THE BIWEEKLY

AUGUST 1, 2026

Published every two weeks by

The Alberta Society of Professional Biologists

GET YOUR CAMERAS PRIMED AND READY!

In 2026, the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists will again host a photo contest, encouraging submissions (which used either smartphones or traditional cameras) and celebrating the conference theme:

Supporting Biologists: in the Field and Beyond.

Contest rules and submission details are

ON THE WEBSITE CONFERENCE PAGE

ASPB Awards Are

Now Open for Nominations

The ASPB Awards celebrate the outstanding achievements, leadership, volunteerism, and contributions of biologists across Alberta. If you know someone who has made a meaningful impact on the profession or the ASPB, we encourage you to submit a nomination.

We've recently refreshed all of our award nomination forms with a consistent, easy-to-complete format and aligned all award deadlines to a single submission date, making the nomination process simpler.

Learn more about our awards, eligibility criteria, and access the nomination forms on the ASPB Awards webpage: ASPB Scholarships and Awards. We look forward to recognizing the exceptional individuals who strengthen our profession!

ECCC launches SARA and CHPR consultations

On Saturday, July 18, 2026, Environment and Climate Change Canada launched consultations on a proposal to develop a new regulation under the Species at Risk Act (SARA), the Critical Habitat Protection Regulations (CHPR). To learn more and participate in the consultation, a Notice of Intent can be found on the Canada Gazette and a Discussion Paper can be found on the SAR Registry.

SPONSORSHIPS ARE STILL AVAILABLE

FOR THE ASPB 2026 CONFERENCE!

CLICK HERE

ASPB Mentorship Program Wrap-Up

by Sam Krutzfeldt, BSc,

Regulatory Coordinator at ASPB

As July comes to a close, we are pleased to celebrate the successful completion of the ASPB's 2026 Mentorship Program. We would like to extend a sincere thank-you to all of our mentors and mentees for the time, knowledge, and enthusiasm they shared throughout the program. Your commitment to supporting professional growth and strengthening Alberta's biological community has made this year's program a success.

While the structured mentorship program officially concludes at the end of July, we hope the relationships and connections built over the past six months continue well beyond the program. We encourage mentorship pairs to stay in touch and continue meeting at their own discretion, fostering the professional and personal relationships they have developed.

Looking ahead, registration for the 2027 Mentorship Program opens December 1 as part of the annual membership renewal process. Mentorship pairs are matched on a first-come, first-served basis, and in previous years we have received significantly more mentee applications than mentor applications. To give yourself the best opportunity to participate, we encourage you to sign up early.

We look forward to welcoming another group of mentors and mentees in the new year and continuing to build a strong and connected community of professional biologists. Please see our webpage for more details.

At the ASPB, we gather snippets of relevant biology information from a variety of sources such as The Conversation (Canada), Nature (UK) and Scholar Alerts (Google), which we select and share in the BIWEEKLY. Here is the latest batch (the links are HOT):

WETLANDS, WATERSHEDS & FISHERIES

Small peatland lakes with or without trout: comparing their aquatic insects and insectivorous waterbirds

Genes, genetics, and genomics in fish conservation and fisheries

Phylogeny of Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii) Based on Full Mitochondrial Genomes With Comments on Species Delimitation and Taxonomy

Thermal tolerance and acclimation limits in bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) alevin

Alberta aquatic ecosystems are being put at risk by illegal dumping of goldfish

Effects of host community structure on parasite transmission and disease risk

Methane Emissions from a Constructed Wetland: The Sandhill Fen 10 years Post Construction as an Oil Sand Reclamation Project

Progress Towards the Implementation of the Recovery Strategy for the Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), Athabasca River Populations, for the Period 2020 to 2025

WILDLIFE

All the Cool Kids are Birding

Fire Effects: Big Game Animals of the Great Plains

Female Black‐Capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) Expand Foraging Both Temporally and Spatially to Mitigate Interference Competition

Development of field techniques for collection and disinfection of wood bison semen

Avian traits link divergent population responses to environmental change across North America

Canadian Arctic mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) through time: a review of historical records and challenges

Mosquito‐Borne Diseases in Canada

Beyond habitat amount: A species-specific approach reveals narrow linear features fragment old-forest songbird habitat

