Jean-Olivier Goyette

Université du Québec en Outaouais · Département des sciences naturelles

The ecosystem services (ES) concept is well-established in the scientific community but remains underutilized and poorly understood within government organizations. In this article, we analyze the barriers to integrating ES into relevant governmental operations in Quebec, Canada. According to the perspective expressed by eight governmental organiza...

Context Intensive agriculture increases crop yields, but harms biodiversity and associated ecosystem services such as pollination. To sustain wild-bee pollination in intensive agricultural landscapes, a minimum of (semi-) natural habitat is needed in the vicinity of crop fields. However, restoration of (semi-) natural habitat is a challenge, especi...

Considering ecosystem services (ESs) in conservation planning represents a growing interest in global standards. However, this task has been hindered by the complexity of the ecological and socio-economic attributes of ESs, and questions remain, such as how to incorporate the demand for ESs, and ensure equity among beneficiary groups. To successful...

How much wetland we should protect or restore is not a simple question, such that conservation targets are often set according to political agendas, then standardized globally. However, given their key regulating hydrological functions, wetlands represent nature-based solutions to the anticipated, exacerbating effect of climate change on drought an...

Increasing the overall use efficiency of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) resources in food production while minimizing losses to the environment are required to meet the dual challenge of food security and sustainability. Yet studies quantifying the overall performance of different agro-system types and how these have changed over time remain rare,...

Balancing human well-being with the maintenance of ecosystem services (ES) for future generations has become one of the central sustainability challenges of the 21st century. In working landscapes, past and ongoing production-centered objectives have resulted in the conversion of ecosystems into simple land-use types, which has also altered the pro...

ContextHuman activities have led to the degradation of wetlands, impinging on their capacity to deliver essential ecosystem services to society. Wetland restoration now appears an essential strategy, in complement with protection efforts, to maintain the supply of ecosystem services regionally. The limited resources available for restoration call f...

Aquatic ecosystems are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic stressors, both at local and larger scales. For instance, runoff from intensively cultivated areas leads to higher nutrient and sediment concentrations deteriorating water quality, which potentially trigger trophic state changes. Unfortunately, we have a poor understanding of the compl...

Phosphorus (P) plays a crucial role in both agricultural production and water quality. There has been growing recognition of the importance of “legacy” P (surplus P that has accumulated in watersheds over time) for understanding contemporary water quality outcomes; however, little is known about how different watersheds respond to cumulative pressu...

Anthropogenic activities have led to increased transfers of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to surface waters where changes in the absolute amounts of N and P delivery, and in N:P ratios, threaten water quality. While models of riverine fluxes are increasingly good at predicting total annual nutrient loads, our understanding of which features of a...

Excess anthropogenic phosphorus in watersheds, transported with runoff, can result in aquatic eutrophication, a serious global water quality concern. Watersheds can retain phosphorus, especially in their soils, which can serve as a buffer against the effect of excessive use of phosphorus. However, whether there is a quantifiable threshold at which...

Declining water quality in reservoirs is of growing concern in many regions, yet there is still little understanding of long-term water quality trends in these systems. Across the landscape, reservoirs have diverse origins, functions, and operational strategies. In temperate environments, winter water-level drawdown is a common operational practice...

Human activities have increased the flow of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) over much of the Earth, leading to increased agricultural production, but also the degradation of air, soil, and water quality. Here we quantify the sources of anthropogenic N and P inputs to 76 watersheds of the St. Lawrence Basin (SLB) throughout the 20th century using NA...

Many initiatives since the early 1900s have been implemented to maintain water quality within the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River basin. Despite these substantial efforts, emerging and re-emerging biological and chemical contaminants continue to pose serious human, animal, and ecosystem health risks. With over 100 biological and chemical contaminant...