How much stress does crossing a busy logging road cause a grizzly bear? What happenswhen a bear has to share its backyard with oil rigs, mountain bikers and Sunday golfers?

Environmental scientists can answer these questions as never before.

Stepping away from his role as Trent University president, Steven Franklin dove into his passion for nature Monday, highlighting the technological advancements that are allowing researchers to predict ecological dangers before they happen.

Franklin shared with the Peterborough Rotary Club some of the extensive environmental work that has taken him around the globe, researching biodiversity and wildlife habitats.

Talking specifically about at-risk grizzly bear populations in Alberta, Franklin showed how science could combine satellite imagery with new methods of collecting raw data to more precisely measure the impact of environmental changes on animals.

Satellite mappings can give researchers a look at how a particular landscape has changed over a period of time, Franklin explained. For example, a scientist can view the physical impact of forest clear cutting, oil sites or recreational activity.

In the grizzly bear example, scientists can use the mappings to show how the bear's source of berries has been lost or how much walking the bear must do in wide-open, clear-cut areas.

These can be predictors of stress, Franklin said, and can be combined with new methods of collecting data to give a bigger picture of an animal's health.

He talked about cellphone-activated collars that can map a bear's precise movements.

"These collars are very powerful technology," he said.

He talked about bio-logging devices that can measure how fast a bear is moving, how its muscles are being used and what its chewing habits are.

Biopsy darts have replaced the need to tranquilize large animals, he explained. The dart is shot into the bear and falls out after taking a tissue sample.

"And that's when you send in a grad student to get it," Franklin joked.

Drug-sniffing dogs can lead researchers straight to bear poop, Franklin said.

"Dogs will find all the poop within a minute," he said. "Again, that's when you send in the grad student."

Based on the combined technologies, researchers can build models to show the long-term effects associated with human activity and habitat destruction.

"What we are trying to trying to do is put together a profile of the stress animals are experiencing," Franklin said.

So when a logging company proposes to build a new road into a remote area or a developer plans to build a golf course, environmental scientists can say with much more accuracy how those changes would affect local wildlife populations.

"When you remove habitat, you create an enormous amount of stress," he said. "We do that quite a bit with the changes we make."

While animals have shown incredible adaptability, populations can only handle so much change, he said.

The 500 grizzly bears living in Alberta for instance are likely "doomed" if habitat management is not drastically altered, he said.

"They can't have infinite limits. We do need to change some of our behaviour. We have to introduce better environment

al management," he said. "There's a whole suite of species at risk that this technology has a chance to help us make better decisions about."