Frontiers in Marine Science (Jun 2020)
Characterizing Exposure to and Sharing Knowledge of Drivers of Environmental Change in the St. Lawrence System in Canada
Abstract
The St. Lawrence is a vast and complex socio-ecological system providing a wealth of services that sustain numerous economic sectors. This ecosystem is subject to significant human pressures that overlap and potentially interact with climate-driven environmental changes. Our objective in this paper was to systematically characterize the distribution and intensity of drivers of environmental change (hereafter, drivers) in the St. Lawrence System. We gathered data-based indicators for 22 coastal, climate, fisheries, and marine traffic drivers through collaborations, existing environmental initiatives and open data portals. We show that few areas of the St. Lawrence are free of cumulative exposure. The Estuary, Anticosti Gyre, and coastal areas are particularly exposed, especially in the vicinity of urban centers. We identified six distinct clusters with similar suites of co-occurring drivers and show that certain driver combinations are inherent to different regions of the St. Lawrence and that coastal areas are exposed to all driver types. Of particular concern are two clusters capturing most exposure hotspots and that show the convergence of contrasting cumulative exposure profiles at the head of the Laurentian Channel. Sharing knowledge of drivers emerged as a priority to facilitate future environmental assessment efforts. We thus launch eDrivers, an open knowledge platform gathering experts committed to structuring, standardizing and sharing knowledge on drivers of environmental change in support of holistic science and management. eDrivers was built on a series of guiding principles upholding existing data management and open science standards. We therefore expect it to evolve through time to address knowledge gaps and refine current driver layers. Ultimately, we believe that eDrivers represents a much needed solution that could radically influence broad scale research and management practices by increasing knowledge accessibility and interoperability.
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