A new collaborative paper looks at different approaches to estimating population size for birds, and what they mean for how we understand population changes over time. In this guest post, the paper’s lead author and ABMI senior statistical ecologist Péter Sólymos gives us a behind-the-scenes tour. Recently, I worked with a team of researchers from [...]
If you’re near Edmonton and looking for a nature activity that’s both family- and social-distancing-friendly, why not take part in Edmonton’s first ever BiodiverCity Challenge this June 11–14? The BiodiverCity Challenge is inspired by the City Nature Challenge, a global urban biodiversity “contest”, or bioblitz, where cities compete against one another to monitor biodiversity within [...]
If you follow the ABMI’s social media, you’ll already know about our What does biodiversity mean to you? writing contest. If not, we have news for you: The ABMI has a writing contest, in partnership with Alberta Views Magazine! The rules are simple: Submit an original 500 – 750 word essay on what biodiversity means [...]
We understand that many of our readers, like us, are hunkered down as the events around COVID-19 unfold. We hope you’re keeping as well as can be under the circumstances. Meanwhile, ABMI operations continue with a temporary shift of focus away from on-the-ground fieldwork and toward work that can be done digitally. To that end, [...]
The following is a guest post from Dr. Jenet Dooley, Wetland Ecologist with the ABMI. February 2nd is World Wetlands Day. Observed internationally since its launch in 1997, it’s a day to “raise global awareness about the vital role of wetlands for people and our planet”. The date commemorates the adoption of the Ramsar Convention [...]
The ABMI is fortunate to have a regular column in the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists’ Quarterly newsletter, BIOS. The following post has been adapted by Brett Campbell and Monica Kohler from a piece by Kurt Illerbrun that appeared in the newsletter’s autumn issue. Is it possible to have too much of a good thing? We were [...]
A recent paper highlighted the decline of North American bird populations. Guest blogger Dr. Peter Solymos, a statistical ecologist with the ABMI and Boreal Avian Modelling Project (BAM), digs deeper into the story and provides insights from the long-term ABMI + BAM data set. A paper by Ken Rosenberg et al. in Science made headlines last [...]
There are many unsung contributors in the life of an ABMI data point. From the field technicians who collect it, to the taxonomists who identify it and the analysts, quality-controllers, and information managers who prepare it for release, it takes a village. But outside of the ABMI offices, the most unsung of all might be [...]