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ALBERTA BIOLOGISTS' BIWEEKLY
SEPTEMBER 15, 2024
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ASPB Announces Nominees
for elections at AGM
The ASPB's Annual Meeting will be held on the morning of Nov. 8, 2024, in conjunction with the society's Resilience Conference at the Red Deer Resort and Casino. There will be an election for Board members as nominated; as of August 31, 2024, nominations were closed. Below are the names of candidates nominated for election, and the positions for which they have been nominated:
For President Elect: Sherree Dallyn. For Director: Shilo Brauer, Kristie Derkson, Brandy Faris, Matthew Koehli, Scott Kolochuk, Carl Lammens, Julie Oxtoby, Jennifer Stroh. (For the Directors, there are four two-year terms.)
Ballots and voting will be electronic and voting will open Oct. 1 at 8 am and close Nov. 4 at 5 pm. Voting procedures will be published on the ASPB website, with successful candidates announced at the AGM.
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RESILIENCE!
THE ASPB 2024 CONFERENCE
on November 6-7-8 at the
Red Deer Resort and Casino
is now open for registration
Click the LINK
on our Website Conference Page!
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STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS
The ASPB, with our conference sponsors, are offering three student scholarships to ASPB student members. Essay questions will be available on the ASPB Student Webpage between September 1 and October 1, 2024. Essay's will be reviewed (with names removed to ensure a blind review) and voted on by the conference committee and the scholarship sponsor. Winners will be announced on (or shortly after) Oct 15, 2024.
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What does your
"Biology Work"
look like?
Biologists in Alberta are as diverse as the living creatures and environments they study. We are inviting you to share with us a photo (or a video - landscape format please) to help us compile a short video about the diversity of biology work in Alberta. To submit photos and videos, or if you have any questions, please contact coordinator@aspb.ab.ca. The deadline for submission is December first.
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BUILDING YOUR
CAREER?
See what's new on the
BIOLOGISTS'
JOB BOARD
Environmental Field Technician
Environmental Planner
Regulatory Specialist
Project Manager
Wetland Ecologist
Senior Vegetation Ecologist
Species at Risk Biologist
Wetland Biologist
Fisheries Biologist
Senior Biologist
Wetland Specialist
Riparian Area and Wetland Specialist
Wildlife Biologist
Intermediate Ecologist
Senior Environmental Professional
Lead Wetland Ecologist
Habitat Restoration Forester
Forest Technologist
Environmental Planner
Environmental Project Coordinator
Environmental Technical Advisor
Environmental Professional
FIND INFORMATION
ON THESE AND
MANY OTHER POSITIONS
HERE
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Conference Sponsorships Are Still Available! | |
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Field Law Community Fund
now accepting applications
The Field Law Community Fund Program is now accepting applications. This year, $80,000 in funding is available for distribution across Alberta and the Northwest Territories. New this year is the Next Gen Award, $5,000 in funding to encourage post-secondary students to think about projects that strengthen their campus or community.
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SEMINARS, WEBINARS & CONFERENCES
SEPTEMBER
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Annual Herpetological Society conference
will be held in September at Sidney, BC
The 12th Annual Canadian Herpetological Society Conference will be held in Sidney from Sept. 20-23, 2024 at Sidney (near Victoria) BC. The CHS mandate is to foster research and conservation of Canada's reptiles and amphibians. This will be a great opportunity to network with the top herpetologists in BC and Canada who gather to share their research, conservation initiatives, and success stories. For more information please go HERE.
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Fiera Biological Workshops:
Introductory Track & Sign Certification
Saturday, September 21, 2024, Hinton, Alberta.
This one-day workshop is meant as an introduction the Track & Sign certification process and offers the opportunity for participants to earn a Level 1 Certification. Level 1 is the lowest level of certification offered by Tracker Certification North America and requires that participants achieve at least 70% during skill evaluation. The workshop will be lead by David Moskowitz, one of North America’s top trackers. Learn more and register here: Introductory Track & Sign, Hinton
Fiera Biological Workshops:
Standard Track & Sign Certification
Monday & Tuesday, September 23 & 24, 2024, Hinton, Alberta.
This two-day workshop is an internationally applied, professional-level training process used to promote wildlife tracking and ecological knowledge. The process emphasizes practical tracking and the development of reliable field skills. No prior training is required. Certification depends on performance. Participants will have the opportunity to earn one of up to four tiers of certification, from Level 1 (requires at least 70%) to Level 4 (Professional, which requires 100%). The workshop will be lead by David Moskowitz, one of North America’s top trackers. Learn more and register here: Standard Track & Sign, Hinton
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ABMI remote sensing webinar
Join the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute for a webinar on remote sensing methods to map vegetation regeneration on human footprint in Alberta. The webinar will take place on September 24, 2024 at 12:00 MDT; Dr. Branko Hricko, Human Footprint and Landuse Mapping Coordinator in the ABMI's Imaging Centre, will discuss lidar-based vegetation recovery assessment on human footprint features, the structure of the lidar point clouds, lidar-derived raster products, and the analysis and interpretation of the lidar-derived products. Register online for the link to join.
