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Coastal cities are grappling with how to shift their approach in designing the built environment to respond to global warming and sea level rise. With the potential increase of sea level rise by 1 metre by the year 2100, and climate change projecting more intense and frequent storms to British Columbia’s coasts, Vancouver will need to consider more resilient approaches to address flood risk along its shores. One area that will be exposed to flood risks includes the False Creek Flats, a historic tidal flat converted to rail and industrial hub in the core of the city, and on the cusp of transforming into the city’s next employment hub. At present, it is indiscernible that the False Creek Flats at one time was a historic tidal flat with a rich ecology supporting a variety of plants and wildlife, providing food and sustenance to the Indigenous people whose traditional territory included this land. The emergence of the rail and industry erased this history, the connection to the water, and the dynamic coastal processes that shaped the landscape. With the False Creek Flats undergoing a significant transformation over the next number of years, there is a window of opportunity to reconnect False Creek Flats to the coastal landscape, while also making room for flood waters and shifting perspectives on how we live with and build with water. This practicum seeks to develop a resilient design approach for False Creek Flats through three lenses: robustness, ensuring people are safe; adaptive, making room for the water; and transformative, shifting perspectives through design interventions. Leveraging the opportunity to make False Creek Flats resilient to climate change and flooding will benefit Vancouver by creating opportunities to shift public perspectives on how the city should adapt to sea level rise and climate change, while also bolstering public policy that will make the city and its residents more adaptive and resilient to change.

The spring bloom of microalgae within the bottom of sea ice provides a significant contribution to primary production in the Arctic Ocean. The aim of this research was to improve observations of the ice algae bloom using a transmitted irradiance technique to remotely estimate biomass, and to examine the influence of physical processes on biomass throughout the sea ice melt season. Results indicate that bottom ice temperature is highly influential in controlling biomass variability and bloom termination. Snow depth is also significant as it buffers ice temperature from the atmosphere and largely controls transmission of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). The relationship between snow depth and biomass can change over the spring however, limiting biomass accumulation early on while promoting it later. Brine drainage, under-ice current velocity, and surface PAR in the absence of snow cover are also important factors. Overall this research helps to characterize the spring ice algae bloom in the Arctic by improving in situ biomass estimates and identifying primary factors controlling it.

A number of lakes across North America are experiencing a shift from unicellular to colonial species of scaled chrysophytes, which in some cases, is creating water-quality issues. In this study, the timing and the rate of the shift from unicellular Mallomonas taxa to colonial Synura petersenii was assessed in two lakes in the Adirondacks, NY in order to identify potential driver(s) of this shift. Lakes which have been minimally impacted by local disturbances were chosen in order to assess regional stressors such as climate change and acid deposition in driving this shift. Eagles Nest Lake displayed a single shift from unicellular Mallomonas species to colonial S. petersenii which began in the early 1960’s and intensified in the 1980’s, while Copperas Pond displayed two abrupt shifts. The first shift in Copperas Pond was from unicellular Mallomonas to colonial S. curtispina prior to the 1900’s and the second was from S. curtispina to S. petersenii which occurred in the 1990’s. The pre-1990’s shift in Copperas Pond is unusual and warrants further investigation in order to determine if a regional or local driver is at play. The shift in Eagles Nest Lake in the 1980’s and the second shift in Copperas Pond in the 1990’s corresponded with the intensification of the rise in temperatures in the Adirondack region in the 1980’s. However, as multiple regional disturbances are occurring within same time period, it was difficult to completely isolate regional drivers of change. As a result, it is also possible that both recent climate changes and/or oligotrophication resulting from long-term acid deposition played a role in causing the shift towards S. petersenii dominance in the study lakes.