Ecological novelty induced by climate change

Echinococcus species in North America: an increasing concern for domestic animals, wildlife, and humans

Predicting disease spread from host movement data: Chronic wasting disease in North America as a case study

The relative abundance of crop and natural food influences crop consumption by brown bears

AI reveals explosive bursts in bird evolution

Why scientists are gluing microchips on butterflies

PROTECTED AREAS and MANAGEMENT

Canada isn’t prepared for wildfires

Bringing Back the Buffalo: Rebuilding and Healing Tribal-National Park Relations

norway-scientists-painted-one-wind-turbine-blade-black-and-bird-deaths-dropped-nearly-70%

The value of regeneration

The Snail and the Bison: Stories of Biodiversity in Banff National Park

Characterizing grassland connectivity in British Columbia's southern interior: a generic species approach

FORESTRY

The customer is the forest”? differences in stakeholder identification between food-energy-water researchers and managers in the Columbia river basin

Climate change mitigation potential of reducing forest harvest under increased risk of wildfires in Canada

Growth, mortality and regeneration responses to ecological forestry treatments are shaped by local factors, species, and initial treatment impact

Litter properties influence decomposition more than local soil environment in a boreal tree species common garden experiment

Tamarack Restoration in a Wetland Reserve Property: Comparison with a Natural Reference Site 9 Tamarack Restoration in a Wetland Reserve Property: Comparison …

Canada’s-aerial-firefighting-system-is-too-slow-and-front-line-communities-are-paying-the-price

Fire regime assumptions can drastically influence pyrodiversity-biodiversity relationships in heterogeneous forest landscapes

Stand dynamics and the mountain pine beetle–thirty years of forest change in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta

“It starts off as a cute little white cloud.”

BOTANY

Emerging archaeology in Western Canada, 2025

Comparative analysis of aspen, hybrid aspen and poplar xylem mycobiomes reveal tissue-specific patterns in fungal diversity

From settler gardens to digital naturalists: human aesthetic preferences and land use changes facilitate the biogeographical expansion of a wild plant–virus interaction

Cooperation as resistance: relational foodways in Alberta's regenerative farming movement

Management strategies for potato early dying complex in southern Alberta

An assessment of biodiversity data shortfalls for ectomycorrhizal fungi in Canada

ENGINEERING & DESIGN

A call for ‘evolutionary thinking’

GEAR

Field video recording paired with trapping reveals mosquito diel sugar-feeding patterns

Elk Bugling Chronology using Acoustic Monitoring Techniques

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Doctored data sets could trick AI agents

How to spot AI writing

MICROBIOLOGY / BIOTECHNOLOGY

Inside the heart’s ‘mini brain’

THE PROFESSIONAL WORKPLACE

Unlocking Canada’s Skills Potential, a virtual session on August 12 between noon and 1:00 pm. Insights on how education and training outside the post-secondary system complement traditional education pathways.

CALENDAR

UPCOMING COURSES

 AND WEBINARS

SEPTEMBER

Track & Sign Certification (FIERA)

September 12 & 13, 2026 at Hinton, Alberta

This 2-day field-based workshop is open to all skill levels and offers the opportunity for participants to earn certifications in Track & Sign from Levels 1 to Professional (Level 4). 

Learn more here 

Grassland Assessment Training

The Grassland Restoration Forum is hosting a one day, hands-on Grassland Assessment Training workshop September 10th, 2026, at the Antelope Creek Ranch at Brooks, Alberta. For more information and to register please go here: www.grasslandrestorationforum.ca. 

Explore the Science

Behind Healthy Forests

The 2026 CIF-IFC National Conference & Annual General Meeting will be held September 27-29, 2026 in Edmonton, Alberta. Professional biologists are invited to join hundreds of researchers and natural resource professionals from across Canada, where they can discover the latest science and practical approaches in forest ecology, biodiversity conservation, wildlife habitat, ecosystem restoration, climate adaptation, Indigenous stewardship, and sustainable land management. The conference features technical presentations, workshops, networking opportunities, and discussions that connect biological science with real-world management and policy.

