The length of environmental review in Canada under the Fisheries Act

There is a common misconception among government officials that environmental regulations are bad for economic growth. Citing economic reasons, the Canadian federal government passed legislation in 2012 restricting the length of environmental reviews of new developments, even though review times were not empirically known. Using annual reports to Parliament from 2001 to 2010, we estimated using time-series analyses that review times under the Fisheries Act conformed to the new government mandated review times prior to major legislative changes to federal environmental oversight. The majority of submissions were processed within 1 year for mitigated impacts and within 2 years for authorized impacts. While it is possible that a minority of projects take longer, there is no evidence of large backlogs in the review process, and Canadian review times appear quicker than those in the United States. We highlight the need for empirical estimates of the costs of environmental regulations before governments enact substantial legislative changes that reduce environmental oversight and offer alternate recommendations for expediting environmental review times. </jats:p

Evaluation of the responsiveness of the crustacean zooplankton community size spectrum to environmental change and an exotic invader in a sample of Canadian Shield lakes

We evaluated the crustacean zooplankton size spectrum as an indicator of lake characteristics and ecosystem change. First, we used time series from seven Canadian Shield lakes to identify the factors associated with among-lake and among-year variability in the spectrum slope (relative abundance of small and large zooplankton) and centered height (total abundance). Second, we used time series from an invaded and three control lakes to assess change in mean and variability in slope and height due to a Bythotrephes invasion. We found that the slope and height reflected among-lake predictors related to morphometry. The slope was responsive to long-term declining lake phosphorus levels, whereas the height reflected both increases in dissolved organic carbon and decreases in ice duration. We detected a significant increase (i.e., flattening) in mean slope and substantial (up to 120%) increases in the CV of height after Bythotrephes invaded Harp Lake. Thus, the zooplankton size spectrum was responsive to long-term environmental change, and a strong top-down perturbation can be detected through regular and frequent monitoring programs.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Appendix A. Additional information related to the pond experiment.

Additional information related to the pond experiment

Appendix B. Additional information related to the population model.

Additional information related to the population model