Field season. It is the means by which the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI) keeps its metaphorical finger on the pulse of Alberta’s many diverse species and ecosystems. Each spring and summer, the ABMI launches an enormous effort to monitor Alberta’s biodiversity across the province, from boreal bog to prairie pasture. Field season involves some [...]
How the ABMI successfully reaches all four corners of Alberta’s wilderness to collect biodiversity data. Before dawn, the early spring morning is tranquil. Mike Boucher, ABMI terrestrial field coordinator, carefully manipulates his truck down a narrow and winding logging road, which is still illuminated by the nearly full moon. Having left his temporary field base [...]
The ABMI’s expertise in the assessment of rangeland and grassland biodiversity is drawing international recognition. This past March, ABMI ecologist Dr. Shannon White hit the global stage in Rome, Italy to contribute her knowledge and skills to an urgent question: what are the impacts of livestock production on biodiversity? Dr. White is the sole North [...]
“I try to remind everybody to take a step back and look at the magnitude of what we’re doing. I think people on the ABMI staff take a lot of pride in that.” Colin Twitchell, Director, ABMI’s Monitoring Centre Every spring, in the final weeks of April, ABMI’s Monitoring Centre in Vegreville could be mistaken [...]
Did you know that earthworms are not native to Alberta? It’s ok if you didn’t—surveys done by the Alberta Worm Invasion Project show that only 15% of anglers are aware of this. The Alberta Worm Invasion Project—spearheaded by Dr. Erin Cameron and Dr. Erin Bayne*—is working to boost public awareness of earthworm invasions through basic [...]
On March 16, the Edmonton Journal published an article focusing on the ongoing winter fish kill at Isle Lake, 80km west of Edmonton. The accompanying video shows hundreds of floating dead fish in ice breaks on the lake; thousands more can be seen gasping for air due to the low oxygen levels of the lake [...]
In just under 50 years, from 1963 to 2012, over 350,000 wellsites have been drilled in Alberta, which contributes to the industrial footprint on the landscape. The Alberta Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (AESRD) requires that all upstream oil and gas sites(1) on both public and private lands must be reclaimed when they are [...]
As he saw the image materialize on his computer screen, Dr. Guillermo Castilla’s exhilaration grew. “I felt like I was looking at an open book telling the history of Alberta’s landscape of the last ten years,” says Castilla, a Remote Sensing Scientist with the ABMI’s Remote Sensing Group. “If there is a picture worth a [...]