Glynnis Hood, PhD, MSc, Dip. Tech, BA, CWB®

Professor Emerita, Augustana - Sciences

Contact Overview Activities Publications

Contact

Professor Emerita, Augustana - Sciences

Email: ghood@ualberta.ca

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

wildlife biology; wetland ecology

About

PhD, Environmental Biology and Ecology, University of Alberta; MSc, Natural Resources Management, University of Northern B.C.; Dip. Tech., Fish, Wildlife and Recreation, British Columbia Institute of Technology; BA, Linguistics, University of Victoria. Fellow of The Wildlife Society (TWS).

Research

Research

Freshwater Ecology, Wildlife Ecology and Management

My current research focuses on wetland ecology as it relates to wildlife habitat and management. Semi-aquatic mammals are of specific interest. Along with investigations into water quality and quantity, I study how the presence of beavers affects pond morphometry, aquatic connectivity, and biodiversity. Other research interests include how human-wildlife interactions affect access to critical habitats by wildlife and how those impacts can be mitigated using adaptive management approaches. My research approach is largely empirical, based on field studies, which are then analyzed using statistics and GIS. Much of my work has been conducted in protected areas and adjacent private and public lands.

Scholarly Activities

Research - Advancing use of beavers as a nature-based solution to manage the impacts of climate change

2023-03-31 to 2027-03-31

The overarching objective of our project is to form an evidence base for understanding the potential for, and the potential costs/challenges of, using beavers to mitigate the impacts of climate change on stream and wetland functioning. Four key questions direct the research to achieve the project’s overarching objective: 1) To what extent do beaver dams built in a network pattern elevate stream and riparian water levels, increase channel-floodplain connectivity, enhance groundwater recharge and alter downstream connectivity (i.e., volume and flow paths of stream water)? 2) What impacts do the changes in hydrological regime have on ecological dynamics? 3) How does the location of a pond-leveling device within a beaver dam network affect ponding, downstream connectivity, channel-floodplain connectivity, and beaver activities? and, 4) How can resource managers crowdsource hydrological and ecological data suitable for addressing pressing management challenges in beaver-dominated landscapes? The PI is Dr. Cherie Westbrook, USask and CI: Dr. Glynnis Hood. It is funded by the Alberta Innovates Water Innovation program.

Cherie Westbrook - current projects

Research - Beavers as drivers of ecological dynamics

2020 to 2025

This research examines how the interplay between environmental variables (e.g. soils, vegetation, hydrology, climate) and beaver ecology (e.g. population dynamics, habitat alterations) affects persistence of beaver dams and tipping points where dams fail. While beaver activities increase biodiversity and productivity, dams do break, leading to catastrophic flooding. In response, we are quantifying key variables in beaver-modified landscapes to predict persistence of dams in associated aquatic systems. In addition, spatial and temporal variables will be identified that can inform risk management for beaver release. Moreover, we are assessing the influence of active maintenance of dams, population dynamics, and related environmental variables on the probability of dam persistence. These data will aid development of flood-risk models for agricultural lands adjacent to wildland areas and how they are potentially affected by failure of beaver dams. Research outputs will aid resource managers in balancing biodiversity and flood risk. This research is funded by a NSERC Discovery Grant.

Research - Distribution and habitat associations of semi-aquatic furbearers in the Beaver Hills Biosphere

This research investigates which factors influence the distribution and habitat selection of semi-aquatic mammals (i.e., beaver, muskrat, river otter, and mink) within a mixed-use landscape of the Beaver Hills Biosphere in Alberta’s southern mixed-wood boreal forest. Through the use of camera traps, eDNA sampling, and sign surveys we are measuring the diversity and distribution of semi-aquatic mammals in the Biosphere, and analyzing the relationship between species occurrence and habitat composition, including aquatic connectivity (e.g., the influence of beaver channels). This research is funded by an Alberta Conservation Association research grant (https://www.ab-conservation.com/), and Beaver Hills Biosphere Reserve Association funding.

Past research regarding the influence of beavers on aquatic connectivity and biodiversity is published in: Freshwater Biology (2024) https://doi.org/10.1111/fwb.14304; Canadian Journal of Zoology (2020) 98:210–218; Freshwater Biology (2015) 60:198–208; Animal Conservation (2015) 18(3):287–294; Wetlands (2014) 34:19–29; and Herpetological Review (2014) 45(1):18–20.