Climate Change Affects Alberta’s Biodiversity Too– How Should We Respond?

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, [...]

ABMI Presents State-of-the-Art Remote Sensing Visualization Product at MultiTemp 2013

Due to human activity, the global environment is undergoing significant and rapid change. To assess the scope and impact of these changes, the science of remote sensing[1] is constantly evolving and delivering more powerful tools to observe the Earth’s surface.  Over the past decade, large, freely-available remote sensing data sets have also become available. The [...]

Grasses and Mites and Mammals, Ya-hoo! The ABMI Talks Biodiversity Monitoring at the Calgary Stampede.

On June 21st, the grounds of the Calgary Stampede were literally underwater, submerged due to heavy and unrelenting rain in Southern Alberta. Amazingly, Stampede 101 opened “come hell or high water” on July 5th and was as fun and entertaining as ever. Flood recovery – at breakneck speed – set the dramatic context for the [...]

Calling all Nature Nuts; It’s Time for the Young Naturalists Club Family Nature Nights!

The ABMI is excited to announce its participation in Nature Alberta’s Young Naturalists Club Family Nature Nights in Edmonton this summer. The Young Naturalists Club is designed to provide (fun!) educational materials and field trips to youth and families who enjoy learning about nature and the wild outdoors.  Registered YNC families receive resources through the [...]

The World Beneath Our Feet: The Mysterious Nature of Lichens (Part 2/2)

A great place to start looking at lichens in Alberta is in Crimson Lake Provincial Park located just northwest of Rocky Mountain House. Here, you can walk through a few different forest types in the course of a 10 km hike. You’ll find burnt stumps covered in baby Cladonia lichens and Cockleshell lichens. Veteran poplar [...]

Come Hell or High Water: The Calgary Stampede Wades On – This Year Featuring the ABMI!

by Elyse Williams Ever wondered how many species of plants, birds and mammals call a hectare (about 2 football fields) of Alberta native prairie home? And, I bet you can’t guess how many hamburgers this hectare can produce… To get the answers, visit the ABMI’s interactive display at The 2013 Cattle Trail exhibit at the Calgary [...]

ABMI Terrestrial Monitoring Crew

A Day in the Life of an ABMI Terrestrial Field Crew

In the summer of 2012, we spent a day with an ABMI field crew in southern Alberta and we observed the painstaking process involved in monitoring terrestrial field sites. More than that, we saw a wide range of beautiful vascular plants that makes this part of Alberta unique and rich in biodiversity. Watch the video here. Thanks [...]

What It Takes to Monitor Alberta’s Biodiversity

Every spring, in the final weeks of April, the offices of the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute in Vegreville seem a bit like somebody kicked over an anthill. Staff are scrambling to get everything organized before sending dozens of field technicians out across the province — from the Canadian Shield in the far northeast to the [...]