March 1, 2024 | BNN Breaking via UVic News
A recent University of Victoria study found that activities, such as croplands, increasing aridity, pesticide pollution, and human developments are threatening 43% of freshwater mammals. The study also found that protected areas, such as lands managed or owned by Indigenous Peoples provide a “greater richness” of freshwater species.
Dr. Jason Fisher, a UVic researcher who co-authored the study, explained to BNN Breaking that while these observations are not necessarily new, the data analysis helps to quantify them. This aids in understanding what is happening to freshwater ecosystems. Something that Dr. Fisher believes the government needs to pay attention to more. As Dr. Fisher said in an interview, “The health of these freshwater systems has to be built into government planning and land use planning and currently it’s not, it’s just sitting on the sidelines.”
Dr. Jason Fisher is the director of the ACME Lab at the University of Victoria’s School of Environmental Studies. The ACME Lab focuses on researching the impacts of human activities and climate change on wildlife species’ behaviors, populations, communities and survival.
If you would like to read the study this news article was about, you can check it out on UVic’s institutional repository, UVicSpace! Or, if you are interested in learning more about Dr. Fisher’s other research projects, we encourage you to check out his author page on UvicSpace.
