Morphology and Timing of Spawning of Umatilla Dace (<i>Rhinichthys umatilla</i>) in the Slocan River, British Columbia

Gaps in biodiversity protection occur in Canada due to limited jurisdiction of federal species-at-risk laws and the absence of dedicated legislation in many provinces, including British Columbia (B.C.). While lacking legal protection, B.C. maintains Red, Blue, and Yellow Lists of threatened, special-concern, and secure species, respectively, using a NatureServe ranking system. We compiled historical data on species status between 2008 and 2025 from the B.C. Conservation Data Centre. The province is currently home to 5521 Yellow, 1233 Blue, 493 Red-listed species, with a 25% rise in species at risk (Blue and Red) since 2008 due largely to the addition of species. Changes in status over this time period were reported for 1545 animal and 3775 plant species. While there was an even split in uplistings (more imperilled) and downlistings (less imperilled) for animals, plant species more often shifted to a lower risk category. Analyzing explanations for each change revealed that most were nongenuine (new information or methodology) rather than genuine (true changes in population size or threats), especially among downlistings. Genuine improvements in the status of species in B.C. have been exceedingly rare, indicating that current laws and regulations have been insufficient to recover species at risk within B.C.

The hypothesis that commercial whaling caused a sequential megafaunal collapse in the North Pacific Ocean by forcing killer whales to eat progressively smaller species of marine mammals is not supported by what is known about the biology of large whales, the ecology of killer whales, and the patterns of ecosystem change that took place in Alaska, British Columbia, and elsewhere in the world following whaling. A comparative analysis shows that populations of seals, sea lions, and sea otters increased in British Columbia following commercial whaling, unlike the declines noted in the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands. The declines of seals and sea lions that began in western Alaska around 1977 were mirrored by increases in numbers of these species in British Columbia. A more likely explanation is that the seal and sea lion declines and other ecosystem changes in Alaska stem from a major oceanic regime shift that occurred in 1977. Killer whales are unquestionably a significant predator of seals, sea lions, and sea otters—but not because of commercial whaling.

<p class="p3"><span class="s2">Several species of Pacific Salmon migrate upstream every year in the Fraser River (British Columbia, Canada) to reach their spawning grounds. A large portion of the fish get delayed in specific sections of the river, where the morphology and the flow create sections with high flow velocity, high turbulence and jumps in bed elevation that constitute hydraulic barriers. Several fish populations migrate along the Fraser River and any barrier for their passage (created by the river morphology, the flow structure or a localized landslide) can severely endanger the survival of such species, while also impacting indigenous communities for which fish is a fundamental element. In the Fraser River those hydraulic barriers have been identified but not yet thoroughly studied. Here we present results from an extensive monitoring campaign conducted in the last 3 years to measure surface flow velocities in previously identified hydraulic barriers. We selected segments of the Fraser Canyon where distributions of surface flow velocities due to specific river morphologies are potentially impacting fish passage. These include areas where series of constriction</span><span class="s2"><span lang="EN-US">-pool-widenings create plunging flows, bedrock step rapids and overfalls. </span>In such areas we collected video of surface flows (with fixed field cameras and drones) at high frequency during the freshet season and obtained surface flow velocity maps using Large Scale Particle Image Velocimetry (LSPIV) for different values of flow discharge.</span> <span class="s2">Using this extensive dataset, we can detect how stable coherent flow structures are for different flow depths and flow discharges and we are also able to identify which areas are most problematic for fish passage (and for which values of flow), helping fish management agencies and public authorities to better protect the survival of vital species in British Columbia.  </span></p>

Potential productivity of three interior subalpine forest tree species in British Columbia

Bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) research has historically focused on highly impacted systems or occurred in a reactionary manner following overharvest. Here, we used telemetry and multi‐state capture–recapture modelling to inform management decision‐making for this highly migratory, conservation‐listed species in British Columbia's upper Fraser River watershed (UFW). Our work reduced critical information gaps surrounding the seasonal migration patterns, distribution, and survival rates of fluvial bull trout within the region. By using results of an existing microsatellite DNA analysis, we were able to assign each tagged individual to one of five spawning populations. This assignment allowed us to investigate potential differences in migratory behaviour and seasonal habitat use among the different spawning populations. We identified that the majority of tagged UFW fluvial bull trout made repeated, long‐distance migrations (>300 km one direction) to appropriate spawning, overwintering and foraging habitats. The five populations did not vary in their seasonal transition probabilities at the spatial scale investigated, suggesting key habitats are important to multiple populations. We also detected post‐spawning migration and distribution patterns that suggest UFW bull trout exploit seasonal resource pulses during salmon smolt outmigration. Our results highlight the importance of protecting, restoring and maintaining a diverse assemblage of complex habitats and the natural connections between them (e.g. between tributary spawning habitats and larger rivers) at a spatial scale that supports migratory bull trout life histories. This work provides valuable information for prioritizing conservation actions and identifying restoration opportunities both in the UFW and across the species' range.

The microsporidian Loma salmonae (Putz, Hoffman & Dunbar, 1965) Morrison & Sprague, 1981 has caused significant gill disease in Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. Host specificity of the parasite was examined experimentally by per os challenge of selected salmonids and non-salmonids with infective chinook salmon O. tshawytscha gill material. Pink Oncorhynchus gorbuscha and chum salmon O. keta, brown Salmo trutta and brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis, and chinook salmon (controls) were positive, whereas Atlantic salmon Salmo salar and Arctic char Salvelinus alpinus were negative. In addition, no non-salmonids were susceptible to experimental exposure. Wild Pacific salmon species in British Columbia, Canada, were examined for L. salmonae during their freshwater life history stages (smolts, prespawning, spawning). All stages were infected, although infections in smolts were only detectable using a L. salmonae-specific PCR test. Many previous Loma spp. described from Oncorhychus spp. are likely L. salmonae based on host, parasite morphology, and site of infection.

Population trends from the Breeding Bird Survey are widely used to focus conservation efforts on species thought to be in decline and to test preliminary hypotheses regarding the causes of these declines. A number of statistical methods have been used to estimate population trends, but there is no consensus as to which is the most reliable. We quantified differences in trend estimates or different analysis methods applied to the same subset of Breeding Bird Survey data. We estimated trends for 115 species in British Columbia using three analysis methods: U.S. National Biological Service route regression, Canadian Wildlife Service route regression, and nonparametric rank‐trends analysis. Overall, the number of species estimated to be declining was similar among the three methods, but the number of statistically significant declines was not similar (15, 8, and 29 respectively). In addition, many differences existed among methods in the trend estimates assigned to individual species. Comparing the two route regression methods, Canadian Wildlife Service estimates had a greater absolute magnitude on average than those of the U.S. National Biological Service method. U.S. National Biological Service estimates were on average more positive than the Canadian Wildlife Service estimates when the respective agency’s data selection criteria were applied separately. These results imply that our ability to detect population declines and to prioritize species of conservation concern depend strongly upon the analysis method used. This highlights the need for further research to determine how best to accurately estimate trends from the data. We suggest a method for evaluating the performance of the analysis methods by using simulated Breeding Bird Survey data.

Nonparametric and semiparametric modelling methods are commonly applied in many fields. However, such methods have not been widely adopted in forestry, other than the most similar neighbour and nearest neighbor methods. Generalized additive modelling is a flexible semiparametric regression method that is useful when model-based prediction is the main goal and the parametric form of the model is unknown and possibly complex. Routines to fit generalized additive models (GAMs) are now readily available in much statistical software, making them an attractive option for forest modelling. Here, the use of GAMs is demonstrated by the construction of a taper model for six tree species in British Columbia, Canada. We compare the results with an existing flexible parametric taper model. We assess the performance of the models using the 0.632+ bootstrap method according to five key attributes: whole-stem volume, merchantable volume, number of logs, small-end diameter of the first log, and volume of the first log. The results show that the GAMs and the flexible taper function yielded similar accuracy for all attributes and all species.

