis products from downwind measurements were somewhat more reliable in flagging hotspots than the satellite thermal indices. The indicators often highlighted the active disposal face, leachate impoundment ponds, or compost areas, as the active source area. This study will help contribute much-needed source information for solid waste sector regulatory design in Canada and has the potential to help improve models of landfill methane generation.

Northern peatlands store globally-important amounts of carbon in the form of partly decomposed plant detritus. Drying associated with climate and land-use change may lead to increased fire frequency and severity in peatlands and the rapid loss of carbon to the atmosphere. However, our understanding of the patterns and drivers of peatland burning on an appropriate decadal to millennial timescale relies heavily on individual site-based reconstructions. For the first time, we synthesise peatland macrocharcoal re-cords from across North America, Europe, and Patagonia to reveal regional variation in peatland burning during the Holocene. We used an existing database of proximal sedimentary charcoal to represent regional burning trends in the wider landscape for each region. Long-term trends in peatland burning appear to be largely climate driven, with human activities likely having an increasing influence in the late Holocene. Warmer conditions during the Holocene Thermal Maximum (similar to 9e6 cal. ka BP) were associated with greater peatland burning in North America's Atlantic coast, southern Scandinavia and the Baltics, and Patagonia. Since the Little Ice Age, peatland burning has declined across North America and in some areas of Europe. This decline is mirrored by a decrease in wider landscape burning in some, but not all sub-regions, linked to fire-suppression policies, and landscape fragmentation caused by agricultural expansion. Peatlands demonstrate lower susceptibility to burning than the wider landscape in several instances, probably because of autogenic processes that maintain high levels of near-surface wetness even during drought. Nonetheless, widespread drying and degradation of peatlands, particularly in Europe, has likely increased their vulnerability to burning in recent centuries. Consequently, peatland restoration efforts are important to mitigate the risk of peatland fire under a changing climate. Finally, we make recommendations for future research to improve our understanding of the controls on peatland fires.(c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Background: Congenital anomalies (CA) are one of the leading causes of infant mortality and long-term disability. Many jurisdictions rely on health administrative data to monitor these conditions. Case definition algorithms can be used to monitor CA; however, validation of these algorithms is needed to understand the strengths and limitations of the data. This study aimed to validate case definition algorithms used in a CA surveillance system in British Columbia (BC), Canada. Methods: A cohort of births between March 2000 and April 2002 in BC was linked to the Health Status Registry (HSR) and the BC Congenital Anomalies Surveillance System (BCCASS) to identify cases and non-cases of specific anomalies within each surveillance system. Measures of algorithm performance were calculated for each CA using the HSR as the reference standard. Agreement between both databases was calculated using kappa coefficient. The modified Standards for Reporting Diagnostic Accuracy guidelines were used to enhance the quality of the study. Results: Measures of algorithm performance varied by condition. Positive predictive value (PPV) ranged between approximately 73%–100%. Sensitivity was lower than PPV for most conditions. Internal congenital anomalies or conditions not easily identifiable at birth had the lowest sensitivity. Specificity and negative predictive value exceeded 99% for all algorithms. Conclusion: Case definition algorithms may be used to monitor CA at the population level. Accuracy of algorithms is higher for conditions that are easily identified at birth. Jurisdictions with similar administrative data may benefit from using validated case definitions for CA surveillance as this facilitates cross-jurisdictional comparison.

The Earth’s climate has been warming rapidly since the beginning of the industrial era, forcing terrestrial organisms to adapt. Migration constitutes one of the most effective processes for surviving and thriving, although the speed at which tree species migrate as a function of climate change is unknown. One way to predict latitudinal movement of trees under the climate of the twenty-first century is to examine past migration since the Last Glacial Maximum. In this study, radiocarbon-dated macrofossils were used to calculate the velocity of past migration of jack pine ( Pinus banksiana ) and black spruce ( Picea mariana ), two important fire-adapted conifers of the North American boreal forest. Jack pine migrated at a mean rate of 19 km per century (km -cent ) from unglaciated sites in the central and southeastern United States to the northern limit of the species in subarctic Canada. However, the velocity increased between unglaciated and early deglaciated sites in southern Quebec and slowed from early to mid-Holocene in central and eastern Quebec. Migration was at its lowest speed in late-Holocene times, when it stopped about 3,000 y ago. Compared with jack pine, black spruce migrated at a faster mean rate of 25 km -cent from the ice border at the last interstadial (Bølling/Allerød) to the species tree limit. The modern range of both species was nearly occupied about 6,000 y ago. The factors modulating the changing velocity of jack pine migration were closely associated with the warm-dry climate of the late Pleistocene–Holocene transition and the more humid climate of the mid- and late-Holocene.

