Summer 2022 Bioblitz at the Wetland Centre

From June 14th-19th, 2022, Ducks Unlimited Canada hosted the second ever Bioblitz at the Wetland Centre using the app iNaturalist. Over this 5 day period, the Wetland Centre was teeming with life; Visitors collected 158 observations, documenting 85 species of plants, fungi, amphibians, birds, and mammals at the site. The most common observations can be found below.

Stats created by iNaturalist.

This year, iNaturalist user @jcarisalyn achieved the most observations with 46, while @j_pinzon collected the most species (35). Thanks to everyone who participated in this citizen science event - every contribution is valuable.

Missed the Bioblitz but want to contribute your observations? Join our project here and search for the location ‘The Wetland Centre at Evergreen Park’ when uploading your photos/audio recordings.

The Wetland Centre at Evergreen Park boundary with the locations of species found during the Summer bioblitz.

A bioblitz is a great way for nature enthusiasts of all age, skill, and interest levels to familiarize themselves with the biodiversity in an area. Each species identified in the specified time period contributes to an improved understanding of the diverse communities present at the Wetland Centre. Stay tuned and check the project page for future bioblitzes and other citizen science events.

Transition to iNaturalist and Save the Date!

In March 2022, the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute announced bittersweet news that the Naturelynx platform would be phased out from April 1st. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to use this platform to collect biodiversity observations at the Wetland Centre and are sad to see it go. However, spring has arrived and free apps such as iNaturalist will allow us to continue to document biodiversity at the Wetland Centre. If you are interested in continuing to document your observations and/or take part in our Summer Bioblitz (announced below) and other events at the Wetland Centre, please join the project here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/the-wetland-centre-at-evergreen-park. 

How to join: 

1. Download the iNaturalist app – alternatively, open https://www.inaturalist.org in your web browser 

2. Create your account and once logged in, click the small button in the top right ‘Join this Project’ and adjust the settings to your needs. 

3. Add your observations under this project! Tutorial here 

Linear Disturbances Shift Boreal Plant Communities Toward Earlier Peak Greenness

Boreal peatlands are vulnerable to climate and land-use changes, including linear disturbances, such as seismic lines.  Vegetation community composition and phenology – the timing and development of plant properties - are often the first ecosystem components to respond to such disturbances.  Despite the dense network of seismic lines in the boreal forest, studies that examine their effect on peatland ecosystems are limited.   

Davidson et al. 2021 investigated vegetation phenological patterns at a bog and a fen impacted by seismic lines in Alberta.  Using photos taken from smartphones as described in the infographic below, researchers were able to analyze plant greenness as an indicator of plant productivity. They found that disturbed peatlands reach peak greenness earlier compared to nearby undisturbed areas, likely due to the increase in solar radiation following disturbances. This change in understory vegetation results in a greater uptake of carbon dioxide compared to undisturbed sites.  This study is a first step in examining how the vegetation composition and phenology of boreal peatlands change with disturbance. Learn more here. 

Davidson et al. 2021

In partnership with Ducks Unlimited Canada, Scott Davidson (author of the above study) is a leading a citizen science phenology project at the Wetland Centre. The Wetland Phenology project (#PhenologyAB on Twitter) is tracking green leaf phenology of the vegetation communities in both a restored and an undisturbed site at the Wetland Centre. With just a smartphone, you can help Dr. Davidson, DUC and other wetland scientists analyze how industrial disturbances and a changing climate are affecting wetland plant communities. Learn more here.

Chorus of the Wetland: ABMI Amphibian Monitoring at the Wetland Centre

Have you ever gone for a walk near a wetland in the summer, and come across a chorus of frogs calling out to each other? It was likely the aptly named boreal chorus frog. With scientific devices called autonomous recording units (ARUs), researchers can record these calls and estimate something called amphibian species abundance—the number of individuals of each species in the area. During the summer of 2020, the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI) put out some ARUs at the Wetland Centre in Evergreen Park, county of Grand Prairie, to try and answer just that: how many different amphibian species were there, and how abundant were they? Read on to learn how these recorders were used to figure out which amphibians are a part of the wetlands’ chorus!

Figure 1: Autonomous recording units (ARUs) mounted to trees (ABMI)

You might remember this from science class, but a quick refresher: amphibians are vertebrates that live in water and on land. They are ectothermic, which means they are unable to regulate their body temperature and must move between warmer and cooler environments to change their body temperature. They also have very thin skin that absorbs oxygen, water, and chemicals. For this reason, amphibians are quite sensitive to human activities that change their habitat, and are known as ‘biological indicator species,’ which means their health reflects the health of waterways, wetlands, and uplands they live in. Frogs, salamanders, and toads are the 3 types of amphibians found in Alberta.

The boreal chorus frog is a small frog commonly found in wetlands across Canada, even in habitat outside of the boreal, despite its name! This frog has the unique ability to freeze solid in the winter and hop back to life come springtime. Other amphibian species that are known to exist around Grand Prairie are the wood frog, which is distinguishable by a white stripe on its upper lip, and the western toad, which is larger and bumpier than the frogs described above (Figure 2).

The boreal chorus frog looks very similar to the western chorus frog, the spring peeper, and the pacific tree frog, all of which are not found in Alberta, but in Southwestern British Columbia. We bring this up because it’s a good example to show that the best way to differentiate these frogs is by their call: the boreal chorus frog has a shorter and faster call than that of the western chorus frog. This is why ARUs are so important in amphibian research.

Figure 2: Boreal amphibians.

