At IESF, we view long-term monitoring and data accessibility as the cornerstone of the research we do at IESF. In our efforts to study the impacts of human intervention in our natural ecosystems, these two components allow us at IESF to maintain and monitor the integrity of our research processes but to also ensure its relevance, reproducibility, and usefulness to inform local and federal decision makers.
One major goal of IESF is the integration of artificial intelligence into ecosystem monitoring and management. This will be done by collecting and compiling an expansive data base from diverse data sources – such as satellite imager and citizen science contributions – over many years. This allows for a framework from which an AI forecasting software can be trained to observe complex patterns of the interconnected data points and produce educated predictions on future patterns, such as species population dynamics, soil quality shifts, and levels of pollution. This will allow for more effective conservation planning as we would be able to predict the exact needs of the landscape.
These data sets will not be held exclusive to the University of Guelph but will be made accessible to the public via an integrated data hosting platform. This platform will organize diverse data types in one accessible platform for easy navigation and classification. IESF is devoted to collaboration and innovation via bringing together experts in diverse fields from statistical modelling to archeology to aquatic zoology and many more to produce interdisciplinary studies on ecosystem health and conservation. Our open source data platform expands our scope by allowing interested researchers anywhere, from local high schools to international organizations, to access and build upon our research. In this way IESF becomes part of a global conversation regarding conservation, serving as a testing grounds for the future of environmental research.
Our mission is to ensure that forest and wetland ecosystems are understood, preserved, and sustainably managed for future generations to come. By leveraging advancing technologies in monitoring, AI and collaborative data-sharing , we provide critical insight into wetland development, new growth forest development, biodiversity trends and climate change.
We believe that transparency and accessibility to long-term forestry data are essential for effective conservation efforts. Together we can protect these vital ecosystems and promote a sustainable future.