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GRASSLAND
RESTORATION FORUM
Industry Tour - Grassland Restoration
This field tour on October 3, 2024 looks at multiple use landscapes in the dry mixed- grass of SE Alberta, based from Manyberries, Alberta and designed for industry professionals and practitioners, looking at a variety of reclamation challenges and practices, including wellsites and cropland conversion.
The GRF Perennial Gathering!
This year, the GRF Fall Information Session at Claresholm, Alberta, takes place on November 14. The one-day fall information session gathers a variety of industry and grassland stakeholders to exchange current information on grassland restoration and conservation through a variety of presentations and mini updates. The theme this year is CASE STUDIES.
Check out our website for more details, and to register for all events: https://grasslandrestorationforum.ca.
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NATURAL RESOURCES
TRAINING GROUP
Wetland Plant Identification – Online – September 16th and 17th, 2024
Wetland Plant Identification – Online – September 16th and 17th, 2024 Natural Resources Training Group (nrtraininggroup.com)
Working in and About Water – Online – September 18-19, 2024
Working in and About Water – Online – September 18-19, 2024 Natural Resources Training Group (nrtraininggroup.com)
Construction Monitoring — Spill Prevention and Response at the Construction Site – Online – September 20th, 2024
Construction Monitoring — Spill Prevention and Response at the Construction Site – Online – September 20th, 2024 Natural Resources Training Group (nrtraininggroup.com)
Fundamentals of Soil Sampling I: Soil Texturing – Online – September 23rd, 2024
Fundamentals of Soil Sampling I: Soil Texturing – Online – September 23rd, 2024 Natural Resources Training Group (nrtraininggroup.com)
Wetland Assessment – Online, September 24-25, 2024
Wetland Assessment – Online, September 24-25, 2024 Natural Resources Training Group (nrtraininggroup.com)
Electrofishing Certification – Online (self-paced) & Prince George, 27th September, 2024
Electrofishing Certification – Online (self-paced) & Prince George, 27th September, 2024 Natural Resources Training Group (nrtraininggroup.com)
For the full calendar of upcoming courses, and course details, follow this link:
https://nrtraininggroup.com/schedule/
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COLUMBIA MOUNTAINS INSTITUTE
of Applied Ecology
Revelstoke BC
Full course information available at each course link.
Data Manipulation and Visualization in R
October 1-4, 2024. Online
Introduction to `R` software
October 15-18, 2024. Online
QGIS Level I & II – Online
Dates scheduled according to student schedules.
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ESTI
The Environmental Sciences Training Institute
The Environmental Sciences Training Institute is excited to host backpack electrofishing certification training in Alberta and British Columbia this September. This one-and-a-half day course serves to certify participants in backpack electrofishing safety, fish handling methods, equipment, and fundamentals of electrical theory.
Please contact efishing@esticanada.com with any questions or to book a custom delivery. Learn about our Efishing program here.
Fundamentals of Backpack Electrofishing: In-Person - Prince George, BC: September 16-17, 2024 | Register here!
Fundamentals of Backpack Electrofishing: In-Person - Fort St. John, BC: September 19-20, 2024 | Register here!
Fundamentals of Backpack Electrofishing: In-Person - Grande Prairie, AB: September 23-24, 2024 | Register here!
Fundamentals of Backpack Electrofishing: In-Person - Fort McMurray, AB: September 26-27, 2024 | Register here!
View our in-person course calendar at
https://esticanada.com/shop/
Nest Sweep Protocol: Online – Self-Paced
Online Courses
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Biology students can receive discounted tickets
and poster opportunities at the ASPB Conference
The ASPB is pleased to offer a limited number of discounted student tickets for the 2024 Annual Conference. Be sure to register early to secure your spot; to qualify, you must be an ASPB student member, but don’t worry -- student membership is free!
And, we are also happy to announce a poster presentation opportunity for both professionals and students. If you’re a student currently enrolled in an Alberta post-secondary program related to biology or environmental field work, this is your chance to showcase your research!
Here are the poster specifications (please use simple fonts like Arial or Verdana, and use no more than two types, avoiding drop-shadow fonts):
- Dimensions: 46" x 36" (landscape or portrait)
- Title: 85pt, Authors: 56pt
- Sub-headings: 36pt, Body text: 24pt
- Captions: 18pt
Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to share your work and connect with others in your field!