Methane emissions were measured at ~7000 sites across major oil and gas producing regions in Canada to examine regional emission trends, and to derive an inventory estimate for Canada’s upstream oil and gas sector. Emissions varied by fluid type and geographic region, with the heavy oil region of Lloydminster ranking highest on both absolute and intensity-based scales. Emission intensities varied widely for natural gas production, where older, low-producing developments showed high emission intensities, and where emissions intensity in newer developments was amongst the lowest in North America. Emissions from offshore production were in-line with reported estimates. When allocated to individual producers, we found that methane emissions intensity varied more than 1000-fold as determined by geographical factors and infrastructure portfolio. Reporting and disclosure frameworks in Canada are improving but we found that producers could easily under-report emissions and emissions intensity if relying only on regulatory requirements. Overall, we estimate that the Canadian upstream oil and gas methane inventory is underestimated by a factor of 1.5, which is consistent with previous studies of individual regions.

In Canada, offshore oil production facilities are exempt from new methane mitigation requirements that apply to onshore producers. Since onshore oil and gas operations have been shown in Canada to emit more methane than is reported in the federal inventory, it is reasonable to question methane emission levels, and intensity, of Canada’s offshore oil production. In this study, we measured methane emissions from an aircraft equipped with Picarro 2210-i gas analyzer and Aventech wind measurement system (AIMMs_30). The top-down emission rate retrieval algorithm (TERRA) was used to calculate the emission rate using a mass balance technique. The algorithm was developed by Environment and Climate Change Canada and has been used previously for airborne emissions measurement campaigns around oil and gas facilities. In addition to mass balance estimates, we also derived estimates from downwind transects using a Gaussian Dispersion model. We flew around each of the 3 offshore facilities 3 times to ensure accurate measurements considering the unpredictable offshore weather conditions. Our emissions estimates were overall comparable with inventory estimates, which demonstrate a much lower methane emissions intensity than onshore oil production in western Canada. We compared our results against reported values for other aircraft-based measurement studies including those in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Although average measured emission rates in Eastern Canada are higher in absolute terms than similar platforms in the Gulf of Mexico or the North Sea, methane emission intensity is lower because production levels are very high.Keyword: Methane emission rate, Inventories, Mass balance, Top-down, Airborne measurement

Anthropogenic methane emissions are generated in several economic sectors, including agriculture, waste management, oil and gas production, and others. Canada is one of the world’s largest oil and gas producers, ranks in the top-25 for agricultural production, and is the world’s largest waste producer per capita. As a result, the methane emission potential is high in parts of Canada where all these activities co-occur. To quantify emissions from multiple co-located sectors, we conducted a case study in Grande Prairie, a small city in Canada’s west dominated by oil and gas production and agriculture. Our goal in this study was to produce a gridded dataset of emissions for the Grande Prairie region. In November 2021, we measured atmospheric mixing ratios of methane using a high-precision gas analyzer mounted in a truck, and estimated emission rates using an inverse Gaussian plume model. During our campaigns, we passed downwind of roughly 220 oil and gas sites and 20 farms with grazing cattle or bison present. We detected emissions at about one-quarter of the oil and gas sites and one-third of the farms, and we also observed emissions from waste management and power generation facilities. Methane emissions from oil and gas production sites were relatively low compared to others we have measured in Canada, but despite this we still found that oil and gas was the dominant methane-emitting sector in the Grande Prairie region. The results of this study feed into a long-term methane monitoring study, focused on multiple economic sectors, methane source types, and detection approaches.

This research has been supported by the Leverhulme Trust (grant no. RC-2018-023), the European Research Council (grant no. 694481), the German Research Foundation (grant no. FE-1096/6-1), the Swiss Government Excellence Postdoctoral Scholarships (grant no. FIRECO 2016.0310), the National Science Centre of Poland (grant no. 2015/17/B/ST10/01656), the SCIEX Scholarship Fund (grant no. PSPB-013/2010), and the Estonian Research Council (grant no. MOBJD313)., Sedimentary charcoal records are widely used to reconstruct regional changes in fire regimes through time in the geological past. Existing global compilations are not geographically comprehensive and do not provide consistent metadata for all sites. Furthermore, the age models provided for these records are not harmonised and many are based on older calibrations of the radiocarbon ages. These issues limit the use of existing compilations for research into past fire regimes. Here, we present an expanded database of charcoal records, accompanied by new age models based on recalibration of radiocarbon ages using IntCal20 and Bayesian age-modelling software. We document the structure and contents of the database, the construction of the age models, and the quality control measures applied. We also record the expansion of geographical coverage relative to previous charcoal compilations and the expansion of metadata that can be used to inform analyses. This first version of the Reading Palaeofire Database contains 1676 records (entities) from 1480 sites worldwide. The database (RPDv1b – Harrison et al., 2021) is available at https://doi.org/10.17864/1947.000345., Leverhulme Trust RC-2018-023, European Research Council (ERC) European Commission 694481, German Research Foundation (DFG) FE-1096/6-1, Swiss Government Excellence Postdoctoral Scholarships FIRECO 2016.0310, SCIEX Scholarship Fund PSPB-013/2010, Estonian Research Council MOBJD313

