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December 2009 issue	In this issue Table of Contents Feature: Black-footed ferret Feature: Wildlife management Feature: Blue whales The Inside Story Editor’s Notebook Reverberations À la carte Mosaic Reviews

A crowded neighbourhood
Species diversity is right under our nose — and that’s a problem
By Steven Fick and Emma Lehmberg

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Southern Canada along the forty-ninth parallel is the location of choice for most Canadian residents. And it seems like it’s also the location of choice for most species of flora and fauna — and where they are most endangered. “The prevailing view is that most Canadian species live in the less densely inhabited North,” says Jeremy Kerr, principal investigator for the Canadian Facility for Ecoinformatics Research (CFER) and a professor of ecology at the University of Ottawa. “In fact, most species live in southern regions and not far from people.”

Kerr should know, since CFER has used remote sensing and geographic information systems to map where species predominate and where they are in peril. By mapping the number of endangered species per watershed, for example, CFER researchers have found that the highest densities of endangered species are in southern areas of Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. Of the 11 watersheds that have 25 or more endangered species, approximately

It is no surprise, says Kerr, that these areas are also intensely affected by human development, particularly agriculture and urbanization. While some forms of agriculture can be speciesfriendly, such as agroforestry (in which different crops are grown under tree cover), most agricultural lands are hostile environments for native plants and breeding populations of animals.

Protecting large areas from development is an effective conservation tool, but most of Canada’s national parks and reserves are located farther north, leaving many vulnerable species unprotected. “It is easier to place a large park where there are a small number of people,” says Kerr, rather than to try and squeeze small parks into densely urbanized areas.

A more realistic alternative, he says, is to encourage landowners to leave a small amount of a field or backyard in its natural state. Allowing wild patches to grow creates a network of biologically diverse areas — a friendly gesture to our insect, amphibian, bird and plant neighbours.

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