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ALBERTA BIOLOGISTS' BIWEEKLY
JULY 15, 2023
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Want to see the graphics in this issue?
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Take your camera to work!
(or your smartphone if you prefer)
The ASPB is hosting a photo contest in 2023, and will announce the winners at the annual conference .
Photo submission guidelines are HERE.
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ASPB welcomes Madison Zoback
as summer staff student assistant
Madison (Madie) Zoback has joined the ASPB staff for the summer months. She has just finished her first year in the BSc Biology program at the University of Calgary, and is bringing a fresh set of eyes to the student experience of studying biology while looking forward to a career in the biology field. She will be working out of the Calgary office, under the direction of Jessica Koehli as they address the area of ASPB student engagement. She can be reached by email at student@aspb.ab.ca or by phone at the ASPB main number (403.264.1273).
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The ASPB Invites
Conference Sponsors
The ASPB Conference Committee is excited about the Annual Conference and AGM to be held at the Red Deer Resort and Casino, November 22-24, 2023. The initial conference program (and tickets!) will be available soon, and Sponsorship Packages are still available HERE.
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Has anyone seen this minnow?
Shona Derlukewich, P. Biol., at School of Fish is asking Alberta biologists to report of sightings of the Rosy Red Fathead Minnow in the Alberta wilderness. If you have seen these minnows, she requests that you contact her with any photos, location information and the year of capture. She can be reached HERE.
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BUILDING YOUR
CAREER?
See what's new on the
BIOLOGISTS'
JOB BOARD
Senior Fisheries Biologist
Senior Hydrologist
Senior Aquatic Biologist
Wildlife Recovery Biologist
Environmental Specialist
Intermediate Wetland Biologist
Instructor, Natural Resources Technology (Wildlife Specialty)
Molecular Biologist / Environmental Genomics
Environmental Technician Field Consultant
Environmental Planner
Environmental Professional (Surface Reclamation Consulting)
Senior Aquatic Ecologist
Chemist/Toxicologist/Limnologist (Junior to Intermediate)
Fisheries Section Head
FIND FULL INFORMATION
ON THESE
AND MANY OTHER POSITIONS
on the
ASPB
JOB
BOARD
HERE
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ASPB Board Nominations Open
The Board of Directors of the ASPB has appointed Past President Victoria Lukasic as Chair of the 2023 Nominating Committee. The positions of President Elect, Board Secretary and three Directors are open for election at the Annual General Meeting on November 24, 2023 at Red Deer, AB.
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SEMINARS, WEBINARS & CONFERENCES
AUGUST
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America's Grassland Conference
The Sixth America’s Grasslands Conference will be held in Cheyenne, Wyoming on August 8-10, 2023. Registration for the conference is now open. Early Bird rates ended July 10. For information and to register please go HERE
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SEMINARS, WEBINARS & CONFERENCES
SEPTEMBER
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Legislation and Conducting
Projects Near Water
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) in Ontario, Prairie and Arctic regions are providing information sessions on DFO Legislation and Conducting Projects Near Water. To attend the September session, click here: September 19, 2023 @11:00 – 12:30 CST and allow the link to open in your web browser (please use Chrome or Edge). If you have the Teams application installed, click on “Open in Microsoft Teams” in the pop-up window or “Launch it Now”. If you do not have the Teams application installed, click “Join on the Web Instead”.
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SEMINARS, WEBINARS & CONFERENCES
OCTOBER
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Whitebark Pine Science and
Management Conference in October
The annual Whitebark Pine Science and Management Conference will take place October 12 and 13, 2023 in Revelstoke, BC. There will also be two optional field trips: a pre-conference trip on October 11 to tour the Kalamalka Research Center in Vernon, and a post-conference trip on October 14 to visit 5-needle pine stands near Golden. Early Bird Registration is open until June 30, and here you can find: Conference details and Registration.
