Approach

Science

Our science brings conservation to life.

The results of our investments in science strengthen our conservation focus across North America. Our big-picture approach continues to be successful in habitats that support waterfowl populations.

Decades of research and innovation at Ducks Unlimited Canada have helped uncover unique relationships among wetlands, waterfowl, watersheds, biodiversity, species at risk, and more. Today, we also focus on how those habitats can affect other wildlife and directly improve human lives too.

Since its founding, Ducks Unlimited Canada has embraced a scientific approach to conserving wetlands and associated uplands that support North America’s waterfowl populations.

Ducks Unlimited Canada’s application of science has expanded to increase understanding of how habitat conservation affects ecosystem services (e.g., water quality, flood mitigation) that directly improve human health and livelihoods. This approach ensures Ducks Unlimited Canada’s conservation actions continue to sustain waterfowl populations while increasing their relevance and benefits to broader segments of society.

Ducks Unlimited Canada has built a continental network that connects people and resources to identify and solve conservation challenges. Across the country, Ducks Unlimited Canada experts are using their knowledge and skills to ask and answer big environmental questions that affect all of us.

A milestone achievement

This year, we are celebrating an environmental accomplishment that was three decades in the making. Ducks Unlimited Canada’s Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research reached—and surpassed—a remarkable milestone: its 800th scientific publication.

This exciting achievement results from IWWR’s longstanding commitment to scholarship and strategic foresight in environmental sciences. Since 1991, IWWR’s research community has deftly navigated shifts in ecological questions, methodologies and paradigms in response to the changing world around us.

Image: IWWR’s Top Six Research Themes

Ducks Unlimited International Science Report

The annual Ducks Unlimited International Science Report highlights research projects across North America led by staff, university and student partners, and other collaborators of Ducks Unlimited Canada, Ducks Unlimited Inc. and DU de México.

Our science supporters and partners are government agencies at every level, university researchers, non-governmental organizations, foundations, North American Waterfowl Management Plan Joint Ventures, corporations, private landowners–all of it anchored by our volunteers and donors.

Lead Ducks Unlimited Canada Researcher: Stuart M. Slattery, Ph.D.

National research programs

Ducks Unlimited Canada’s national research programs are setting the stage for decades of conservation work across Canada. Researchers uncover the information that conservationists use for effective decisions on the ground. It all starts here.

Ducks Unlimited Canada’s research resources >>

Oak Hammock Marsh - Ducks Unlimited Canada national headquarters

Ducks Unlimited Canada’s research team

Members of our core research team are experts in wetland and waterfowl biology and ecology, wetland and spatial ecology, avian demography, statistics, GIS technology, ecosystem services, carbon cycling, knowledge transfer, boreal ecology and more. No matter what they do or where they do it, our flock takes to conservation like ducks to water.

Ducks Unlimited Canada’s core research team >>

Our research team is making a positive difference in a pivotal era for conservation and biodiversity in Canada:

Building partnerships to address key research questions
Understanding the impacts of landscape and environmental change
Conducting watershed scale research to inform sustainable wetland policies
Quantifying and raising awareness of ecosystem services that wetlands provide
Measuring effects on wetland biodiversity from habitat change
Surveying waterfowl to inform conservation planning in important regions
Supporting and assessing restoration of important habitats
Evaluating the responses of waterfowl to landscape level changes
Using science results to guide conservation plans and investments
Engaging with wildlife and landscape management working groups
Developing scenarios to evaluate future benefits of habitat restoration

Young scientist working in Prairie wetland

Get the story

University of Saskatchewan – Ducks Unlimited Canada Endowed Chair

Read now

The Ducks Unlimited Canada Endowed Chair in Wetland and Waterfowl Conservation

The first of its kind in Canada, the Endowed Chair teaches and mentors future scientists, conservationists, and wildlife managers studying at the University of Saskatchewan. The endowment provides student support through graduate fellowships and undergraduate scholarships.

Subscribe on YouTube to get answers to environmental questions from Ducks Unlimited Canada scientists!

Understanding our changing environment

Urban centres are growing. Industry is expanding. Agriculture is adapting to meet growing demands for food and fibre. These changes are impacting waterfowl and wetlands. That’s why we plan, track, evaluate and adapt our conservation programs based on studies of our changing environment.

