Zebra Mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) and Quagga Mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) have a long history of invasion in European and North American freshwater ecosystems, with significant ecological and economic impacts. An ecological risk assessment for these two invasive species for freshwater ecosystems in Canada was completed in April 2022 with the aim to provide science-based guidance to inform management decisions and actions. These include early detection, response planning, and/or regulatory and policy measures aimed at mitigating the potential spread and risk posed by Zebra and Quagga Mussels to Canadian freshwater ecosystems (DFO 2023). The Potential for Introduction (propagule pressure and connectivity), the Potential for Establishment (habitat suitability, including a Calcium-based and Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt)-based model), the Potential for Invasion, and the Ecological Impacts were used to derive Ecological Risk for Zebra and Quagga Mussels in Canada. This assessment did not evaluate the risk to individual waterbodies but rather was conducted at a 9,260 m x 9,260 m grid cell resolution. These high resolution maps are provided here. Maps of Ecological Risk at the sub-drainage level are also provided. Fisheries and Oceans Canada is not responsible for any omissions or errors that may be contained in this dataset and shall not be liable for any losses, financial or otherwise, due to the use of these data. Please credit Wilcox et al. 2024 as the source of the data in any maps, reports, or articles that are printed or published on paper or the Internet.

This map displays an assessment of surface water quality risk for the agricultural area of Alberta. Agricultural activities that may have an impact on surface water quality, including livestock, crop production and agrochemical use, were identified and used to produce this map. The classes shown on the map were ranked from 0 (lowest risk) to 1 (highest risk).This resource was created in 2002 using ArcGIS.

This map displays an assessment of groundwater quality risk for the agricultural area of Alberta. Agricultural activities that may have an impact on groundwater quality include livestock, crop production and agrochemical use. These activities along with the physical characteristics represented by aquifer vulnerability and available moisture were combined to produce this map. The classes shown on the map were ranked from 0 (lowest risk) to 1 (highest risk). This resource was created in 2005 using ArcGIS.

The data represents an assessment of biodiversity risk for the agricultural area of Alberta in 2002. Biodiversity risk refers to the loss of biological diversity, or the variety of plant and animal life in agricultural landscapes. This map, created in ArcGIS, tries to show where biodiversity could be threatened, such as in areas with significant habitat that coincide with areas of greater agricultural economic activity. Biodiversity is believed to affect the overall health of the environment.

This map displays an assessment of soil erosion risk for the agricultural area of Alberta. Loss of protective residue cover through cultivation will increase the potential risk of soil erosion. The vulnerability of the soil to erosion combined with the intensity of cultivation determines the degree to which the soil may be at risk. The classes shown on the map were ranked from 0 (lowest risk) to 1 (highest risk). This resource was created in 2002 using ArcGIS.

ENV - Environment and conservation (environment)Environmental resources, protection, and conservation. For example, resources describing pollution, waste storage and treatment, environmental impact assessment, environmental risk, and nature reserves. )

The Canada Nature Fund for Aquatic Species at Risk (CNFASAR) is a contribution program that focuses on providing funding for recovery and threat mitigation activities in nine priority places and to address two marine threats to aquatic species at risk. The Priority Places and Marine Threats layer supports CNFASAR by delineating the location of the places and threats.The Canada Nature Fund for Aquatic Species at Risk (CNFASAR) supports applicants in the design and delivery of stewardship projects. These projects support the recovery and protection of aquatic species at risk. DFO has identified 2 priority marine threats and 9 priority places as the focus for projects funded by CNFASAR, these areas are included in this dataset.

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.

CMIST is a peer-reviewed screening-level risk assessment tool for marine invasive species (Drolet et al. 2016). It is a short questionnaire that follows the invasion process from arrival to impact and is designed so an informed assessor can evaluate one species in an assessment area in approximately one day using easily accessible information from internet databases, primary literature, and grey literature. Species can be those with an invasion history in an area or those that are candidates for future invasions.CMIST is score-based and incorporates both likelihood and impact of invasion as well as uncertainty. Questions are general to make CMIST broadly applicable to different taxa, different assessment areas, and different project goals. To date, CMIST has been tested with molluscs, tunicates, crustaceans, and polychaetes introduced or at risk of introduction to three Canadian marine ecoregions (DFO 2009). CMIST has also been successfully applied to non-indigenous freshwater fish in British Columbia with adapted guidelines (T. Therriault, pers. comm.). Upon completion, CMIST produces a risk score adjusted for the assessor’s uncertainty which, combined with information collected during the assessment, can be used to assist in management decisions. For example, in 2015, CMIST assessments were used to identify high risk invaders in three Canadian marine ecoregions (DFO 2016).

Significant climate change impacts are highly likely in all Canadian marine and freshwater basins, with effects increasing over time (DFO 2012). Climate models project that ecosystems and fisheries across Canada will be disrupted into the foreseeable future (Lotze et al. 2019; Bryndum-Buchholz et al. 2020; Tittensor et al. 2021; Boyce et al. 2024). Despite its imminence, climate change is infrequently factored into Canada’s primary marine conservation strategies, such as spatial planning (O’Regan et al. 2021) or fisheries management (Boyce et al. 2021; Pepin et al. 2022). The Climate Risk Index for Biodiversity (CRIB) was developed to assess climate risk for marine species in a quantitative, spatially explicit, and scalable manner, supporting climate-informed decision-making. It has been used to evaluate climate risks for marine life globally (Boyce et al. 2022), regionally (Lewis et al. 2023; Boyce et al. 2024; Keen et al. 2023), for fisheries (Boyce et al. 2024), and in support of spatial conservation planning (Keen et al. 2023). This dataset contains climate vulnerability and risk estimates from the CRIB framework adapted to consider warming at both the sea surface and its bottom for 145 marine species of conservation or fisheries interest across Canada’s marine territory. Climate risk is available at a 0.25-degree resolution under two contrasting emission scenarios to 2100. For each species, location, and scenario, 12 climate indexes, three vulnerability dimensions, and an overall vulnerability and risk score are provided. The accompanying report describes the data, methods, and workflow used to calculate risk. This report also guides the interpretation of these data to inform and support climate-informed decision-making in Canada.