Award-winning research gives viewers a bird’s eye view of Canada’s thawing north
New UBC Forestry hire, Prof. Isla Myers-Smith, was recently awarded an $8 million Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Global Change Ecology of Northern Ecosystems for her international leadership and research on the impacts of climate change in northern tundra and boreal ecosystems. Her work involves collaborations with Indigenous knowledge holders from the Western Canadian Arctic, along with research institutes and government agencies within the Canadian North and around the globe.
“Receiving the Chair appointment is an amazing opportunity for me to focus on studying the ecology of Northern ecosystems and how they are impacted by climate change over the next eight years,” states Isla. “Through the research program, I will be building up a team of early career researchers, and working more closely with collaborators in the UBC Faculty of Forestry and communities in the Canadian North.”
Isla has spent the past 16 years pursuing innovative research in the Western Arctic. Her award-winning virtual reality (VR) research project, “Qikiqtaruk: Arctic at Risk,” showcases some of her ongoing work to quantify the impacts of climate change on Arctic landscapes.
Created in collaboration with local community members, the project takes audiences on a journey to Qikiqtaruk-Herschel Island, Canada, just off the Yukon Arctic Coast. Images from drones and ground-based LiDAR scans are transformed into three-dimensional, immersive experiences using a process called photogrammetry. Audiences travel over breathtaking frozen and tundra landscapes, getting a bird’s eye view of the impacts of climate change. Shrubs encroaching into the surrounding tundra and eroding coastlines from storms and longer ice-free seasons are brought to life through the medium of VR. Soundscapes from Arctic ecosystems and narration by Isla and Richard Gordon, senior park ranger of Herschel Island-Qikiqtaruk Territorial Park, further enhance the experience.
“The Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the planet, and that is leading to pronounced climate change impacts in the Canadian North,” states Isla. “I hope to document the rates and magnitudes of climate change impacts with my collaborators through the CERC program.”
Isla’s newly established Climate Change Ecology Research Hub brings together experts from Indigenous communities, government agencies and universities in the Western Canadian North to study how the changing climate is impacting vegetation and altering wildlife habitats and migration. The research team will also collect data on how these changes are collectively impacting the livelihoods of Indigenous communities in the Arctic. Indigenous youth interns will participate in field experiences to help accomplish research goals and inspire the pursuit of careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“It is such a privilege to have the opportunity to work on the lands of the Inuvialuit and First Nations Peoples,” says Isla. “People in the North are observing climate change play out firsthand, and they are feeling the impacts acutely.”
“We are working together with local experts to answer some of the most pressing questions in the region. As a result of this work, our new research will inform ecosystem management and deepen our understanding of wildlife habitat changes over the long-term.”
This article was originally published in the Spring 2024 issue of Branchlines Magazine. View the full issue here.