The oil and gas industry is Canada’s largest contributor to national methane (CH4) emissions. To quantify the input of active and inactive (suspended and abandoned) oil and gas infrastructure to regional CH4 budgets, we conducted truck-based measurements (transect-based and OTM 33A) with a greenhouse gas analyzer, complimented with optical gas imaging at oil-producing sites of Saskatchewan, including understudied regions. We found that inactive sites regionally accounted for roughly 43% of total measured CH4 emissions in Lloydminster, 9% in Kindersley, and 0% in Swift Current. Thus, CH4 emissions from oil production in southwestern Saskatchewan are underestimated by almost 25% if emissions from inactive sites are ignored. Measured mean CH4 emissions of actively producing oil and gas infrastructure in Lloydminster were at least 50% lower (36 ± 7 m3/day) than found in previous studies potentially due to declines in production schemes, effective implementation of emission reduction approaches, or spatial differences between sampled sites. Unlike previous studies, measured emissions in Lloydminster were lower than reported values (147 ± 10 m3/day). In contrast, measured emissions in Kindersley (64 ± 17 m3/day) and Swift Current (23 ± 16 m3/day) were close to reported emissions despite observed tank vents and unlit flares. Unlit flares emitted at least 3 times more CH4 than other infrastructure types and were the “super-emitters” in this study. Currently, provincial and federal regulations target only active infrastructure, but regulators may consider extending regulations to inactive sites where data suggest significant emission reduction potential.

Vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) is a rare complication after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) adenoviral vector vaccination. In British Columbia (BC), Canada, a provincial clinical care pathway was developed to guide clinicians in evaluating for VITT among patients who present with thrombocytopenia or thrombosis symptoms within 4 to 28 days after adenoviral vector vaccine exposure. All patients had enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing for platelet factor 4 (PF4) antibodies, and all cases with positive PF4-ELISA or d-dimer levels ≥2.0 mg/L fibrinogen equivalent units (FEU) had further testing for platelet-activating PF4 antibodies using a modified serotonin release assay (SRA). Between 1 May and 30 June 2021, 37% of 68 patients investigated for VITT had thrombosis, but only 3 had VITT confirmed by PF4-ELISA and SRA. Platelet counts, d-dimer levels, and ELISA optical density values were significantly different between those with and without VITT. Three patients had thrombocytopenia and thrombosis with d-dimer levels >4.0 mg/L FEU but had negative PF4-ELISA and SRA results. Patients with VITT were treated successfully with IV immunoglobulin, nonheparin anticoagulants, and corticosteroids. Our pathway demonstrated that thrombosis is common among patients investigated for VITT and that PF4-ELISA testing is necessary to confirm VITT in those presenting with thrombosis and thrombocytopenia.

Sedimentary charcoal records are widely used to reconstruct regional changes in fire regimes through time in the geological past. Existing global compilations are not geographically comprehensive and do not provide consistent metadata for all sites. Furthermore, the age models provided for these records are not harmonised and many are based on older calibrations of the radiocarbon ages. These issues limit the use of existing compilations for research into past fire regimes. Here, we present an expanded database of charcoal records, accompanied by new age models based on recalibration of radiocarbon ages using INTCAL2020 and Bayesian age-modelling software. We document the structure and contents of the database, the construction of the age models, and the quality control measures applied. We also record the expansion of geographical coverage relative to previous charcoal compilations and the expansion of metadata that can be used to inform analyses. This first version of the Reading Palaeofire Database contains 1681 records (entities) from 1477 sites worldwide. The database (DOI: 10.17864/1947.319) is available from https://researchdata.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/319.

Numerous peatlands in eastern North America are currently experiencing an accelerated process of tree encroachment. Deciduous species, particularly gray birch, can sometimes form large, dense stands. Our objectives were to document the periods during which gray birch established in temperate peatlands of southern Quebec (Canada), and examine the factors that may have contributed to such massive establishment. We hypothesized that the abundant presence of gray birch is a relatively recent phenomenon associated with human activities that are creating conditions favorable to the establishment of this species. We analyzed dendrochronological, plant-macrofossil, aerial photographs and climatic data for 10 sites. All of the peatlands recently experienced a major increase in forest cover. The first sign of gray birch establishment dates back to the 1950s, although at over half of sites, establishment took place after 1980. Abundant macroremains of the species were found only in the upper portion of peat deposits. Birch encroachment most often occurred after a fire had spread through the peatland. Increasing agricultural and draining activities on the periphery of the peatlands, that coincides with drier climatic conditions, likely induced a drying out of the peat, thereby creating conditions propitious for fire and subsequent germination and growth of birch seeds.

