The B.C. Conservation Data Centre’s spatial view of publicly available, known locations of species and ecological communities at risk. This spatial view is split into the "Publicly Available Occurrences" layer and "(Extirpated and Historical) Publicly Available Occurrences" layer. The Extirpated and Historical layer includes element occurrences that have a last observation date greater than 40 years ago and element occurrences that are extirpated due to general habitat loss or degradation of the environment in the area. Use the field ‘Rank Description’ to differentiate between Historical and Extirpated element occurrences in this layer. All element occurrences are polygons: the size of the polygon usually reflects the locational uncertainty associated with the source data, represented with varying sized circles. Some polygons may be larger to reflect the actual area covered by the element occurrence. The field "Representational Accuracy" is used to communicate how accurately the polygon reflects the actual area covered by the element. If you do not find an element occurrence in your area of interest, this means there are none currently mapped in the CDC database. The best way to verify whether an area contains a species or ecosystem at risk is to have do a detailed assessment of the property during the appropriate season.

The “Terrestrial Ecozones of Canada” dataset provides representations of ecozones. An ecozone is the top level of the four levels of ecosystems that the National Ecological Framework for Canada defines. The framework divides Canada into 15 terrestrial ecozones that define its ecological mosaic on a sub-continental scale. Ecozones represent an area of the earth’s surface as large and very generalized ecological units. These units are characterized by interactive and adjusting abiotic and biotic factors.

Wooded areas of interest and particular ecosystems or habitats covered by the Interim Control Regulation (RCI) Nature plan amended by Regulation 1274-1.attributs:mb_ID - Identifier of the wooded environmentCOHABparticular - Presence of a particular ecosystem or habitat - Presence of a particular ecosystem or habitat (Yes/No) INFORCI - Additional information on the Interim Control Regulation**This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

Under the Recreation, Ecosystems, and Lands Program, The Lands, Ecosystems, and Conservation Unit Contact Boundaries dataset is comprised of all the polygons that represent the Lands, Ecosystems, and Conservation districts of Alberta and who to contact for information within that district. The dataset is to help Government of Alberta Staff and external consultants to determine which Biologist is responsible for and has authority over each region.

Marine Protected Areas require comprehensive monitoring to ensure objectives are achieved; however, monitoring natural ecosystems at scale is challenged by the biodiversity it aims to measure. Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding holds promise to address this monitoring challenge. We conducted paired sampling at 54 sites for fish and invertebrate assemblages in the Northwest Atlantic using groundfish trawls and eDNA metabarcoding of benthic seawater using four genetic markers (12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, 18S rRNA, and CO1). Compared to trawling, eDNA detected similar patterns of species turnover, larger estimates of gamma diversity, and smaller estimates of alpha diversity. A total of 63.6% (42/66) of fish species captured by trawling were detected by eDNA, along with an additional 26 species. Of the 24 missed detections by eDNA, 12 were inevitable as they lacked reference sequences. Excluding taxa assigned to higher than species level and those without a species name, 23.6% (17/72) of invertebrate species captured by trawling were detected by CO1, which detected an additional 98 species. We demonstrate that eDNA is capable of detecting patterns of community assemblage and species turnover in an offshore environment, emphasizing its strong potential for a non-invasive, comprehensive, and scalable tool for biodiversity monitoring supporting marine conservation programmes.Cite this data as: Jeffery, N., Rubidge, E., Abbott, C., Westfall, K., Stanley, R. (2024): Data of: eDNA metabarcoding enriches traditional trawl survey data for monitoring biodiversity in the marine environment.Published: August 2024. Coastal Ecosystems Science Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, N.S. https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/43a91ba7-8025-4330-88db-db14022d729d

Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) are areas within Canada's oceans that have been identified through formal scientific assessments as having special biological or ecological significance when compared with the surrounding marine ecosystem.Failure to define an area as an EBSA does not mean that it is unimportant ecologically. All areas serve ecological functions to some extent and require sustainable management. Rather, areas identified as EBSAs should be viewed as the most important areas where, with existing knowledge, regulators and marine users should be particularly risk averse to ensure ecosystems remain healthy and productive.Why are EBSAs identified?EBSA information is used to inform marine planning, including environmental assessment and the siting of marine-based activities, by:- Informing and guiding project-specific or regional environmental assessments;- Informing and guiding industries and regulators in their planning and operations, for example: EBSAs have been acknowledged and referred to (often as "Special Areas" or "Potentially Sensitive Areas") in oil and gas related assessments;- EBSA information has been provided to proponents of submarine cable projects to be used for route planning purposes;- Informing and guiding Integrated Oceans Management (IOM) process within five Large Ocean Management Areas (LOMAs) and twelve marine bioregions;- Serving as a basis for the identification of Areas of Interest (AOIs) and of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) (individually and in the context of planning bioregional networks of MPAs).How are EBSAs identified?The process used to identify EBSAs is generally comprised of two phases. The first phase involves compiling scientific data and knowledge of a marine area's ecosystems - notably fish species, marine mammals, sea birds, marine flora, marine productivity, physical and chemical conditions and geology. "Knowledge" includes experiential knowledge of long-time uses of the areas. In some cases (e.g., in the Arctic), substantial efforts are taken to collect traditional knowledge on ecosystems and environmental conditions from community members, fish harvests, hunters and individuals whose knowledge of the study area complement often helps fill scientific data gaps.In the second phase, the available information for a marine area (e.g. a bioregion) is assessed against five nationally-established science-based criteria including:- Uniqueness: How distinct is the ecosystem of an area compared to surrounding ones?- Aggregation: Whether or not species populate or convene to the study area?- Fitness consequence: How critical the area is to the life history of the species that use it (e.g. is it a spawning or feeding ground)?- Naturalness: How pristine or disturbed by human activities is the study area?- Resilience: What is the ability of the ecosystem to bounce back if it is disturbed?Progress to date and next stepsEBSAs have been identified for large portions of Canada's Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as well as most of the Arctic oceans. EBSAs will continue to be identified in priority areas as resources become available to carry out the process. The boundaries or locations of existing EBSAs may be modified to reflect both new knowledge and changing environmental conditions.

SEI_Polygons contains Sensitive Ecosystems Inventory polygons with key and amalgamated (concatenated) attributes derived from the RISC (Resource Inventory Standards Committee) standard attributes. SEI identifies and maps rare and fragile terrestrial ecosystems. Ecosystems mapped may include (but are not limited to) older forests, woodlands, coastal bluffs, herbaceous and sparsely vegetated ecosystems, grasslands, riparian ecosystems and wetlands. SEI methods include manual air photo interpretation or theming of other Ecosystem Mapping, each supported by selective field checking. This layer is derived from the STE_TEI_ATTRIBUTE_POLYS_SP layer by filtering on the PROJECT_TYPE attribute. Project types include: SEI, TEMSEI, TEMSET, and SEIWHR. Current version: v11 (published on 2024-10-03) Previous versions: v10 (published on 2023-11-14), v9 (published on 2023-03-01), v8 (published on 2016-09-01)

The “Terrestrial Ecodistricts of Canada” dataset provides representations of ecodistricts. An ecodistrict is a subdivision of an ecoregion and is characterized by distinctive assemblages of relief, landforms, geology, soil, vegetation, water bodies and fauna. For example, the Jeddore Lake ecodistrict (no. 473) is one of five ecodistricts within the Maritime Barrens ecoregion.

Mapping of exceptional forest ecosystems (EFE) in the urban planning code (CDU) on the territory of Laval.**This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

The “Terrestrial Ecoprovinces of Canada” dataset provides representations of ecoprovinces. An ecoprovince is a subdivision of an ecozone and is characterized by major assemblages of structural or surface forms, faunal realms, and vegetation, hydrology, soil, and macro climate. For example, the Newfoundland ecoprovince (no. 6.4) is one of six ecoprovinces within the Boreal Shield Ecozone