:Traditional morphology-based investigations of the red algal genera Neoptilota and Ptilota (Wrangeliaceae, Rhodophyta) have struggled to provide accurate accounts of diversity, distribution and evolutionary relationships for the species reported along Canadian coasts. Consequently, there is much disagreement and taxonomic uncertainty surrounding several species within these genera. To resolve these issues we conducted a molecular-assisted investigation that included both a DNA barcode survey (COI-5P), as well as the first multigene (COI-5P, psaA, rbcL) phylogenetic analyses for these genera. To compare our taxonomic results with a previous investigation we also sequenced psbA for select species. Our phylogenetic analyses indicated that current taxonomic perspectives among members of these genera were incorrect, as the generitypes for Neoptilota and Ptilota resolved together in a lineage that also included Psilothallia dentata, with the generitype for Plumaria weakly resolved as sister to all of the previous taxa. Synonymy of Neoptilota with Ptilota was proposed, as was the transfer of Psilothallia dentata to this genus. Additionally, our molecular analyses have indicated that diversity was previously underestimated for this complex. Whereas we uncovered no differences for the Atlantic flora relative to recent studies, in the northeast Pacific we considered Ptilota californica var. californica to be synonymous with P. densa and we expanded P. filicina to include specimens previously assigned to P. californica var. β concinna. We further failed to confirm the presence of P. serrata and recorded six additional species in British Columbia: reinstatement of P. tenuis; P. gwaiihaanasica sp. nov.; P. haidarum sp. nov.; P. pseudohypnoides sp. nov.; P. sloanii sp. nov.; and, P. subita sp. nov. The implications of the taxonomic changes proposed here are discussed.

We assess the conservation status of all tree species in order to identify conservation gaps and prioritize genetic conservation efforts. A thorough assessment would consider genetic variation in each species across the species range, but for most tree species, such information is simply not available. For this reason, we used spatial variation associated with Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification zones (BEC zones) representing different macroclimates as a proxy for adaptive genetic variation. We re-assessed the 2005 conservation status calculated in this manner using updated datasets collected in 2017, considered both in situ and ex situ conservation, and used an adjusted criterion for small-stature tree species. Results of our gap analysis revealed that overall, the native tree species in 89% of the conservation units (defined as species-by-biogeoclimatic-zone combinations) were well protected in situ. Of the 43 native tree species in the province, 12 species had conservation gaps in one or more biogeoclimatic zones. When in situ and ex situ conservation were considered jointly, the overall percentage of conservation units that were adequately protected improved to 91%. Needs for additional ex situ collections or in situ protection are discussed in terms of both BEC zones and individual species. In most cases, we recommend seed collection as the most feasible short-term option to cover gaps in protected area coverage.

The increasing complexity and pace of ecological change requires natural resource managers to consider entire species assemblages. Acoustic recording units (ARUs) require minimal cost and effort to deploy and inform relative activity, or encounter rates, for multiple species simultaneously. ARU‐based surveys require post‐processing of the recordings via software algorithms that assign a species label to each recording. The automated classification process can result in cross‐species misidentifications that should be accounted for when employing statistical modelling for conservation decision‐making. Using simulation and ARU‐based detection counts from 17 bat species in British Columbia, Canada, we investigate three strategies for adjusting statistical inference for species misclassification: (a) ‘coupling’ ambiguous and unambiguous detections by validating a subset of survey events post‐hoc, (b) using a calibration dataset on the software algorithm's (in)accuracy for species identification or (c) specifying informative Bayesian priors on classification probabilities. We explore the impact of different Bayesian prior specifications for the classification probabilities on posterior estimation. We then consider how the quantity of data validated post‐hoc impacts model convergence and resulting inferences for bat species relative activity as related to nightly conditions and yearly site occupancy after accounting for site‐level environmental variables. Coupled methods resulted in less bias and uncertainty when estimating relative activity and species classification probabilities relative to calibration approaches. We found that species that were difficult‐to‐detect and those that were often inaccurately identified by the software required more validation effort than more easily detected and/or identified species. Our results suggest that, when possible, acoustic surveys should rely on coupled validated detection information to account for false‐positive detections, rather than uncoupled calibration datasets. However, if the assemblage of interest contains a large number of rarely detected or less prevalent species, an intractable amount of effort may be required, suggesting there are benefits to curating a calibration dataset that is representative of the observation process. Our findings provide insights into the practical challenges associated with statistical analyses of ARU data and possible analytical solutions to support reliable and cost‐effective decision‐making for wildlife conservation/management in the face of known sources of observation errors.