Nous avons documenté les caractéristiques physiographiques, climatiques et écologiques du domaine bioclimatique de la pessière noire à mousses le long d’un transect longitudinal de 1 000 km, de l’Abitibi à la Basse-Côte-Nord. Dans la portion ouest du domaine, le climat continental et plus sec favorise les feux. Les pessières à épinette noire et celles à épinette noire et à pin gris constituent les peuplements dominants. Les pessières à épinette noire et sapin baumier augmentent en importance dans la portion centrale du domaine, tandis que sur la Côte-Nord, les feux moins fréquents et le climat plus humide favorisent les sapinières perturbées par les épidémies d’insectes. C’est dans cette région que la proportion de forêts âgées de plus de 100 ans est la plus élevée. Les pessières à lichens et les lichénaies sont aussi plus abondantes à l’est de Sept-Îles. L’ampleur des changements observés montre qu’il est primordial de considérer le gradient longitudinal pour expliquer la répartition des formations végétales de la forêt boréale, au même titre que le gradient latitudinal qui, lui, est beaucoup plus souvent étudié., The black spruce-moss forest is the largest bioclimatic domain in Québec (Canada), extending east from the Abitibi region to the Basse-Côte-Nord region. We documented changes in climate, ecological disturbance, surface deposit, topography and vegetation cover along a 1 000-km longitudinal transect through this domain. In the western portion, where the drier continental climate favours wildfire, black spruce and mixed black spruce–jack pine forests predominate. In the central portion, black spruce–balsam fir forests increase in importance. Further east, the more humid climate of the Côte-Nord region, where wildfires are less frequent, favours pure balsam fir and balsam fir–black spruce forests, which have been heavily affected by insect outbreaks. The proportion of mature stands (>100 years) is highest in this region. Lichen woodlands and lichen-heaths are more abundant east of Sept-Îles. The extent of the changes observed shows that the longitudinal gradient is just as important as the latitudinal gradient in explaining the distribution of plant communities in the boreal forest, although the latter has been studied more often.

Analysis and 14C dating of charcoal fragments ≥2 mm buried in mineral soils make it possible to obtain a stand-scale portrait of Holocene fires that occurred in well-drained, fire-prone environments, as well as changes in forest stand composition over time, based on botanical identification of charcoals. However, it is not always possible to reconstruct all fire events, due to disturbances that altered soil stratigraphy. In order to evaluate the efficacy of this approach, we conducted a comparative analysis with a proximal environment that presents an a priori continuous stratigraphy of charcoal fragments. For two sites in the coniferous boreal forest of eastern North America, the charcoal record of a forest soil was compared with that of an adjacent peatland margin situated at a distance of 20 m. For both types of sedimentary environments, a similar fire history was reconstructed for a large part of the Holocene. The greatest differences were for the early Holocene period, for which a smaller number of fires was detected in the forest soil compared to the peatland soil. Retracing the oldest fires using mineral soils in a fire prone environment is more difficult, due to charcoal decay that results from repeated fire events. However, forest soils reveal a relatively accurate fire history for subsequent millennia if the number of charcoals dated is sufficiently large. Any accurate reconstruction of the fire history of proximal peatland environments is strongly dependent on continuous stratigraphic units of peat and charcoal. Indeed, the age of charcoal fragments in peat may be different from that of the sedimentary layer in which they are buried due to allogenic disturbances like erosion events caused by deep burning of the organic horizon and other mass wasting events. Despite the large number of 14C dates it requires, analysis of soil macrocharcoal yields a realistic picture of the fire history at the stand scale. The concurrent analysis of macrocharcoal from adjacent peatland deposits may be used as a complement to more accurately record the oldest fire events.

Cold heavy oil production with or without sand (CHOPS, or CHOP) are prevalent methods of oil extraction in western Canada. CHOP(S) sites account for over 40% of all reported vented methane (CH4) from oil production in Alberta, and high rates of CH4 emissions have been confirmed in independent measurement studies. In this study, we used truck-based surveys coupled with qualitative optical gas imaging (OGI) to quantify and characterize methane emission rates and sources at nearly 1350 and 940 well sites in two major CHOP(S) developments respectively in 2016 and 2018. The studies were conducted in Lloydminster, Alberta, where produced gases are sweet (i.e., 0.5% sulfur) odorous emissions (hydrogen sulfide, BTEX, etc.). Based on results from all surveys, in Peace River, 43% of measured sites were emitting CH4, compared to 37% in Lloydminster. The measured CH4 emission rates in Peace River were, however, significantly lower than in Lloydminster for both years, and had fallen from 2016 to 2018. In 2018, emissions in Lloydminster were fairly unchanged relative to previous measurements taken in 2016. OGI showed that tanks in Peace River continue to emit CH4 despite regulatory interventions and a reported venting rate of zero. The continued emissions were thus classified as “unintended venting”, which can be a consequence of the non-routine malfunction (e.g., inappropriate operator action or poor equipment design/sizing) of vapor recovery equipment. Mitigation strategies implemented in Peace River targeting olfactory compounds were beneficial in reducing and keeping CH4 emissions lower, since these gases are co-emitted, and could even be co-regulated provincially. Reciprocal to that, we might expect future air quality improvements as a consequence of the new provincial requirements to reduce CH4 emissions under amended Directives 060 and 017.