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fRI Research to Host Forum
In Edmonton, October 24-26
After a prolonged hiatus due to health restrictions, fRI Research is excited to provide an opportunity for resource practitioners, policy makers, scientists, and community leaders to review and discuss new research findings related to mountain pine beetle. Major concerns targeted by this research include climate change, anthropogenic intervention, forest composition, socio-economic values, watersheds and their impact on water flow, biota, species at risk, and public safety as it pertains to wildfire. You can learn more about the forum and register HERE
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SEMINARS, WEBINARS & CONFERENCES
NOVEMBER
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NABC Banding Workshop
and Certification in Belize
Hosted by the Toucan Ridge Ecology and Education Society at the TREES Research Center in the Maya Mountains of Belize, these sessions will be held November 11-15, 2023 and November 17-18, 2023. For full information visit www.ecorana.ca
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Legislation and Conducting
Projects Near Water
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) in Ontario, Prairie and Arctic regions are providing information sessions on DFO Legislation and Conducting Projects Near Water. To attend the November session, click here: November 21, 2023 @ 11:00-12:30 CST and allow the link to open in your web browser (please use Chrome or Edge). If you have the Teams application installed, click on “Open in Microsoft Teams” in the pop-up window or “Launch it Now”. If you do not have the Teams application installed, click “Join on the Web Instead”.
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ASPB 2023 AGM and Conference
The ASPB 2023 Annual Conference will be on November 22, 23, and 24 at the Red Deer Resort and Casino in Red Deer, Alberta.
For More Information Go
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UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
CONTINUING EDUCATION
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COLUMBIA MOUNTAINS INSTITUTE
Thanks to the generous support of the Columbia Basin Trust and KCP, we are able to offer this series free of charge. For full details and registration please go
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SALMTEC
COURSES AND TRAINING PROGRAMS
Understanding ACIMS Tools Online Course
Alberta Soil Information Viewer Online Course
Alberta Wetland Policy Basics Online Course
Navigating the Alberta Soil Information Viewer Video Short (free)
Wetland Water Cycle Video Short (free)
VISIT THE SALMTEC CONNECTOR
THE 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.
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Field work: the importance
of boots on the ground
by Sean Mitchell
We live, for better or for worse, in a society with an eye solidly fixed on technology and even I, a traditionalist and modern Luddite, find it remarkable the insights that technology has provided. Drones with infra-red capabilities allow us to see much more than the human eye can. Wildlife cameras provide a window into behaviour we had no inkling of. Audio monitors give us ears even when we are not in an area. Environmental DNA means we don’t even have to see an animal any longer.
Truly, these are valuable tools. But, a caveat if I may: they are not the panacea presented by their proponents. Here I would like to explore our reliance upon these to the exclusion of putting people in the field. And I suspect from the title of this blog alone, you can see where this is going.
In a previous life, during my PhD defence a committee member asked why I thought the methods I was using in my research were no longer in widespread use (and this was true, they were somewhat passé… I always have been a day late and a dollar short!) It was a penetrating question and my response was that science proceeds not linearly or logically, but instead in response to technological developments. The tool leads the way rather than the question leading to development of the tool.
Fast forward a (large) number of years and witness the rise of wildlife cameras. Today, many studies are based around solely putting this technology out; to the extent that some recent work in the Northwest Territories used three hundred cameras! The tool becomes the focus and the question becomes secondary. The same can be said of drones: LIDAR, eDNA… name the technology. When all you have is a hammer…
But, and importantly, what do we miss when we focus on the tool rather than the purpose of the work?
This article is continued... Read more here
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Banner Image:
A Saskatchewan Wetland
Photo credit PGK
The ASPB regulates the professional practice of biology in the disciplines of Botany, Zoology, Environmental Biology and Microbiology, and all sub-disciplines below them. The ASPB is the only organization for biologists in Alberta that is registered under Provincial Legislation with a mandate to protect the interests of the public of Alberta. 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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