Are you curious about how biodiversity connects us all? Every year, SEEDS Sustainability and the UBC Botanical Garden collaborate on a showcase that highlights UBC student research as a part of Biodiversity Days, a month-long event to celebrate and uplift biodiversity. This event brings together UBC students, faculty, staff, and decision-makers to learn about biodiversity at UBC and how student research can be translated into action on campus. As the student Urban Biodiversity Coordinator with SEEDS, I was lucky to be a part of setting up this event and witness the 2024 Student-Led Research Showcase.
This year, we invited three amazing student projects to present at the showcase.
> Supporting UBC Foodscapes during Extreme Weather Events
By: Kat Seow, Hannah Tahami, Liliana Henriksson, and Farbod Alirezaee, in collaboration with the UBC Botanical Garden and the University Neighbourhoods Association.
Community gardens are an important part of the UBC foodscape that fosters urban biodiversity and provides a place for people to come together in a shared space. As climate change brings extreme weather, it is important to understand how it might impact our community gardens.
This project aimed to understand the climate resilience of community gardens during extreme weather events. The students collected microclimate data (moisture, soil pH, wind speed), conducted field observations, and interviewed community gardeners at four community gardens across campus. They found that no gardens experienced flooding, and all the gardens experienced heat domes. In particular, one garden (Roots on the Roof) experienced high winds, and three of the four gardens experienced cold snaps. Based on these results, they made a toolkit for community gardeners with advice on managing these extreme weather events. They also provided recommendations for future research into climate-resilient gardens and microclimates, and recommended supporting gardeners through workshops and their toolkit.
> Rain down the drain: UBC Vancouver green rainwater infrastructure performance monitoring and future weather event modelling
By: Nahaz Ferdous, Jennie Zhou, Susan Huang, and Liyuan Wang, in collaboration with Campus + Community Planning and the SEEDS Sustainability Program
With climate change, Vancouver is at risk of larger rain events and flooding. Rain gardens are one strategy for capturing water that might otherwise slide off non-permeable surfaces (like concrete sidewalks) and potentially overwhelm the drainage system.
This group researched the current and projected future effectiveness of the UBC Campus Energy Centre (CEC) rain gardens. They found that the rain gardens were effective at absorbing the majority of water during rain events. Going two, 10, and 100 years into the future, their modelling showed the rain gardens would continue to be effective for storm lengths of up to 12 hours. To maintain rain gardens and ensure that they continue to be effective, this group recommends clearing debris to prevent clogging, prioritizing adaptive vegetation to reduce fertilizer needs, and establishing environmentally-friendly cleaning protocols.
> Ecological Connectivity through UBC: What and where?
By: Kun Han Goh, in collaboration with Campus + Community Planning and the SEEDS Sustainability Program
Ecological connectivity refers to the connectivity of different natural habitats in an area. In the context of UBC, it can help us understand how urban biodiversity and different species’ habitats might be impacted by campus structures.
Goh modelled the movement of seven species through UBC to identify areas on campus, such as Pacific Spirit Park, that have high connectivity, and critical corridors of movement that could be enhanced to support the resilience of connectivity on campus. His presentation concluded with recommendations to conserve and enhance areas that are important to connectivity, for example by further integrating greenery into campus structures. Future research needs include refining the model and implementing targeted wildlife management strategies on campus.
Interested in knowing more about these projects? Search for them on the SEEDS Sustainability Library for the full reports, coming in summer 2024.
Research to Action Showcase
Finally, the showcase concluded with a research-to-action activity, where participants were invited to brainstorm ways that this research could be translated into action to support urban biodiversity on the UBC Vancouver campus. I was at a table with the theme “Birds, Bats, and Bees,” and we came up with ideas on policies and practices, engagement, research, and considerations related to stewarding healthy environments for these animals.
The event concluded with participants sharing back the ideas they came up with – including the viability of green roofs, planting more native plants on campus, and engaging with students more. We are looking forward to continuing the conversation on biodiversity and seeing how some of these ideas might be put into practice this summer and fall!
There are still more biodiversity-themed events planned for the rest of the month as part of Biodiversity Days. Check them out here!
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