This study examines the Holocene evolution of an inland subarctic permafrost peatland located on the north bank of Wiyâshâkimi Lake (Nunavik, northeastern Canada). The analysis of plant macrofossil...

Methane emissions were measured at 6650 sites across six major oil and gas producing regions in Canada to examine regional emission trends, and to derive an inventory estimate for Canada’s upstream oil and gas sector. Emissions varied by fluid type and geographic region, with the heavy oil region of Lloydminster ranking highest on both absolute and intensity-based scales. Emission intensities varied widely for natural gas production, where older, low-producing developments such as Medicine Hat, Alberta showed high emission intensities, and newer developments in Montney, British Columbia showed emission intensities that are amongst the lowest in North America. Overall, we estimate that the Canadian upstream oil and gas methane inventory is underestimated by a factor of 1.5, which is consistent with previous studies of individual regions.

The carbon sink potential of peatlands depends on the balance of carbon uptake by plants and microbial decomposition. The rates of both these processes will increase with warming but it remains unclear which will dominate the global peatland response. Here we examine the global relationship between peatland carbon accumulation rates during the last millennium and planetary-scale climate space. A positive relationship is found between carbon accumulation and cumulative photosynthetically active radiation during the growing season for mid- to high-latitude peatlands in both hemispheres. However, this relationship reverses at lower latitudes, suggesting that carbon accumulation is lower under the warmest climate regimes. Projections under Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP)2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios indicate that the present-day global sink will increase slightly until around AD 2100 but decline thereafter. Peatlands will remain a carbon sink in the future, but their response to warming switches from a negative to a positive climate feedback (decreased carbon sink with warming) at the end of the twenty-first century.

Today, scattered disjunct stands of two temperate species, yellow birch and white pine, are present north of their continuous distributional range in southern Quebec (Canada) at topographical locations that offer protection from severe fires. This study tested whether these species had populations more numerous and widespread millennia ago when the climate was presumably warmer. Specifically, this research involved the analyses of pollen, plant macrofossils, and charcoal fragments of two sites within the western part of Quebec’s balsam fir – paper birch bioclimatic domain: a forest humus deposit from a yellow birch stand (local scale), and a peatland (regional scale). Fossil data suggest that white pine was more abundant regionally between 7500 and 5000 cal. BP, before coming rare under subsequent cooler conditions. Likewise, yellow birch was more abundant regionally between 7700 and 1500 cal BP. Its subsequent decline and the local disappearance of white pine by ∼200 cal. BP may both be explained by the severe fires that occurred in recent centuries, as well as the rarity of suitable habitats for these species. The sustained presence of temperate species in mixed boreal forests is the result of the combined action of climate, natural disturbances and habitat characteristics.

Chironomid head capsules preserved in lake sediments were used to reconstruct 8200 years of summer temperatures in the boreal forest of northeastern Canada. Two training sets were used derived from Canadian and Eastern Canadian transfer functions. Both models reconstructed similar climate patterns, but the Canadian model provided temperatures generally 2-3 ˚C lower than the Eastern Canadian model. Three main thermal changes inferred by chironomids were: (i) the Holocene Thermal Maximum, which occurred between 8 and 5k cal a BP, with temperatures generally higher than today's, maximum temperatures between 8 and 6.5k cal a BP, and an average of þ 0.9 ˚C; (ii) the Medieval Climate Anomaly around 1.1-1.2k cal a BP with an amplitude of þ 0.7 ˚C; and (iii) a colder period reconstructed between the 14th and 19th centuries, corresponding to the Little Ice Age, with summer temperatures on average A0.5 ˚C lower than the climate normal. For each of these three climatic events, the timing and the amplitude of changes were similar with other published regional, North American and Northern Hemisphere records.

Although the North American bryophyte flora are relatively well known, bryophytes of the Black Spruce–feather moss forest in the Nord-du-Québec administrative region, especially its southern portion (49–51°N, 74–79°W), remain under-sampled. Here, we report 169 bryophyte taxa for this region, of which 35 (14 true mosses, 20 liverworts, one sphagnum) represent noteworthy records, including 20 taxa new for the region. These new occurrences close several gaps in distribution in the study area and, more broadly, in the boreal Black Spruce (Picea mariana) forest of adjacent ontario. Microhabitat preferences of the species are also documented. This work represents a substantial contribution to knowledge of the bryophyte flora, which will help refine protection priority ranks of species of Quebec and Labrador.

