The problems are clear. Due to human activity, Alberta faces a series of biodiversity-related challenges. We see declining caribou populations, fragmented landscapes, and increasing pressure on Alberta’s rare plants and animals. Finding solutions to these problems is part of the mandate of the newly minted Alberta Biodiversity Conservation (ABC) Chair program, launched at the University [...]
Acarologist (mite expert) Dave Walter “retires” from the ABMI; joins University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. To say that acarologist Dr. Dave Walter wrote the book on mites (Acari) would be no cliché. In fact Walter, who “retires” as the ABMI’s acarologist and taxonomic advisor this month, is co-author of six and author of three [...]
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 [...]
Northeastern Alberta is one of the most rugged and remote regions of our province. It is home to many wildlife and plant species, and contains a diversity of different habitats including peatlands and forests, as well as unexpected habitats like sand dunes. It is also an area of significant economic importance to Alberta due to [...]
Come and learn about “Better Environmental Management Through Monitoring”, otherwise known as: Land use planning that accounts for the location and needs of Alberta’s rare plants and animals. Forest management that adjusts to shifting forests in an age of climate change. The development of market-based systems to value wetlands that store and purify water. These [...]
Sometimes, monitoring biodiversity is a giant game of hide and seek. Some species are rare. Others are elusive. In both cases, these types of species can be extremely difficult to monitor. The ABMI’s monitoring system was designed to track changes in groups of common plants and animals, not specifically to follow the status of individual [...]
Mapping rare plants and their habitats in Alberta’s Lower Athabasca region may help industry plan developments mindfully. In Alberta’s northeastern Lower Athabasca region, famously known for its bitumen-rich oil sands, there are more than industrial giants digging in the dirt for treasure. It’s also home to a treasure trove of extraordinary plant life, like the [...]
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 [...]