We all know that biodiversity, like exercise and broccoli, is good for us. For the most part, governments and land managers recognize this too. For example, the Alberta Government maintains a network of parks and protected areas (PPAs) throughout the province as part of its vision of sustainable resource development. Many Albertans use these spaces [...]
Periodically, the ABMI releases an ABMI Science Letter to share the methodology and results of our latest scientific endeavours. Today, we’re excited to release our fifth Science Letter: Effects of Industrial Sectors on Species Abundance in Alberta. Read on to find out more! We at the ABMI spend a lot of time thinking about biodiversity. You’ve heard [...]
Natural ecosystems provide many benefits—services like clean drinking water, timber, and productive harvests. Each of these “ecosystem services” is the product of complex interactions among species, landscapes, and people. This complexity also means that ecosystem services can be difficult to measure and assess. Because their value is hard to quantify, ecosystem services may be ignored in [...]
We’re excited to introduce a new publication series: ABMI Science in Progress. Under this banner, we’ll release updates on work that’s currently taking place in the ABMI’s Science Centre—work that’s raw and will continue to evolve, but which we think our readers will find interesting in the meantime. This is the first installment, with the [...]
Guest blogger and ABMI collaborator Dr. Jessamyn Manson of the University of Alberta updates us on recent research into the relationship between wild bees and canola. At the peak of summer, your garden is probably buzzing with life! Alberta is home to nearly 300 documented species of wild bees, from large, charismatic bumble bees to [...]
Tucked away in the basement of the Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science at the University of Alberta is the ABMI’s Geospatial Centre and its team of Air Photo Interpreters. Kitted out in 3D glasses, they produce the most sophisticated and detailed land and vegetation cover data available for the province of Alberta. The data coming [...]
For the second year in a row, the ABMI has been blown away by your entries into our annual photo contest. Our goal of celebrating the beauty of Alberta’s biodiversity through story-telling photographs of species, habitats and human land use was easily achieved thanks to your participation. The 2015 contest included submissions from 48 contestants, with 69 [...]
Cattle producers are stewards of 9 million hectares of grassland in Alberta that support biodiversity (Kosinski 2012). However, the relationship between beef production and biodiversity is complex and poorly understood. We do know that cattle grazing can have both positive and negative effects on wildlife; for example, cows in riparian areas can degrade sensitive vegetation [...]