We wish you a restful holiday season filled with warmth, renewal, and time with the people and places that ground you.

As we look forward to the new year, we would like to reflect on how 2025 was a great year for IBioS.

We celebrated the opening of the BRC extension and IBioS moved our staff office and theory lab into the new wing. We held many thought-provoking seminars and engaging workshops, and the largest symposium organized by IBioS yet. None of these successes would have been possible without your support.

On behalf of the entire IBioS team, we sincerely appreciate your continued dedication this year.

Podcast: The cost of lost biodiversity

Listen to IBioS Member Dr. Frederik Noack disucss about the cost of lost biodiversity and about the long-term decline of bird populations in the US and the knock-on effect on agriculture, and pollution in this episode of the VoxEU podcast.

Link to the podcast here.

Study Finds Indigenous-led Hunting Most Effective for Tackling Deer Overabundance on B.C. Islands

As ecosystems in coastal British Columbia disappear due to long-term browsing pressures from overabundant black-tailed deer, a new study led by IBioS Member Dr. Tara Martin with UBC Forestry, Coast Salish Nations, and regional research partners identifies the most effective solutions to address deer overabundance on the Southern Gulf Islands.

Read the full article here.

Why there’s a registry looking for the biggest trees in BC

Featuring commetary from IBioS Member Dr. Sally Aitken, this article covers how the BC Big Tree Registry is rapidly expanding, with a surge of new nominations from the Interior as residents help document and protect some of the province’s largest and most significant trees. The article highlights the registry's growing role in conservation, education, and community engagement.

Read the full article here.

Canada’s food sovereignty depends on better jobs for farmworkers

Written by IBioS Member Dr. Hannah Wittman and colleague, this article discusses how Canada’s focus on “buying local” overlooks deeper structural issues in the food system, including the unsafe and precarious conditions faced by farm workers. It offers insights to the financial and structural challenges that prevent producers from improving job quality in agriculture.

Read the full article here.

130 species in Southern Ontario at risk of local extinction by 2050 if no new actions taken, study indicates

Featuring contributions from IBioS Member Dr. Tara Martin, this article highlights the new UBC-WWF Canada study warning that 98% of at-risk species in the Lake Simcoe-Rideau ecoregion could vanish by 2050 without intervention. The article features contributions from IBioS Member.

Read the full article here.

The 2025 Land Gap Report

This report was co-authored by IBioS Member Dr. Jessica Dempsey and provides an updated assessment of land area required for carbon removal in climate pledges submitted to the UNFCCC up to November 2025. Pledged land for carbon removal now exceeds 1 billion ha - far beyond what is feasible or sustainable.

Read the full report here.

Fast and dubious: How electric cars are tiring the Mekong

IBioS Member Dr. Juliet Lu and her Master's student Thao Nguyen, alongside other investigators, were consulted for this article examining the traceability and accountability of the rubber industry in the Mekong region and its links to the production of electric vehicle tires.

Read the full article here.

Centering Indigenous Cultural Resurgence to Improve Ecological Restoration: Learnings from the Revitalization of Cultural Keystone Places of the Quw’utsun Peoples

Journal: Ethnobiology Letters

Article by IBioS Member Dr. Tara Martin and colleagues.