What do you get when you combine plywood, a plastic bucket, and a tunnel in the prairies? An artificial burrow for one of Alberta’s most fascinating underground dwellers: the Burrowing Owl! It might be surprising, but artificial burrows may be one way to help Alberta’s declining Burrowing Owl population respond to the potential negative impacts [...]
It’s June in Alberta. In response to the shift from spring to summer, Trembling Aspens in the Parkland have flowered and unfurled their leaves, migratory songbirds have returned to the expansive boreal forest, and Great Plains Toads in southern Alberta are searching for temporary wetlands in which to lay their eggs. But on top of [...]
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 [...]
ABMI Releases New Video Not only does Alberta’s changing climate pose challenges for us humans, it does so for lots of other creatures as well. For a species like the Ferruginous Hawk, which already faces a variety of threats, climate change could have disastrous consequences for its survival in Alberta. So, how will climate change [...]
Vimeo videos of the ABMI’s inaugural speaker’s series presentations are now available! Find links below on topics ranging from biodiversity management and climate change adaptation to ecological recovery monitoring of reclaimed lands… The ABMI’s Application Centre develops products and services that build on ABMI’s core capacity to monitor long-term broad-scale changes in biodiversity. These applications [...]
ABMI was heavily involved in the 16th International Boreal Forest Research Association (IBFRA) conference held at the Shaw Conference Center in Edmonton from October 7-10, 2013. Given that the ABMI is a pan-provincial biodiversity monitoring agency, much of its monitoring activity takes place in the Boreal Region of Alberta. As a result, the ABMI has [...]
The work is cutting edge and it has just been released by the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI) in a report by ABMI scientist Dr. Richard Schneider. “This report provides state-of-the-art projections of ecosystem changes in Alberta, at a level of detail previously unavailable,” says Schneider. Using climate change models selected to represent the full [...]
June 20, 2013. Extreme rainfall in parts of southern Alberta triggers catastrophic flooding – the worst in this province’s history. The toll: four dead, thousands without a place to live, and recovery costs in the billions. With insurance payments in Canada doubling every 5-10 years since 1980 due to severe weather events like this one, [...]