Citizen Science
Categories: Citizen Science
Status: Completed
About the Project
Citizen Science involves research collaborations between scientists and members of the general public, with the goal of expanding opportunities for data collection and improving access to data for community members.
The ABMI enjoys and welcomes research collaborations with different land user-groups throughout Alberta. These relationships complement our biodiversity monitoring efforts, allow us to learn from land users across the province, and expand opportunities for data collection and provide greater access to biodiversity information for Albertans.
Citizen Science Community of Practice
The ABMI is a proud founding member of Alberta’s Citizen Science Community of Practice.
In 2020, Alberta Environment and Parks and the Miistakis Institute, with guidance and input from citizen science practitioners and researchers, co-developed the Citizen Science Principles of Good Practice to support the growing field of citizen science in Alberta. These principles are intended to serve as a foundation for ongoing conversations and collaboration when using citizen science, and to address information and knowledge gaps across the province.
The guiding document outlines three areas of focus to help advance citizen science in Alberta, one of which is establishing a citizen science community of practice as an opportunity to aid knowledge sharing, and to promote standards of practice and innovation throughout the field.
Today, the Citizen Science Community of Practice represents practitioners, researchers, environmental managers, educators, project coordinators, and volunteers who share a passion for citizen science. It’s a space to share ideas, information, and resources to advance design, delivery, and evaluation of citizen science in Alberta.
To learn more about the community of practice, visit https://www.citscialberta.com/.
Cameras for Communities
Leveraging our expertise from our provincial monitoring programs, the ABMI has supported communities looking to establish their own place-based projects to learn more about their environment. We’ve provided expertise related to survey design as well as training and environmental sensor rentals (wildlife cameras and autonomous recording units). Data for these projects has been managed and processed using our WildTrax platform. These programs support local data needs while contributing to our collective understanding of our province’s biodiversity.
We've collaborated with the following groups to establish community-driven monitoring programs:
- Town of Okotoks
- Strathcona County
- Crooked Creek Conservancy
- Forest Matters (Cochrane)
- Lethbridge College
- Nature Conservancy of Canada
- Southern Alberta Land Trust
The ABMI supports communities by providing expertise related to survey design as well as training and environmental sensor rentals.
NatureLynx
From 2018 to 2022, the ABMI developed and supported NatureLynx—an Alberta-based citizen science application. NatureLynx was intended to provide citizen scientists and community members throughout Alberta an opportunity to share biodiversity sightings, connect with knowledgeable species experts, and host their own citizen science initiatives on the platform.
An active participant in Alberta’s burgeoning citizen science community, NatureLynx led or collaborated on numerous initiatives, including as a founding member of the BiodiverCity Challenge. Over its lifespan, the NatureLynx platform and its users contributed nearly 21,500 biodiversity sightings throughout Alberta. As of April 01, 2022, we began phasing out the platform and re-evaluating how we can best contribute to the bright future of citizen science data collection in Alberta.
We remain committed to mobilizing the sightings shared to NatureLynx to support the monitoring of Alberta’s species and their habitats, and we look forward to supporting Alberta’s citizen scientists in new ways in the years ahead.
See more of our projects and ongoing work.
Habitat Inventory for the Richardson Caribou Range
In collaboration with the Caribou Habitat Recovery Program (CHRP) through the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta (FRIAA), the ABMI is developing a detailed vegetation inventory along linear features for the Richardson caribou range in northeastern Alberta.
Caribou Habitat Tracking
This project focuses on tracking habitat loss, gain, and change over time.
Algal Bloom Monitoring in Alberta Lakes
This project focuses on the development of satellite remote sensing algorithms for mapping and monitoring cyanobacterial algal blooms in popular recreational lakes in Alberta.
