{"id":9977,"date":"2023-05-03T18:24:12","date_gmt":"2023-05-03T18:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexrms.com\/?p=9977"},"modified":"2023-05-03T18:39:52","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T18:39:52","slug":"kicking-off-a-new-ecological-corridors-modeling-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexrms.com\/2023\/05\/03\/kicking-off-a-new-ecological-corridors-modeling-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Kicking off a new ecological corridors modeling project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-2 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:25%\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:50%\"><h2 style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:500;\" class=\"wp-block-post-title\">Kicking off a new ecological corridors modeling project<\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author has-small-font-size\"><div class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-author__name\">Sarah Chisholm<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-date has-small-font-size\"><time datetime=\"2023-05-03T18:24:12+00:00\">May 3, 2023<\/time><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-1 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230420_111901-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System\" class=\"wp-image-9978\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" srcset=\"https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230420_111901-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230420_111901-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230420_111901-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230420_111901-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230420_111901-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/20230420_111901-1320x990.jpg 1320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Collaborating scientists, land managers, and indigenous community members visit a site in the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System in Ontario, Canada shortly after a controlled burn (bottom right) to remove invasive species. Photo credit: Bronwyn Rayfield, 2023.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bronwynrayfield\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bronwyn Rayfield<\/a>, a senior landscape ecologist at ApexRMS, recently participated in a kickoff meeting for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rbg.ca\/ecological-corridor-pilot-program-receives-funding-from-parks-canada\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System Ecological Corridors Pilot Project<\/a>. As part of the new Parks Canada <a href=\"https:\/\/parks.canada.ca\/nature\/science\/conservation\/corridors-ecologiques-ecological-corridors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Program for Ecological Corridors<\/a>, the focus of this year-long $3.5M project is to develop ecological corridors across the <a href=\"https:\/\/cootestoescarpmentpark.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cootes to Escarpement EcoPark System<\/a>, located at the western tip of Lake Ontario. The area is a national biodiversity hotspot and provides a critical link between Lake Ontario wetlands and Ontario\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Niagara_Escarpment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Niagara Escarpment<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In collaboration with <a href=\"https:\/\/fortin.eeb.utoronto.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Marie-Josee Fortin<\/a> of the University of Toronto, ApexRMS is leading the corridor modeling component of this exciting new project, building on their previous assessment in 2020 of the <a href=\"https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wildlife-corridor-analysis\/\">baseline ecological connectivity of the EcoPark System<\/a>. The objectives of the corridor modeling are to: (1) delineate and prioritize existing ecological corridors; (2) assess the potential of candidate restoration actions \u2013 such as removal of invasive species or planting of native species \u2013 within these corridors to increase ecological connectivity; and (3) measure the cumulative potential connectivity impacts of all possible management and restoration actions. A key component of this new project will be the development of a user-friendly software tool \u2013 built as an <a href=\"https:\/\/syncrosim.com\/packages\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">open-source package<\/a> in our <a href=\"https:\/\/syncrosim.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SyncroSim<\/a> software \u2013 capable of rapidly undertaking \u201cwhat-if\u201d analyses of the potential effects of new restoration projects on habitat connectivity for a range of different species.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:25%\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-3 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bronwyn Rayfield, a senior landscape ecologist at ApexRMS, recently participated in a kickoff meeting for the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System Ecological Corridors Pilot Project.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":9979,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/2023-05-02-Ecological-Corridors-Thumbnail.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9977"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9977"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9989,"href":"https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9977\/revisions\/9989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexrms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}