Dissertation Defence: Grizzly bear habitat use modelling in the Syilx territory of British Columbia – exploration, experience, and reflection

Yiduo Zhang, supervised by Dr. Lael Parrott, will defend their dissertation titled “Grizzly bear habitat use modelling in the Syilx territory of British Columbia – exploration, experience, and reflection” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Earth and Environmental Sciences.

An abstract for Yiduo Zhang’s dissertation is included below.

Examinations are open to all members of the campus community as well as the general public. Registration is not required for in-person exams.

Abstract

Agent-based modelling (ABM) is a thriving approach in ecological research to study interactions between individual organisms and their surrounding environments. Recreating system functions that lead to meaningful emergent patterns relies heavily on the modelling of key ecological mechanisms within the studied system. The process-centric nature of ABM determines that these models often do not reflect quantitative empirical knowledge as correlative models do, considerably limiting their application in applied situations. This dissertation presents a hybrid approach combining ABM with correlative methods to effectively expand the applicable boundaries of existing empirical knowledge. This method leverages the empirical accuracy of correlative approaches and the robustness of mechanistic approaches in the predictive modelling of habitat use patterns. Application examples in complex socioenvironmental contexts were provided to support grizzly bear conservation in British Columbia, Canada.

Grizzly bear Ursus arctos is a species of great conservation interest in the southern region of British Columbia for both the Syilx Okanagan First Nation and the provincial government. The Syilx community represented by Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) is particularly interested in road management in the Syilx territory to address threats related to human presence in grizzly bear habitats, with the long-term goal of population recovery. The gaps in grizzly bear presence data pose substantial hurdles to conservation in the Kettle-Granby and Okanagan Highland areas (study areas). This research addressed these conservation concerns using the hybrid data-driven ABM approach while facilitating Indigenous involvement and knowledge input in the process. Hybrid ABMs were developed for the study areas using grizzly bear movement data collected across the regions to predict potential grizzly bear habitat use. Based on these “baseline” models, additional implementations were developed with modified road features and road-related mortality risks to evaluate the effectiveness of hypothetical road management. The results supported ONA’s conservation decisions in these areas with important quantitative insights.
In a reflection of these modelling efforts with Indigenous involvement, success and challenges due to epistemological barriers and the complex political reality of present-day Canada were identified. Suggestions for future western science researchers were provided to support better collaboration across different knowledge systems in environmental research.