1. Boreal chorus frog - Tnarg 12345

2. Spring peeper - Ryan Hodnett

3. Western chorus frog - Mark Nenedov

4. Wood frog - Emilyk

5. Pacific tree frog - The High Fin Sperm Whale

6. Western toad - MBerg

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Studying frogs – using devices that can record their calls:

From May 14th to August 28th, 2020, amphibian calls were monitored at the Wetland Centre in the county of Grand Prairie, Alberta . During the spring breeding season, males produce auditory calls (think ribit-ribit) to attract females, making it the ideal period to put out ARUs and determine who is there. This event draws many frogs to one location (always near water), making it difficult to distinguish individuals. The ABMI uses WildTrax—a software to store and analyze the sound recordings collected by ARUs. Observers identify species by their calls and assess calling intensity, a metric used to estimate amphibian abundance. Calling intensity is determined from the number of calls recorded over a certain time period (Figure 3). For more information, visit the acoustic tagging methods page on WildTrax.

Figure 3: Amphibian calling intensities.

ARUs collect a tremendous amount of data that would take months or years to fully listen to. So, the ABMI uses a sub-sampling method where randomly selected one-minute transcriptions, or sections, of the ARU recordings at midnight and 2 am were analyzed. Calling intensity estimates were made from recordings taken at these times as amphibians are most active at night when the risk of predation is lower. Recall that amphibians regulate their body temperature and have very sensitive skin that could easily dry out during the day, making moist nighttime conditions more suitable for them. For the same reason, we would expect to record a higher calling intensity (remember the overlapping circles in Figure 1) while conditions are wet, and a lower calling intensity as temperatures rise.

Interestingly, the boreal chorus frog was the only amphibian species recorded, despite the Wetland Centre existing within the ranges of the wood frog and the western toad (Table 1, Figure 4). This may be due to the sensitivity of other amphibian species to disturbances as the Wetland Center exists in a semi-urban area and the Evergreen Park has regular visitors. However, only 30% of ARU recordings will pick up amphibian calls at all, and only around 6% will pick up those of multiple species. Recall that a random sub-sampling method was used to select the recordings analyzed, which means it is possible that: (1) other species were there, but weren’t calling during the recording sessions, or (2) that their calls were captured by the ARUs but were not randomly selected for analysis.

While the ARUs and random sub-sampling methods were set up to record amphibians, various bird species were incidentally recorded. These observations should not be considered a comprehensive list of birds present in the area. Various abiotic (non-living) sounds, such as rain and industrial noise, were also recorded due to the use of the Evergreen Park for various groups and events (Table 1). These abiotic sounds were the only sounds recorded in July and August as amphibian calling intensity declined (Figure 4), likely due to the breeding season ending in June. After this season, many amphibian species return to cool and moist forest understories or similar habitats. 

Table 1: Species and noises recorded

Figure 4: Cumulative amphibian calling intensity (CI1 + C12 = 3) over the study period (May-August). Note: amphibian abundance does not directly translate to the count of individuals as there may be overlap in recorded calls. This graph is meant to display the change in calling intensity over time, not to estimate amphibian abundance.

As expected, a higher calling intensity (CI3) was recorded shortly after the largest rainfall event recorded in the study period (13.7 mm on May 21st) (Table 2), while calling intensity declined as temperatures approached 20°C in June (Table 2).

Table 2: Amphibian species calling intensity, temperature and precipitation data from May 15th- June 20th, 2020. Note: all recorded amphibian calls were from boreal chorus frogs.

Overall, this 4-month amphibian monitoring project revealed that the boreal chorus frog is the most abundant amphibian species at the Wetland center, if not the only amphibian species (Table 1, Figure 4). Visitors have the greatest chance of seeing or hearing this species in May and June. In 2020, May 16, 24 and 28th had the highest calling intensity (remember Figure 1), and June 20th was the last date that an amphibian call was recorded.

If you come across a species you need help identifying, check out the Naturelynx app by ABMI. By recording your observations, you can help us learn more about the species - amphibians and otherwise - at the Wetland Centre.

References:

Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI). 2019. Terrestrial ABMI autonomous recording unit and remote camera trap protocols. https://abmi.ca/home/publications/551-600/56

Alberta Conservation Association. Amphibian Identification. https://www.abconservation.com/avamp/          identification-keys/juvenile-and-adult-amphibians-of-alberta/

Call of the wetland. 2019. Identify an amphibian. https://callofthewetland.ca/amphibian-identification/

Wetland Centre Summer 2021 Bioblitz

From July 22nd to 25th 2021, Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute hosted a free citizen science event at the Evergreen Park in the County of Grande Prairie. Using the user-friendly app Naturelynx , participants were equipped to capture and document as many observations as possible. This time around, 51 observations were recorded over the four days, all of which happened to be plant species.

A bioblitz is a great way for nature enthusiasts of all age, skill, and interest levels to familiarize themselves with the diversity of flora and fauna in an area. Each species identified in the specified time period contributes to an improved understanding of the flora and fauna present at the Wetland Center. Here are some of the beautiful species captured:

Sticky False Asphodel (Triantha glutinosa) captured 07/24/21 by Valerie.

Also known as Northern bog asphodel, this species is typically found in fens and marshes.

Northern grass-of-Parnassus (Parnassia palustris) captured 07/24/21 by Valerie.

This showy forb comes in four varieties and is typically found in fens, marshes, lake or river shores.

Northern Bastard Toadflax (Geocaulon lividum) captured 07/24/21 by Angie Kuysters

This plant produces food through photosynthesis and steals nutrients from surrounding plants through its underground root suckers, making it a hemi parasitic species. This species is common across the Boreal forest – typically in bogs and fens.

Missed this Bioblitz but want to contribute your observations? Click here to join our Naturelynx group where you can participate anytime and watch for future BioBlitz at the Wetland Center!