Balsam fir (Abies balsamea) and black spruce (Picea mariana) forests are the main conifer forest types in the North American boreal zone. The coexistence of the two species as well as their respective canopy dominance in distinct stands raises questions about the long-term evolution from one forest type to the other in relation to environmental factors including climate and stand disturbance. We tested the hypothesis that repetitive fire events promote the succession of balsam fir forest to black spruce forest and vice versa. Postfire chronosequences of one black spruce (BSP) and one balsam fir (BFI) sites were reconstructed based on the botanical composition and 14C-dated soil macrocharcoals. The results support the hypothesis of a successional dynamics. The BSP site has been affected by fires for the last 7600 years, whereas the BFI site, after having been impacted by several fires during the first half of the Holocene, evolved in a fire-free environment for the last 4400 years. Periods of fire activity facilitated the dominance of black spruce forests. The cessation of fires around 4400 cal. years BP on BFI site marks the beginning of the transition from black spruce to balsam fir stands. This succession is a long process, due to the ability of black spruce to regenerate by layering in the absence of fire. The resulting balsam fir stands are ancient and precarious ecosystems, since fire generally leads to the return of black spruce. The increase in balsam fir to the detriment of black spruce in boreal forests is a response to a decrease in fire frequency.

North American leaders recently committed to reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, but information on current emissions from Canadian unconventional developments is lacking. This study examined the incidence of methane in an area of unconventional natural gas development in northwestern Canada. In August to September 2015 we completed almost 8000 km of vehicle-based survey campaigns on public roads dissecting developments that mainly access the Montney formation in northeastern British Columbia. Six survey routes were repeated 3–6 times and brought us past over 1600 unique well pads and facilities developed by more than 50 different operators. To attribute on-road plumes to infrastructural sources we used gas signatures of residual excess concentrations (anomalies above background) less than 500 m downwind from infrastructural sources. All results represent emissions greater than our minimum detection limit of 0.59 g/s at our average detection distance (319 m). Unlike many other developments in the US for which methane measurements have been reported recently, the methane concentrations we measured at surface were close to normal atmospheric levels, except inside natural gas plumes. Roughly 47 % of active wells emitted methane-rich plumes above our minimum detection limit. Abandoned and under-development well sites also emitted methane-rich plumes, but the incidence rate was below that of producing wells. Multiple sites that pre-date the recent unconventional Montney development were found to be emitting, and in general we observed that older infrastructure tended to emit more often (per unit) with comparable severity in terms of measured excess concentrations on-road. We also observed emissions from facilities of various types that were highly repeatable. Emission patterns in this area were best explained by infrastructure age and type. Extrapolating our results across the Montney development, we estimate that the emission sources we located (emitting at a rate > 0.59 g/s) contribute more than 111,800 tonnes of methane annually to the atmosphere. This value exceeds reported bottom-up estimates of 78,000 tonnes for all oil and gas sector sources in British Columbia, of which the Montney represents about 55 % of production. The results also demonstrate that mobile surveys could be used to exhaustively screen developments for super-emitters, because without our intensive 6-fold replication we could have used single-pass sampling to screen 80 % of Montney-related infrastructure. This is the first bottom-up study of fugitive emissions in the Canadian energy sector, and these results can be used to inform policy development in an era of methane emission reduction efforts.

Data on the long term evolution of urban forests are rare. Using pollen and macrofossil analyses of a sediment core collected in a swampy forest hollow on Île aux Chats, an island in Bois-de-Saraguay woodland park in Montreal (Quebec), the postglacial history of a maple forest was reconstructed at a local spatial scale for the last 8200 years. Results show that after Île aux Chats emerged from the waters of Lake Lampsilis, it was rapidly colonized by a maple forest that was already diversified 8000 years ago. More than half of the vascular species identified in the macrofossil assemblages are absent from the local plant community today, notably coniferous species (Pinus resinosa, Larix laricina, Picea mariana). Other plants have multiplied their populations over time (Tilia americana, Tsuga canadensis, Acer rubrum). The maple forest was probably sustained by a small-scale gap dynamic caused by windthrow, fires having apparently been very rare. Fagus grandifolia, never abundant locally in the past, is observed to be currently expanding, and could eventually compete with Acer saccharum. This study constitutes not only a rare plurimillenial study of an urban woodland in eastern North America, but also of a maple forest at a local spatial scale.