Students and early-career professionals will also benefit from interactive workshops focused on science communication, career development, job-search strategies, and building professional networks, providing practical skills that complement a career in biology and natural resource management. Learn more and register here: https://conference.cif-ifc.org/

OCTOBER

Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation Events

The Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation of Canada has upcoming events that are relevant to Alberta Society of Professional Biologists. Please get in touch if you require more details.

• Science and management conference - Collaboration for Recovery: Active Management in a Changing Climate October 14-15, 2026, Radium, BC. https://whitebarkpine.ca/conferences/

DFO Amendments Published

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is pleased to announce that the Amendments to the Authorizations Concerning Fish and Fish Habitat Protection Regulations (‘the Regulations’) have now been published in the Canada Gazette Part II. These amendments will come into force on October 15, 2026.

TRAINING PROVIDERS

for professional biologists

BSc & MSc degrees in Ecological Restoration

at

THE BC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

If you’re passionate about helping ecosystems recover and thrive, the BSc & MSc Programs in Ecological Restoration at BCIT are worth exploring. The programs blend scientific knowledge with practical, field-based experience and offer both part-time and full-time options. Learn more about how the programs can support your career goals: 

https://www.bcit.ca/programs/ecological-restoration/ 

NATURAL RESOURCES

TRAINING GROUP

Electrofishing Certification – Online (self-paced) & Cochrane – August 7th, 2026

For the ongoing calendar of upcoming courses and details, follow this link:

https://nrtraininggroup.com/schedule/

COLUMBIA MOUNTAINS INSTITUTE

Columbia Mountains Institute of Applied Ecology

Revelstoke BC

QGIS Mapping. Online, flexible dates.

Statistics Introduction for Ecologists in R. Fantastic refresher for basic stats, adapted to an online format and delivered over 5 half-days between Sept 28 - Oct 13.

eDNA: Environmental DNA Theory and Implementation. Back by popular request - this in-person course takes place in Revelstoke BC Oct 1-3.

Annual Researchers Forum. This year we'll be in Rossland BC! Call for proposals is open until Sept 4th, any ecological project goes! Event takes place Oct 22-23.

Data Manipulation and Visualization in R. Popular second-level R Software course delivered online over 3 mornings Oct 26-29.

Camera Trap Survey Design and Data Management. Fantastic in-person course with Chris Beirne adapted with two registration options. Day 1 will focus on the basics behind camera trap survey design and data management, and an intro to a new no-code tool to explore camera data. Days 2 and 3 will introduce the use of the R statistical environment to explore and analyze camera trap data and implement common analyses (Nov 11-14).

ESTI

The Environmental Sciences Training Institute

Please contact efishing@esticanada.com with any questions or to book a custom delivery. Learn about our Efishing program here. 

View our in-person course calendar at

https://esticanada.com/shop/

Nest Sweep Protocol: Online – Self-Paced

Online Courses

SALMTEC

 COURSES AND TRAINING PROGRAMS

 ******

SALMTEC offers several self-paced online courses:

Imagery Interpretation and Analysis Course (W26)

ABWRET-A Blended Course (W26)

Wetland Policy Basics 

Understanding ACIMS Tools 

Alberta Soil Information Viewer 

Land Use Assessment 

Landscape Analysis

SALMTEC offers OnDemand seminars:

Catchment Delineation

Technical Report Review 

Hydrology & Wetland Design 

Wetland Delineation 

VISIT THE SALMTEC CONNECTOR 

THE SALMTEC CONNECTOR is a compilation of applied science and land management event listings, across a variety of sectors and disciplines, published monthly.

You can find the SALMTEC CONNECTOR HERE.

RECENT

EMPLOYMENT POSTINGS

• ASPB - Executive Director
• Qualified Aquatic Environment Specialist (QAES)
• Junior Biologist
• Intermediate Environment and Regulatory Specialist
• Fisheries Biologist
• Intermediate Biologist
• Senior Wildlife Technical Lead

   TO FIND INFORMATION

ON THESE AND OTHER POSITIONS, GO TO THE

JOB BOARD

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.

PROFESSIONAL BIOLOGISTS PROTECT THE PUBLIC INTEREST

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.

ASPB may use AI-assisted tools in the development of communications, administrative correspondence, website content, and other documentation.

2026