Innovation Anthology #261:
The Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute collects data on flora and fauna from points set 20 kilometers apart across the entire province.
The first report from this Institute focused on birds and vascular plants in northeastern Alberta, a region where oil sands and forestry companies are active.
While the report indicates the current state of biodiversity in the region is 94 percent intact, some non-native species are moving in.
Jim Herbers of the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute explains.
JIM HERBERS: To name a few, the American Crow, the common dandelion, some of the European or non-native clovers seem to be expanding and aggressively starting to colonize the northeastern part of the province. On the flip side of that, when we are talking about species declining or becoming much rarer, the species that we looked at, the organisms that we looked at, there’s no strong evidence that many of the species are declining today.
According to Jim Herbers, this colonization by non-native species is associated with increased agriculture, urbanization and the building of roads and utility corridors for industry.
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I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
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Program Date: 2009-10-15