Unit 2 - Alberta's Forest Land Issues
Maintenance of Biodiversity
Before discussing the maintenance of biodiversity, it is important to understand the actual meaning of biodiversity.
In simple terms biodiversity is the variety of all living species. However, if you look at the image, you can see that there is much more to biodiversity.
Biodiversity includes all of the following:
In simple terms biodiversity is the variety of all living species. However, if you look at the image, you can see that there is much more to biodiversity.
Biodiversity includes all of the following:
- Species diversity–animals plants, insects and microorganisms
- Ecosystem diversity–where the species live, connect and interact
- Genetic diversity–the make-up of each living being
Click image to enlarge.
Biodiversity image courtesy of the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute. More information on the ABMI can be found at www.abmi.ca
Biodiversity image courtesy of the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute. More information on the ABMI can be found at www.abmi.ca
With biodiversity, we have ecosystems.
All the different plants and animals are called biodiversity; their interaction with one another and their environment is called an ecosystem. Maintaining healthy ecosystems is important to everyone; they clean the water and air, provide us with food and raw materials for many purposes, regulate the climate, and recycle the nutrients.
Biodiversity is the key indicator of how healthy an ecosystem is.
In Alberta, when industries start preparing their forest management plans for government approval, conserving wildlife and tree species is a priority of forest management. Forest companies strive to maintain all habitat types and all forest types and ages. In this way, a more resilient ecosystem will develop, in case of insect, disease, fire or climate change issues.
All the different plants and animals are called biodiversity; their interaction with one another and their environment is called an ecosystem. Maintaining healthy ecosystems is important to everyone; they clean the water and air, provide us with food and raw materials for many purposes, regulate the climate, and recycle the nutrients.
Biodiversity is the key indicator of how healthy an ecosystem is.
In Alberta, when industries start preparing their forest management plans for government approval, conserving wildlife and tree species is a priority of forest management. Forest companies strive to maintain all habitat types and all forest types and ages. In this way, a more resilient ecosystem will develop, in case of insect, disease, fire or climate change issues.
Image Source: Pixabay
Forest Facts
It is imperative that the biodiversity of the forested area be measured or monitored. However, it is impossible to monitor and maintain the biodiversity of a forested area without first collecting the relevant data. This biodiversity information can then be used to assist in land-use plans, policies, and sustainable resource management. Biodiversity needs to be measured in order to make informed forest land-use decisions.
The organization that leads the way in measuring and monitoring biodiversity in Alberta is the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI). They use a grid of 1,656 site locations, 20 km apart, to collect biodiversity information from the boreal forest in the north to the grasslands in the south. Visit their website and you will see how detailed their monitoring program is; a leader in monitoring biodiversity in Canada.
07 Tom Habib from ABMI on Vimeo.