Adapting to Surprise in Our Coastal Oceans

Lessons from Kelp Forests, Ancient Clam Gardens and Pacific Herring 

Public Science Talk at the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution annual meeting With Anne Salomon

Ecological surprises challenge science and society. While emerging evidence points to the existence of abrupt shifts in ecosystems worldwide, predicting when and where they will occur is notoriously difficult because unraveling their mysteries requires understanding both ecological and social phenomena that occur across different scales of space and time. By drawing on examples from British Columbia’s kelp forests, ancient clam gardens and Pacific herring, while gleaning insights from ecological, archaeological and traditional knowledge, I will share our recent discoveries on these tipping points, how humans coped with them in the past, and how these strategies can inspire and catalyze solutions to the world’s environmental challenges of today.

Dr. Anne Salomon is Associate Professor in the School of Resource & Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University.