It was a day like any other when Varina Crisfield, the ABMI’s Vascular Plant Taxonomist, showed up for work at the ABMI’s Processing Centre at the Royal Alberta Museum*. Little did she know, she was about to achieve something few Alberta botanists can expect to do these days: identify a new species record for the [...]
From upper left (clockwise): Sphagnum magellanicum, photo: M. Luth; Polytrichum commune, photo: M. Luth; Anthelia juratzkana (liverwort), photo: R. Caners; Scorpidium scorpioides, photo: R. Caners; Brachythecium rivulare, photo: R. Caners Part 1: Introducing Bryophytes It’s a beautiful spring day and you are walking through a lush, green boreal forest somewhere in northern Alberta. The sunlight [...]
Here are five things you should know about ecosystem services, and you can learn more on our new website: www.ecosystemservices.abmi.ca! 1. Ecosystem services are benefits provided by natural systems that contribute to our well-being and health. The ABMI, through the Ecosystem Services Assessment project, has come up with ways to measure these benefits so that [...]
It’s the Goldilocks principle. All species, including plants, animals, and fungi, are uniquely adapted to a specific combination of climate and environmental conditions that they need to grow, reproduce and thrive – things need to be “just right”. If the environment changes, species have two choices: they can either stay where they are and adapt [...]
There is a moment of panic that comes when you sink through a soft spot in a cattail marsh. Your first thought is, “how deep am I sinking this time?” followed by, “hopefully this water doesn’t go over my waders.” Your next thoughts are focused on getting out: “I’m only in up to my belly-button, [...]
“Spending your life staring through a microscope, obsessing over tiny features on tiny things that no one cares about but you.” If you think this is the life of a taxonomist, you’re not entirely wrong – but you’re overlooking a key truth. Without taxonomists we wouldn’t have labels for species or a common language to [...]
Have you ever wondered what Alberta’s landscape will look like in the future? Like many Albertans, Bill Newton is hopeful for the future of his family ranch near the Porcupine Hills, despite increasing pressure to convert it to residential properties, other developments, or even cultivated crops. The challenge for land owners like Bill is the [...]
Did you know that, by the end of the century, Alberta’s climate is projected to become warmer, by an average of 2-4°C, as well as drier and more variable? In response to this change, Alberta’s ecosystems are predicted to shift northward and upslope. These are big changes and will affect our landscapes, species and communities. [...]