Université de Sherbrooke
Postdoctoral fellow candidate
Supervisor: Dominique Gravel
Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne, WCS Canada
Start: 2025-11-03
End: 2027-11-02

Project

Key Biodiversity Areas and mapping ecological integrity from a biocultural perspective
The Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) initiative is identifying sites that contribute significantly to the global and national persistence of biodiversity, using a Standard and Guidelines that are quantitative and being applied consistently across Canada (and globally). The multiple criteria (A-E) of the KBA Standard focus on different biodiversity values, including rare and threatened species and ecosystems, and places where species aggregate in large numbers at certain times in their life cycle. The project will focus on the development and application of KBA Criterion C for Québec, which has the goal of identifying the world’s remaining landscapes with very high ecological integrity. To date, discussions at the global scale about ecological integrity are mainly focused on biophysical indicators, understood through a western science perspective. However, in Quebec (and in Canada), the KBA team proposes to apply Criterion C using both the biophysical measures of ecological integrity that are currently considered in global KBA guidelines alongside biocultural indicators of ecological integrity identified as important by Indigenous communities in different regions. This project specifically aims to (1) identify key indicators and datasets related to ecological integrity in northern Quebec through literature review and discussions with experts and knowledge holders; (2) map the spectrum of ecological integrity and biocultural integrity in northern Quebec; (3) identify potential Criterion C sites that meet the global KBA standard.

Keywords

ecological integrity, Conservation, Key Biodiversity Areas, First Nations

Publications

1- Urban vegetation and well‐being: A cross‐sectional study in Montreal, Canada
Sousa‐Silva, Rita, Yan Kestens, Zoé Poirier Stephens, Benoit Thierry, Daniel Schoenig, Daniel Fuller, Meghan Winters, Audrey Smargiassi
2025 People and Nature

2- Resolving the effects of functional traits on tree growth rates: The influence of temporal dynamics and divergent strategies by leaf habit
Déziel, Mégane, Daniel Schoenig, Rita Sousa‐Silva, Eric B. Searle, William C. Parker, Jeannine Cavender‐Bares, Simone Mereu, Michael Scherer‐Lorenzen, Charles A. Nock, Christian Messier, Peter Reich, Artur Stefanski, Ning Dong, Peter Hajek, Dominique Gravel, Alain Paquette
2025 Journal of Ecology

3- Strong mismatch in climate change adaptation between intentions of private forest owners in Canada and institutional support
Fouqueray, Timothée, Daniel Schoenig, Rita Sousa-Silva, Jérôme Dupras, Christian Messier
2026 Communications Earth & Environment