Biography

Mr. Slogan has worked as a terrestrial and marine ecologist with EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd. in Vancouver, BC, and various governmental and non‑governmental organizations for ten and a half years in Canada, Mexico, Cayman Islands and Seychelles. Mr. Slogan is also currently pursuing a Doctorate of Philosophy in Marine Ecology at the Fisheries Research Centre at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC examining colonization and succession on made-made fish compensation habitat (artificial reefs) in Burrard Inlet, BC. As an ecologist his broad experience includes terrestrial and marine biodiversity inventories, ecosystem mapping, environmental impact assessments, invasive species surveys, rare species surveys, riparian restoration projects, environmental assessment screenings, environmental monitoring, and steam bank rehabilitation.

Extensive development of waterfront rocky shores for residential, commercial and recreational activities has made it increasingly necessary to understand how engineered fish compensation areas mature in urban waterways. The process of marine habitat restoration relies on predicting colonization, recruitment and succession in order to produce ecologically productive communities as required by DFO to issue a successful compensation project authorization. In order to maximize success of colonization, recruitment, and the overall productive capacity of fish compensation features, it has been suggested that ecological features based on local natural conditions be incorporated in compensation structures. Little work has been completed in the past to assess the impacts of engineered microhabitat features on fish habitat compensation structures.



Mr. Slogan's study documents, over a period of four years, marine assemblages of the newly installed Vancouver Convention Centre - West (VCC-W) compensation features, a ten year old reference site adjacent to VCC-W, and a 13 year old reference area approximately five kilometres east in Vancouver Inner harbour. One of the features at VCC-W, the marine habitat skirt, consists of an engineered five-tier concrete intertidal habitat incorporating tide pools and other micro features to improve colonization and was recently recognized for its unique and innovative design by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC (APEGBC) 2006. The results of this study should provide insight to processes of marine commnity dynamics on compensation habitat examining biodiversity, life history patterns, habitat preferences, predation, and potentially biological invasions. Data will be analyzed for diversity and community composition using multivariate statistics such as ANOSIM and PERMANOVA to explain succession trajectories and effects of environment including aspect, tidal height, shading, and water quality.

Link to Fisheries Ecosystem Restoration Research (FERR) website