‘Urban Metabolism’ (UM) is a well-established concept based on the parallels between the metabolisms’ of ecosystems and cities. These parallels consist of the intake, storage, and transformation of materials and energy, and the creation and output of wastes. These traits, which suggest cities possess a metabolism similar to ecosystems, also exist within water distribution systems (WDSs). Four common areas of UM assessments include: the evaluation of environmental sustainability indicators; greenhouse gas accounting; numerical models for the assessment of metabolic flows; and design and decision support tools. These applications show promising opportunities if applied to WDSs, and therefore a novel framework based on UM was developed specifically for the assessment of WDSs. This framework was tested on a water distribution network via three experiments. Experiment 1 utilized factorial design to systematically assess predominate network parameters (water demand, static lift, and pipe roughness). Experiments 2 and 3 studied the effects of two network management strategies (water conservation and pipe replacement scheduling) as well as the effects of static lift and pipe roughness in the presence of these strategies. The results were reported in terms of four metabolic flows: water, operational energy (O/E), embodied energy (E/E), and greenhouse gases (GHGs). Experiment 1 showed that individual increases in water demand, pipe roughness, or static lift, all led to decreases in network pressures and reductions in leakage volume. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated increases to leakage volumes and decreases in per capita GHG emissions in the presence of water conservation measures, and decreases in leakage volumes and increases in O/E transmission efficiency in the presence of pipe replacement programs. Experiments 2 and 3 also demonstrated a reduction in network pressures, and a resulting reduction in leakage volumes, due to additional static lift and pipe roughness. Recommendations for future work were made in four specific areas: (1) the expansion of pre-established metabolic flows, (2) the further study of the effects of pressure management under the scenarios studied, (3) the consideration of other urban systems which may benefit from the application of an UM-based assessment, and (4) the assessment of non-hypothetical WDSs using the developed framework.

There is a growing realization among scientists and policy makers that an increased understanding of today's environmental issues requires international collaboration and data synthesis. Meta-analyses have served this role in ecology for more than a decade, but the different experimental methodologies researchers use can limit the strength of the meta-analytic approach. Considering the global nature of many environmental issues, a new collaborative approach, which we call coordinated distributed experiments (CDEs), is needed that will control for both spatial and temporal scale, and that encompasses large geographic ranges. Ecological CDEs, involving standardized, controlled protocols, have the potential to advance our understanding of general principles in ecology and environmental science.

The purpose of this research was to find out how local communities in the Himalayan region of India are benefiting when given the responsibility of managing village-based micro-hydro projects. In this research, a total of 7 cases were studied where the local communities were involved in management and other phases of micro hydro development. Data were collected using interviews with local community members, government officials, NGO officials and local experts in the micro-hydro sector. Results were categorized under social, economic, health and environmental factors. Results show that, although limited, these projects do produce local benefits. Electricity stays within the village, and villagers, especially children, women and the elderly, are benefited in various aspects of life. Although some local employment is generated and environmental considerations related to river flow are observed, these projects often run into financial difficulties, and with no financial backup the possibility of permanent project shutdown is always present.

Climate change is currently the most pressing environmental concern, especially for northern climatic regions like Canada. Climate change impacts a wide variety of environmental factors that in turn alter vegetative processes, like that in cereal grains. As grain kernels weaken due to environmental stress it becomes increasingly susceptible to infection. This review will detail one such type of infection produced by fungi: mycotoxins. Mycotoxins come in several varieties of which five will be examined in this review: aflatoxin, ochratoxin, deoxynivalenol, fumonisins, and zearalenone. Mycotoxins cause many different types of illnesses ranging from gastrointestinal disruption to death. Since mycotoxins affect plants, all consumers are at a possible risk of infection, with the most vulnerable members of the population being children, due to their small body size. Therefore, this review will assess the impact of climate change on mycotoxin contamination in cereal grains and the implications for children’s health in a Canadian context.

The development of a cost structure for energy storage systems (ESS) has received limited attention. In this study, we developed data-intensive techno-economic models to assess the economic feasibility of ESS. The ESS here includes pump hydro storage (PHS) and compressed air energy storage (CAES). The costs were developed using data-intensive bottom-up models. Scale factors were developed for each component of the storage systems. The life cycle costs of energy storage were estimated for capacity ranges of 98-491 MW, 81-404 MW, and 60-298 MW for PHS, conventional CAES (C-CAES), and adiabatic CAES (A-CAES), respectively, to ensure a market-driven price can be achieved. For CAES systems, costs were developed for storage in salt caverns hard rock caverns, and porous formations. The results show that the annual life cycle storage cost is $220-400 for PHS, $215-265 for C-CAES, and $375-480 per kW-year for A-CAES. The levelised cost of electricity is $69-121 for PHS, $58-70 for C-CAES, and $96-121 per MWh for A-CAES. C-CAES is economically attractive at all capacities, PHS is economically attractive at higher capacities, and A-CAES is not attractive at all. The developed information is helpful in making investment decision related to large energy storage systems.