PARENT SESSION
Poster Session 24: Agro-Ecology
Wednesday, August 10, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM, Exhibit Hall 220 A-E, Level 2, Palais des congrès de Montréal

Assessing wildlife habitat capacity on farmland in Canada.

Javorek, Steve¹, Antonowitsch, Rolfe², Callaghan, Carolyn^*,3, Grant, Matt¹, Weins, Ted, ¹ Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Kentville, NS, Canada² Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Regina, SK, Canada³ Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada

ABSTRACT- Agricultural land in Canada is comprised of cultivated and grazing land with associated riparian, wetlands, woodlands, and natural grasslands. Not all habitat types are equal in their capacity to support wildlife. We developed the Wildlife Habitat Capacity Indicator to assess trends in the capacity of agricultural lands to support habitat for wild terrestrial vertebrates. To develop the Habitat Capacity Index, we used habitat matrices for 493 vertebrate species (Neave and Neave 1998) that tabulated use of habitat types categorized by the Census of Agriculture (COA; Statistics Canada). We related the number of species using each COA habitat type to the % area occupied by each habitat type. Habitat Capacity was calculated at the provincial and national scale for each of the 5 census years between 1981 and 2001. Wildlife Habitat Capacity on agricultural land decreased by 5% in Canada. Habitat capacity changed little among Western provinces (- 2% to 1%) while eastern provinces showed larger changes (-6% to -12%). Saskatchewan was the only province with an overall increase in Habitat Capacity (1%) between 1981 and 2001. The national decrease may be explained by an expansion in Cropland (47% to 53%) and a 3% decline in Natural Pasture. Improving wildlife habitat trends include the increase in All Other Land (6% to 9%) and a reduction in Summerfallow (from 15% to 7%). Agricultural producers play a significant role in sustaining biodiversity. Use of beneficial management practices that favour wildlife will increase habitat capacity of farmland across Canada.

Key words: agroecology, biodiversity, habitat, agriculture