Despite remarkable growth in low-carbon generation worldwide, integrated assessment models of the global climate and energy system suggest that carbon dioxide removal technologies must be deployed at large scale to stabilize the climate. Among the most prominent of these is the direct air capture of carbon dioxide. The Canada Energy Regulator foresees up to 46 million tons of carbon removal with direct air capture by 2050. Despite the anticipated need for these technologies, analysts and policy makers have not yet explored the full implications of large-scale deployment. This talk will introduce a research stream at Carleton University that evaluates the technical performance of direct air capture technologies in collaboration with partners, as well as their real economic implications and the suite of policies required to support them. It will introduce new engineering models and decision tools that have been developed to paint a picture of what a direct air capture industry might look like and places these numbers in context relative to low-carbon energy generation technologies. The energy transition involves trade-offs and comprises; neither prudent policymaking nor societal acceptance can be achieved without articulating the benefits and costs of a large carbon dioxide removal enterprise.

Network ecology allows ecologists to conceptualize and model complex and dynamic ecological systems. Here, I present how parallel developments in spatial ecology and ecological network theory and their applications in a spatial context have converged, enabling better selection of protected areas forming interconnected networks, the conservation of ecological corridors, and the management of ecosystem services. In doing so, I address the trade-offs related to network topology and the ecological responses of species when landscapes are dynamic, at the levels of nodes (plots, communities), links (distances and dispersal rates of species, corridors), and the network itself (species abundance, species traits, species generation times, redundancy of trophic interactions). A series of case studies will be presented, ranging from the modification of interactions between species to the monitoring of ecosystem services.