The North American Ice Sheet Complex (NAISC; consisting of the Laurentide, Cordilleran and Innuitian ice sheets) was the largest ice mass to repeatedly grow and decay in the Northern Hemisphere during the Quaternary. Understanding its pattern of retreat following the Last Glacial Maximum is critical for studying many facets of the Late Quaternary, including ice sheet behaviour, the evolution of Holocene landscapes, sea level, atmospheric circulation, and the peopling of the Americas. Currently, the most up-to-date and authoritative margin chronology for the entire ice sheet complex is featured in two publications (Geological Survey of Canada Open File 1574 [Dyke et al., 2003]; 'Quaternary Glaciations - Extent and Chronology, Part II' [Dyke, 2004]). These often-cited datasets track ice margin recession in 36 time slices spanning 18 ka to 1 ka (all ages in uncalibrated radiocarbon years) using a combination of geomorphology, stratigraphy and radiocarbon dating. However, by virtue of being over 15 years old, the ice margin chronology requires updating to reflect new work and important revisions. This paper updates the aforementioned 36 ice margin maps to reflect new data from regional studies. We also update the original radiocarbon dataset from the 2003/2004 papers with 1541 new ages to reflect work up to and including 2018. A major revision is made to the 18 ka ice margin, where Banks and Eglinton islands (once considered to be glacial refugia) are now shown to be fully glaciated. Our updated 18 ka ice sheet increased in areal extent from 17.81 to 18.37 million km(2), which is an increase of 3.1% in spatial coverage of the NAISC at that time. Elsewhere, we also summarize, region-by-region, significant changes to the deglaciation sequence. This paper integrates new information provided by regional experts and radiocarbon data into the deglaciation sequence while maintaining consistency with the original ice margin positions of Dyke et al. (2003) and Dyke (2004) where new information is lacking; this is a pragmatic solution to satisfy the needs of a Quaternary research community that requires up-to-date knowledge of the pattern of ice margin recession of what was once the world's largest ice mass. The 36 updated isochrones are available in PDF and shapefile format, together with a spreadsheet of the expanded radiocarbon dataset (n = 5195 ages) and estimates of uncertainty for each interval. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

International audience; The impact of hot-mix asphalt (HMA) density differentials on thermal streaks and their temporal evolution were examined by means of infrared thermography under laboratory conditions. A series of experimental tests was performed using specimens containing three asphalt blocks, one of which had an arbitrarily lower density and was positioned between the other two blocks with higher densities. The specimens were uniformly heated to a temperature similar to that found in real on-site situations during HMA laydown and left to cool at ambient temperature, simulating a thermal streak caused by density differentials. Surface cooling at ambient temperature was recorded using a thermographic camera. Results demonstrated that HMA density variations of 6.5% or higher produce surface temperature differentials of 4°C or more after 3 min of cooling, and can be straightforwardly detected by infrared thermography. Thermal modeling confirmed the experimental trends and constitutes a valuable tool for future investigation under different conditions.

The dynamics of the boreal forest has followed several successional trajectories during the Holocene caused by recurrent stand-scale, abiotic and biotic disturbances. Under stable environmental conditions, site disturbances should favor the regeneration of forest communities enabling the recovery process to produce forests similar to the pre-disturbance states. However, a failure in the post-disturbance recovery process can also occur to shift the forest communities to alternative states. Although fire is the main disturbance factor affecting the dynamics of the boreal forest, long-term resilience of most forest ecosystems remains poorly known because of lack of stand-scale paleoecological evidence. To evaluate the resilience ability of boreal forest ecosystems, we reconstructed their Holocene fire history and documented their successional pathways at the stand scale in two climatically-contrasted regions (western continental versus eastern humid climates of boreal Quebec, Canada) based on botanically-identified and 14C-dated soil charcoal remains. Since mid-Holocene, western closed-crown conifer forests were resilient to fire disturbance, but hardwood trees declined significantly. Yet in the eastern region, closed-crown conifer forests similar to that observed today seems to have remained in place since its origin. In both regions, moderate fire frequency leads to a recurrence dynamics that favors renewal of forests stands with the same composition. However, balsam fir – paper birch stands follow a successional pattern characterized by the establishment of paper birch, with subsequent increasing abundance of balsam fir. This allows the maintenance of forests composed of these species, whose dominance fluctuates according to the time elapsed since the last fire. The succession from black spruce to balsam fir stands seems to be an uncommon process that requires a prolonged fire-free period. Although most closed-crown forests are resilient postfire ecosystems which have persisted over several millennia, their resilience is precarious as evidenced by the transformation of some forests into lichen woodlands after fire.