Intensive sampling of British Columbia isolates of Armillaria species confirmed the useful- ness of a species diagnostic based on restriction site differences in the first ribosomal intergenic spacer region. Greater variation within species and new frag- ment patterns were observed compared to earlier re- ports. The only species confusion observed using this marker was between A. gallica and some isolates of A. sinapina. These isolates could be distinguished by restriction site differences in the second intergenic spacer. Use of both sections of the ribosomal inter- genic spacer region confirms identifications based on the first intergenic spacer, and provides additional data for species which have the same restriction sites in the first intergenic spacer.

Seabird responses to altered marine vessel activity during the COVID-19 anthropause: insights from citizen science.

Twelve bighorn ewes (Ovis canadensis), killed by vehicular traffic in southern British Columbia, were examined for pregnancy; 11 were pregnant, 4 of them were carrying twins. The absence of twins among bighorn sheep frequently has been noted by biologists recording their field observations. A recent author (Woodgerd, W. 1964. Population dynamics of bighorn sheep on Wildhorse Island. J. Wildl. Mgmt. 28(2):381391) summarized his own observations of a bighorn sheep population on Wildhorse Island (Montana) plus a literature review of six authors and could find only one reference to an authentic twin birth among bighorn sheep. The following observations suggest that twins may occur more frequently than published data indicate. An opportunity to examine reproductive tracts from bighorn sheep arose during the winter of 1963-64. Heavy snows forced wintering ewes and lambs down along Highway 97 in the vicinity of Vaseux Lake (Okanagan Valley) in southern British Columbia. During a 4-month period from Table 1. Age and frequency of single and twin pregnancies in female sheep killed by traffic in the vicinity of Vaseux Lake, British Columbia. AGE NUMBER NOT PREGNANT (YEARS)* EXAMINED PREGNANT Single Twins Single Twins 3 4 1 2 1 4 5 2 3 5 1 1I 6 2 2 * Age determined by growth rings on horns (Taber, R. D. 1963. Criteria of sex and age. Pages 184-186. In Henry S. Mosby (Editor), Wildlife investigational techniques. Printed for The Wildlife Society by Edwards Brothers, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan. xxiv -+419 pp.) late November, 1963, until late March, 1964, 13 ewes were killed by highway traffic. During the winter of 1964-65 two more ewes were killed in the area. Table 1 summarizes information about age and rate of pregnancy of 12 sheep collected and examined by members of British Columbia's Fish and Game Branch in the south Okanagan. Twelve ewes were examined for pregnancy and in four cases twins were found. The most advanced twin pregnancy was observed February 15, approximately 2 months before lambing, which begins during mid-April. All twin fetuses appeared healthy. One 6-year-old ewe, killed February 6, 1964, had an extra-uterine male fetus attached to the right body wall within the abdominal cavity. I was unable to examine his specimen, but it was reported that the fetus appeared normal in its development but was tightly enclosed within the fetal membranes. Observations of the Vaseux herd are limited but an occurrence of live twins has never definitely been established. On June 18, 1964, a coyote was observed harrying a group of ewes and lambs. One ewe and two lambs consistently remained together and in one instance left the main group of sheep and moved out onto a small ledge which provided b tter protection from the coyote. These lambs may have been twins. Received for publication July 6, 1965.

Breeding populations of Double-crested (Phalacrocorax auritus) and Pe- lagic Cormorants (P. pelagicus) were surveyed in the Strait of Georgia, British Colum- bia, in 1983. Double-crested Cormorant numbers have increased 2.4-fold and Pelagic Cormorant numbers 1.1-fold since 1975. Double-crested Cormorant populations are presently not only increasing in British Columbia but all across Canada and in the northeastern United States. These increases are thought to be the result of decreased disturbance and persecution by man. Drent and Guiguet (1961) provided the first overview of the status of nesting seabirds in British Columbia. Those authors reported population increases for surface-nesting seabirds for which information was available, including the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) and Pelagic Cormorant (P. pelagicus). Drent and Guiguet (1961) suggested that cormorant increases resulted from climatic amelioration and the cessation of egg collecting by man. Campbell (1976) conducted an extensive survey of nesting seabirds in southern British Columbia in 1974 and 1975 and found that cormorant pop- ulations had increased considerably since Drent and Guiguet's survey. In 1983, we conducted a survey of the breeding populations of Double-crested and Pelagic Cormorants in the Strait of Georgia and southeastern Vancouver Island to con- tinue the assessment of population trends of cormorants. The second objective was to compare population trends of Double-crested Cormorants in British Columbia with those elsewhere in North America.