During CEG's recent virtual retreat, we conducted a horizon scan of emerging management needs and the growing capacity to deliver ecological forecasts. Our discussion highlighted how forecasting can help managers anticipate changing stressors on landscapes and populations, balance societal and environmental priorities, and plan for ecological conditions that may emerge in the near and distant future.
Advances in ecological modelling, remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies are creating new opportunities to model and assess future scenarios - for example, how wildfire and habitat change could affect wildlife populations under different management actions. By combining diverse data sources with simulation models, researchers have more flexibility to evaluate potential outcomes and management options before decisions are made.
CEG continues to build on its expertise in ecological forecasting as these approaches evolve. Working with our partners, we aim to use emerging tools to prepare for uncertainty, weigh difficult trade-offs, and make better-informed decisions about changing environments.