Aim Wildfire activity is projected to increase under global warming in many parts of the world. Knowledge of the role of these disturbances in shaping the composition of boreal forests is needed to better anticipate their future impacts. Here, we investigate the incidence of wildfire activity (burned biomass, frequency and size) on multi-millennia vegetation trajectories in two coniferous boreal forest regions that display different types of vegetation composition and relief. We hypothesize that this difference in vegetation results from dissimilar wildfire activity during the Holocene. Location Conifer-dominated boreal forests in Quebec-Labrador, eastern North America. Methods Fire and vegetation histories during the last 8000 years were reconstructed and compared through analyses of charcoal and pollen records extracted from nine lacustrine deposits located in two spruce-moss forests: the western region, co-dominated by Pinus banksiana, and the eastern region, co-dominated by Abies balsamea. Results Between 7000 and 2000 cal. yr bp, the western region experienced fewer fires than the eastern region, but they were larger in size. The main species adapted to fire, P. banksiana and Alnus viridis ssp. crispa, progressively co-dominated with Picea sp.. Conversely, in the eastern region, P. banksiana and A. viridis ssp. crispa were very rare, and Picea sp. co-dominated with non-fire-adapted A. balsamea and Betula sp.. Then, around 2000 cal. yr bp, fires decreased in frequency but were larger in size in the eastern region than in the western one, thus allowing densification of P. banksiana and A. viridis ssp. crispa in these landscapes. Main conclusions In the coniferous boreal forests of eastern North America, fire size was relatively more important in determining the long-term vegetation trajectories in comparison with fire frequency. Changes in the rate of occurrence of large-fire episodes will have significant impacts on vegetation dynamics over the next decades under continuing warming.

An acceleration of model-data synthesis activities has leveraged many terrestrial carbon datasets, but utilization of soil respiration (RS) data has not kept pace. We identify three major challenges in interpreting RS data, and opportunities to utilize it more extensively and creatively: (1) When RS is compared to ecosystem respiration (RECO) measured from EC towers, it is not uncommon to find RS > RECO. We argue this is most likely due to difficulties in calculating RECO, which provides an opportunity to utilize RS for EC quality control. (2) RS integrates belowground heterotrophic and autotrophic activity, but many models include only an explicit heterotrophic output. Opportunities exist to use the total RS flux for data assimilation and model benchmarking methods rather than less-certain partitioned fluxes. (3) RS is generally measured at a very different resolution than that needed for comparison to EC or ecosystem- to global-scale models. Downscaling EC fluxes to match the scale of RS, and improvement of RS upscaling techniques will improve resolution challenges. RS data can bring a range of benefits to model development, particularly with larger databases and improved data sharing protocols to make RS data more robust and broadly available to the research community.

Background Antibiotic administration to individuals with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infection remains controversial. We assessed if antibiotic administration to individuals with STEC infection is associated with development of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Methods The analysis included studies published up to 29 April 2015, that provided data from patients (1) with STEC infection, (2) who received antibiotics, (3) who developed HUS, and (4) for whom data reported timing of antibiotic administration in relation to HUS. Risk of bias was assessed; strength of evidence was adjudicated. HUS was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes restricted the analysis to low-risk-of-bias studies employing commonly used HUS criteria. Pooled estimates of the odds ratio (OR) were obtained using random-effects models. Results Seventeen reports and 1896 patients met eligibility; 8 (47%) studies were retrospective, 5 (29%) were prospective cohort, 3 (18%) were case-control, and 1 was a trial. The pooled OR, including all studies, associating antibiotic administration and development of HUS was 1.33 (95% confidence interval [CI], .89-1.99; I(2) = 42%). The repeat analysis including only studies with a low risk of bias and those employing an appropriate definition of HUS yielded an OR of 2.24 (95% CI, 1.45-3.46; I(2) = 0%). Conclusions Overall, use of antibiotics was not associated with an increased risk of developing HUS; however, after excluding studies at high risk of bias and those that did not employ an acceptable definition of HUS, there was a significant association. Consequently, the use of antibiotics in individuals with STEC infections is not recommended.

In Weyburn, Saskatchewan, carbon dioxide (CO2) is injected into the Weyburn oilfield for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). Cenovus Energy Inc. operates more than 1000 active wells, processing plants, and hundreds of kilometres of pipeline infrastructure over a >100 km2 area. While vehicle-based atmospheric detection of gas leakage would be convenient for a distributed operation such as Weyburn, implementing atmospheric detection schemes, particularly those that target CO2, are challenging in that natural ecosystems and other human activities both emit CO2 and will contribute to regular false positives. Here we present field test results of a multi-gas atmospheric detection technique that uses observed trace gas ratios (CO2, CH4, and H2S) to discriminate plumes of gas originating from different sources. This work is part of a larger project focused on multi-scale fugitive emissions detection and plume discrimination. During 2013 and 2014, we undertook vehicle-based mobile surveys of CO2, CH4, H2S, and δ 13CH4, in the Weyburn oilfield, using customized Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy (CRDS) instruments that also alternated as stationary receptors. Mobile surveys provided georeferenced observations of atmospheric gas concentrations every 20–30 m, along a route driven at roughly 70 km h−1. Data were uploaded to remote servers and processed using visualization tools that allowed us to constrain the location and timing of potential emission events. Results from one day of mobile surveying, September 24, 2013, are presented here to illustrate how industrial activities, combustion engine and flare stack source emissions can be discriminated on the basis of excess mixing gas ratios, at distances from a few hundreds metres, to kilometres, in the Weyburn oilfield.

International audience; The biodiversity of shallow (zmax