Stalking “energy powerballs” in Canada’s changing boreal zone

Research in the boreal forest helps us understand ducks and the predators they have to avoid.

Landowners, Volunteers

Focus on biodiversity in Ontario

We’re working all the angles to support biodiversity in Ontario communities.

Species and places of special concern

Ducks Unlimited Canada examines what limits waterfowl populations so we can deliver habitat programs that support these species’ life cycles. Waterfowl we’re watching with concern include scaup, northern pintails, wigeon and sea ducks. The foundational component of population success is available habitat. We are working with conservation partnerships to protect, restore and understand Canada’s important habitat regions.

New sea duck atlas sheds light on poorly understood species and how we can protect them

Canadian landscapes identified among 85 North American sites that provide critical habitat for sea ducks.

Saving The Fraser River Estuary: A Priority

A new paper by 23 prominent B.C. conservation specialists lays out the Priority Threat Management plan to save one of the most important ecosystems on Canada's West Coast .

Informing public policy

We gather scientific information to promote the creation of effective wetland policies. We do this by growing and sharing our knowledge of the ecological value wetlands provide to communities when they reduce floods and droughts, support climate resilience, and remove pollutants from water.

New study showcases nature’s ability to mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions in Canada

DUC research scientist plays key role in demonstrating value of wetlands to provide natural climate solutions.

The power of small wetlands for clean water

New DUC research quantifies the role of restored wetlands in capturing phosphorus in agricultural watersheds.

Search Ducks Unlimited Canada’s science publications

Discover IWWR's science library

Education and training

Young scientists are integral to our research programs and we’re proud to help them launch their careers in environmental conservation. Ducks Unlimited Canada supports the next generation of conservation scientists through employment, contracts and funded fellowships that support graduate research.

Graduate conservation fellowships

Resources for teachers and younger students

Environmental conservation is our priority

Our conservation priorities and methods are guided by knowledge and expertise to reach the best outcomes for wildlife, ecosystems and communities.

We address the greatest environmental uncertainties, supporting our on-the-ground conservation actions to sustain waterfowl populations while increasingly building on the relevance of nature and wildlife to the progress, safety and health of human communities.

Conservation program planning, delivery and adaptation
Ecosystem services and human dimensions
Sustainable agriculture Implications of climate change for conservation
Waterfowl species of concern
Development and refinement of international conservation plans

Science

A milestone achievement

Ducks Unlimited International Science Report

National research programs

Ducks Unlimited Canada’s research team

University of Saskatchewan – Ducks Unlimited Canada Endowed Chair

The Ducks Unlimited Canada Endowed Chair in Wetland and Waterfowl Conservation

Subscribe on YouTube to get answers to environmental questions from Ducks Unlimited Canada scientists!

Understanding our changing environment

Stalking “energy powerballs” in Canada’s changing boreal zone

Focus on biodiversity in Ontario

Species and places of special concern

New sea duck atlas sheds light on poorly understood species and how we can protect them

Saving The Fraser River Estuary: A Priority

Informing public policy

New study showcases nature’s ability to mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions in Canada

The power of small wetlands for clean water

Search Ducks Unlimited Canada’s science publications

Discover IWWR's science library

Education and training

Graduate conservation fellowships

Resources for teachers and younger students

Environmental conservation is our priority

The Duck Doctors are in, sharing insights from the wild!

Tools for wetland classification: research contributes to major win in Manitoba wetland conservation

Investing in B.C.’s watersheds will build natural defences to droughts, fires and floods

Canadian scientists showcasing the latest in waterfowl research at North American Duck Symposium

Science

A milestone achievement

Ducks Unlimited International Science Report

National research programs

Ducks Unlimited Canada’s research team

The Ducks Unlimited Canada Endowed Chair in Wetland and Waterfowl Conservation

Subscribe on YouTube to get answers to environmental questions from Ducks Unlimited Canada scientists!

Understanding our changing environment

Species and places of special concern

Informing public policy

Sharing science and knowledge

Education and training

Environmental conservation is our priority