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We regularly receive notifications from Google Scholar Alerts and other sources which we select and share below in the BIWEEKLY. Here is the latest batch (the links are HOT):
Indigenous Peoples biodiversity stat wrong
Why naming the Anthropocene matters
Dam removal will revive salmon
Permafrost soil contains more mercury than all the other soil on the planet, plus all the oceans, plus the atmosphere
Articulating Indigenous Law as "Environmental Protection”
Distribution history of the cave lion (Panthera spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810))
Evaluation and Mitigation of Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions in North Dakota
Fears and Fences: Social and Material Barriers to Plains Bison on the Canadian Prairies
Norwegian outdoor tourism campaign shelved over environmental fears
Treed field borders net-export over 82,000 more hoverflies per km every week into canola crops than herbaceous field borders, regardless of mass-flowering crop …
Heat hobbles bees’ sense of smell
With-over-280-million-birds-dead-how-is-the-avian-flu-outbreak-evolving
Habitat suitability and protected area coverage for an expanding cougar Puma concolor population in Canada
Effectiveness of zoom equipped drones for use in reading livestock ear tags for animal identification
An experimental test of bull trout egg to alevin survival in the wild, with implications for conservation translocations in Alberta
Long-term effects of an early-life exposure of fathead minnows to sediments containing bitumen. Part II: Behaviour, reproduction, and gonad histopathology.
Anthroponoses: humans infecting animals with infectious diseases
Ageing wolves through crown height measurements and its implications for ageing canids
Body size mediates ground beetle dispersal from non-crop vegetation: Implications for conservation biocontrol
Bat loss linked to death of human babies
Rhaponticum repens (L.) Hidalgo, Russian Knapweed/Centaurée de Russie (Asteraceae)
Plastic Characterization in Sediment Along the Bow River Near Calgary, Alberta
A manuscript to be submitted to Ecology of Freshwater Fish
Limiting Factors of Restored Agricultural Wetlands for Migratory Birds
Accuracy of Whitebark Pine and Limber Pine Identification by Forest Inventory and Analysis Field Crews
Fur farms could spark next pandemic
Tanacetum vulgare L., Common Tansy/Tanaisie commune (Asteraceae)
Evaluating the Utility of Harvester-collected Samples for Muskox (Ovibos moschatus) Pregnancy Diagnostics
Lepidium draba L., L. chalepense L. and L. appelianum Al-Shehbaz, Hoary Cresses/Passerage drave, Cranson rampant and Cranson velu (Brassicaceae)
Leucanthemum vulgare Lamarck, Oxeye Daisy/Marguerite blanche (Asteraceae)
Linaria dalmatica (L.) Miller, Dalmatian Toadflax/Linaire à feuilles larges and Linaria vulgaris Miller, Yellow Toadflax/Linaire vulgaire (Plantaginaceae)
Examining impacts of climate change and habitat loss on the distribution of long-billed curlews, a species at risk in Canada
Behavioral adaptation to seasonal resource scarcity by Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) and its role in partial migration
The coastal city of Linhares in Brazil has legally recognized its iconic waves as living beings with intrinsic rights.
Elaeagnus angustifolia L., Russian Olive/Olivier de Bohême (Elaeagnaceae)
Biodiversity and Conservation; Alexandra Harrington
Dendroctonus ponderosae (Hopkins), Mountain Pine Beetle/Dendroctone du pin ponderosa (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)
Indicators of soil degradation on a pipeline footprint, Alberta, Canada
Wildlife corridor explained
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This week’s banner photo:
Monitoring killdeer nests in the Puntledge River Estuary, Courtenay, BC. Monitoring was required with heavy equipment on standby while waiting to complete estuary restoration. Photo by biologist Geoff Wickstrom, cropped from the original as submitted to the 2023 ASPB Photo Contest.
PROFESSIONAL BIOLOGISTS PROTECT THE PUBLIC INTEREST
In Alberta, Professional Biologists are registrants of the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists (ASPB), and are subject to a code of ethics, continuing competency requirements, and a disciplinary process. The ASPB is a self-regulated organization under legislation in the Province of Alberta, meaning its purpose is to protect the public of Alberta by ensuring biologists are qualified to practice biology in accordance with that legislation. The society is governed by a Board of Directors elected by its registrants.
You are probably receiving this newsletter because you are an ASPB Registrant. This newsletter provides relevant information and professional development opportunities for our members, as well as essential member-related society business; if you are registered with the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists, please DO NOT unsubscribe.
For more information about the Society or to contact the administration, please visit the website: https://www.aspb.ab.ca
Opinions and general news published in this e-newsletter
do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Society or its Board of Directors.
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