New collaborative research in the race to save Woodland Caribou

Woodland caribou populations in Alberta and BC are declining, and many will be lost without fast management action. To stem the decline in local population loss, intensively applying a cocktail of management actions is more effective than applying actions weakly or alone. These are some of the key conclusions of a new study just published [...]

Beat the cold and be a winter wildlife detective with NatureLynx

Calling all wildlife detectives! With the frigid weather we’ve been having, you might think that most of Alberta’s critters would be hibernating. While this is true for some species, many stay active right through the deep freeze, going about their business just fine—all without the aid of down parkas, Sorel boots, or hot-pockets. Winter is [...]

Putting the Science in the ABMI’s 10-year Science and Program Review

As you’ve probably heard by now, the ABMI celebrated 10 years of operations last year by conducting a major review of its overall operations. This review process had two distinct components: a Stakeholder Needs Assessment, to evaluate the ABMI’s success in meeting the needs of its key partners and stakeholders; and a Science Review, to [...]

Register now for the ABMI’s 2019 Information Forum

Join the ABMI to discuss the future of environmental monitoring in Alberta. During our recent Stakeholder Needs Assessment process, we heard the call for more outreach about the ABMI’s activities. With that in mind, we’ve been working to offer new ways to connect with our monitoring work, data products, and broader research and development program. [...]

Looking Back on 10 years of Biodiversity Monitoring for Alberta

Happy birthday to us! Last year, the ABMI celebrated 10 years of operations. While others might have had a cake, we’re a nerdier bunch: to celebrate, we launched a complete review of our first 10 years. We wanted to take a step back, have frank conversations with our stakeholders, and learn from their perspective how [...]

Seeking (and finding!) ALPHA

Content for this post, by Evan DeLancey and Kurt Illerbrun, is adapted from an ABMI feature that recently appeared in the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists’ newsletter, BIOS. If you’re interested in learning more about ALPHA, the ABMI will be presenting a webinar on the topic on February 28—register for free here. One of the [...]

Happy holidays from the ABMI!

2018 was a big year for the ABMI, as we completed a major 10th anniversary review of our operations and began to look ahead to the next 10 years and beyond. Thank you to you, our friends, partners, and collaborators, for your ongoing support—we look forward to working with and for you again in 2019.

Easy as 1-2-3, but 1-2-3-4-5 might be better: How long should a point count take?

Péter Sólymos, a statistical ecologist with the ABMI, Boreal Avian Modelling project, and the U of A, brings us a guest post about his team’s new paper on point count methods for sampling boreal birds. Humans attach more value to rare things, but in conservation biology, rarity often implies an elevated risk. For example, smaller [...]