Sustainable Resource Development

Studying Alberta’s biodiversity, one hectare at a time

Feature story posted on August 23, 2007

Picture yourself deep in a central Alberta forest on a summer day, wearing headphones connected to a sensitive recording device.

Before you put on the headphones, the forest seemed quiet. But now you hear the distinctive songs and trills of a variety of birds, from the disjointed “ten-ten-ten-ness-ness-ness-see-see-see-see” song of the Tennessee warbler to the buzzy trill of a far-off chipping sparrow.

Microphone unit

As you listen, the birdsong is recorded on an “omni-directional microphone unit” for 10 minutes. The device is then moved until the entire survey area of one square hectare (about the size of two football fields) has been covered.

Next, you observe the trees and “snags” (dead trees) at the site. You record physical descriptions, noting details such as the average height, the type of ground cover and the most common shrubs. You'll need to be alert, be ca use there's a lot to see and hear.

Field Supervisor Christina Sobol examines mosses

As you complete your own survey, another member of the crew may be searching for fungi, mushrooms, etc. Then the task gets “down and dirty” as you crouch close to the ground to identify mosses and lichens.

These are only three of about 40 or more “field protocols,” or types of biological data that will be gathered before you've finished at the site, which includes both a land and a wetlands component. To complete the wetlands part, you go in a boat on to the closest body of water and do bucket swings (sweeping a net bucket through the water column), among other investigations, to learn about the aquatic life.

Stan Boutin of Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute and Minister Ted Morton

This is just a glimpse of some of the demanding work recently begun by the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Program, a world-class initiative announced last May by Ted Morton, Minister of Alberta Sustainable Resource Development.

What will you discover? You'd be amazed!

Surveys at the average Alberta site will detect 31 bird species, 58 plant species, 34 moss species and 35 lichen species. They're all part of Alberta 's “biodiversity” or biological diversity, which consists of more than 80,000 species. Although fungi account for much of that number, Alberta also has 93 species of mammals, 411 bird species, 10 species of amphibians (such as toads), eight species of reptiles, 63 fish species and nearly 2,000 species of vascular plants including trees, shrubs, ferns and wildflowers.

Goldenrod

The surveys, which began this spring, will study about 330 sites annually, aiming at a total of 1,656 sites within five years. The sites are evenly spaced in a 20-km grid pattern throughout Alberta and will each be monitored using the same rigorous scientific standards.

What is the purpose of the surveys?

The data collected will help to track changes to the living natural world in Alberta , from large mammals to plants, birds, fish, fungi and the smallest micro-organisms. This information will help decision-makers plan to maintain the provincial biological diversity.

Program will survey Alberta's living natural world, from bears to birds and bugs

In time, the program hopes to produce a “land quality index,” similar to the air quality index, that will help signal changes and encourage healthy biological diversity through wise land use.

The Alberta government announced in May that it will provide $4.2 million in funding to support the survey work for 2007-08.

The program is run by the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute, a not-for-profit organization based at the Alberta Research Council and the University of Alberta . The joint undertaking includes government, industry and non-government organizations, with the Royal Alberta Museum and the Alberta Conservation Association also playing key roles.

Twenty-one field staff collected data this summer, mostly university students in their third or fourth year of studies in ecology. When the program is fully operational, the collection crew will total about 100.

“This program really fills a gap in our resource management,” says Kirk Andries, executive director of the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute.

Alberta researchers spent more than eight years developing the concept, which ranks with those of other leading systems in the United Kingdom and Switzerland . “We ca nvassed the world,” says Andries.

“I'm excited about the fact that Alberta is right at the top, not only in Canada but the world, in doing this kind of work,” says Morton. “In the next five years, we'll get detailed snapshot of the entire province.”

Find out more about the biodiversity monitoring program at http://abmi.biology.ualberta.ca/ . Also check out “Biodiversity Basics,” a series of colourful and interesting fact sheets available from the Alberta government http://srd.alberta.ca/fishwildlife/biodiversity.aspx .