Rethinking Seed Sourcing Under Climate Change and Nature-Driven Innovation Workshops
Mark your calendar and join us for the speaker series on Wednesday April 22, 2026 from 5pm to 6pm.
- Rethinking Seed Sourcing Under Climate Change: Evidence for Assisted Migration and Composite Strategies - Dr. Ashley Thomson
- Nature-Driven Innovation: Transforming Underexplored Bio-Inspired Feedstocks Into Industry-Ready Conductive Nanohydrogels - Dr. Seyedrahman Djafaripetroudy
How to join?
- In person: at Room BB 1075, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay campus
- Via Zoom: https://lakeheadu.zoom.us/j/93867550460?pwd=NQpA5ZrFtiThFq8g3f67MZO1PhngAz.1
Meeting ID: 938 6755 0460
Passcode: 230312
Summary of the presentations
Rethinking Seed Sourcing Under Climate Change: Evidence for Assisted Migration and Composite Strategies - Dr. Ashley Thomson, RPF
Steep, challenging terrain poses significant operational, safety, and environmental challenges for modern forestry. This presentation will explore recent advancements in winch-assisted harvesting, automation, and precision forestry technologies that enable and enhance mechanisation in forest operations, thus improving safety and efficiency in these difficult landscapes. Examples from North America, New Zealand and beyond will illustrate how these technologies are being implemented, with a focus on their practical applications, industry adoption, and policy implications. By integrating cutting-edge solutions, we can improve productivity, reduce environmental impact, and enhance worker safety in steep-slope forestry.
Nature-driven innovation: Transforming underexplored bio-inspired feedstocks into industry-ready conductive nanohydrogels - Dr. Seyedrahman Djafaripetroudy
Climate warming is rapidly altering the conditions under which boreal forests are regenerated, challenging the long-standing assumption that local seed sources are best adapted to planting sites. Decades of provenance-trial research across North America show strong climatic clines in growth, survival, and phenology, with seed sources from warmer regions often outperforming local populations under today’s climate—providing a solid empirical basis for assisted migration and climate-forward seed transfer. At the same time, composite seed-sourcing strategies, which mix seed from multiple climatic origins to hedge against future uncertainty, have gained attention in both restoration ecology and forestry, though their empirical support remains more limited. In this presentation, I synthesize evidence from long-term provenance trials, including recent results from black spruce in Ontario, to evaluate the strengths, limitations, and appropriate applications of assisted migration and composite seed sourcing. The goal is to provide practitioners with a clear, evidence-based framework for selecting seed sources that balance productivity, risk, and resilience under continued climate change.
About NRM - CIF Speaker Series
In celebration of Lakehead University’s 60th anniversary, the Faculty of Natural Resources Management (NRM) and the Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF) are hosting a monthly speaker series from January to April 2026. Each session highlights research and discussions on forestry and environmental stewardship. Participants are welcome to attend either in person or online.