We implement terrestrial field protocols to sample the state of vascular plants, vertebrates, soil invertebrates, and terrestrial habitat characteristics. We implement terrestrial protocols in the same manner at each of the ABMI’s 1656 permanent sample sites.

At each ABMI terrestrial survey site we implement terrestrial protocols in a 1-ha area surrounding the site's centre, which is further divided into four 0.25-ha (50 m × 50 m) plots or quadrants.

Terrestrial Data Collected 

ABMI land survey sites are visited three to five times throughout the spring and summer to collect biodiversity, habitat, and land use data.

Visit 1 (February): Four motion-sensing game cameras are set up at each site to capture photos of mammals to help understand their status and distribution; this protocol replaces the ABMI snow tracking protocols that were used up to 2013 to monitor winter-active mammals. At sites in the northern half of the province, field technologists also set up audio recording units in addition to the cameras to capture the sounds of mammals, birds, and amphibians during the day and in the middle of the night.

Visit 2 (May): At forested sites, or sites with long or difficult access paths, field technologists make a preliminary visit to the site before the survey takes place. During this visit, they determine their access path and prepare the site to be surveyed by demarcating the survey area using flagging tape.

Visit 3 (May–June): The first survey visit takes place in May or June.  During this visit, field technologists perform a bird survey (southern locations) and collect site information and habitat data. See a complete list of data collected below.

Visit 4 (June–July): The second survey visit takes place in June or July. Field technologists perform a vascular plant survey, collect mosses and lichens, and collect habitat data. See a complete list of data collected below.

Visit 5 (July–September):  For some sites in the Grassland and Parkland Natural Regions, a fifth visit may be required to assess the status of rangeland. 

We implement wetland field protocols to sample the state of vascular plants, vertebrates, aquatic invertebrates, and wetland characteristics. We implement wetland protocols in the same manner at each of the ABMI’s 1656 permanent sample sites.

A random stand point is established 60 m from the shoreline. From here four quadrants of the wetland are surveyed using wetland protocols.

Wetland Data Collected

ABMI wetland survey sites are visited two times over the spring and summer to collect biodiversity, habitat, and land use data.

Visit 1 (May or June): During the first visit to a wetland site, field technologists determine their access path and ensure the selected wetland site meets ABMI survey requirements (depth and size).

Visit 2 (June or July): Wetland surveys occur during the second site visit in June or July. During this visit, field technologists will survey plants around the perimeter of the water, and also enter the water in an inflatable kayak to collect water samples, take depth measurements, and collect insects. See a complete list of data collected below.

Sites are re-visited once every five years within a two-week window of when the site was initially sampled based on Julian date to reduce seasonal variation in sampling.

Lab protocols are implemented for data collected in the field during terrestrial and wetland surveys that may require further laboratory processing. For example, species that cannot be identified in the field, such as armoured mites, lichen, and aquatic invertebrates, are identified by taxonomic experts at the Royal Alberta Museum.

Lab Protocols (Biotic)

• Vascular Plants
• Aquatic Invertebrates
• Birds
• Fungi
• Lichen
• Moss
• Mites

Human footprint refers to the geographic extent of areas under human use that either have lost their natural cover (e.g., cities, roads, agricultural land, industrial areas) or whose natural cover is periodically or temporarily replaced by resource extraction activities (e.g., forestry, seismic lines, surface mining). We monitor the state of Alberta’s human footprint using satellite imagery and fine-resolution aerial photography at two spatial scales:

1. Using a sampling design that covers approximately 5% of the province, the ABMI monitors human footprint annually in a 3 × 7-km rectangular area centred on each ABMI site location. At each of the 1656 locations, a 3 × 7-km rectangle is examined at a 1:5000 scale to delineate all human footprint types present. These detailed annual samples of human footprint are available from 1999 to 2012, except for 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2006. These sample areas are used to track changes in human footprint over time.

2. At the provincial scale, existing satellite imagery is used to create a wall-to-wall inventory of human footprint for the entire province at a 1:15,000 scale; this product is updated every two years. The wall-to-wall Inventory of Provincial Human Footprint is a compilation of externally sourced information about provincial human footprint, supplemented with ABMI remote sensing data that has undergone quality-­control procedures. The Inventory of Provincial Human Footprint is available for 2007, 2010, 2012, and 2014. The wall-to-wall human footprint is used to map human footprint.

Human Footprint Data Collected 

At both spatial scales, the ABMI delineates human footprint into five categories for analysis:

Agriculture: areas of annual or perennial cultivation including crops, tame pasture, and associated irrigation infrastructure, as well as confined feeding operations and other high density livestock areas.

Mines, Wells, and Other Energy Features: mine sites, pipelines, seismic lines, transmission lines, well sites, wind generation facilities, etc.

Forest Harvest: areas in forested landscapes where timber resource extraction has occurred, including clear-cut and partial-cut logging methods.

Urban, Rural, and Industrial: residences, buildings and disturbed vegetation associated with urban and rural settlements, as well as industrial and commercial development outside of major cities, such as bare ground cleared for industry, and factories.

Transportation footprint: railways, roadways and trails with hard (e.g., cement/asphault/gravel) or soft (e.g., vegetated) surfaces.

Landscape Mapping Protocols

• ABMI Photo Plot Data Model​
• ABMI Photo Plot Interpretation Manual​
• ABMI Photo Plot Quality Control Manual​
• Object-based and Pixel-based Classification Comparison of High-resolution QuickBird Data in Forested Alberta Manual​
• Alberta Ground Cover Characterization (AGCC) Manual​
• Manual for Reporting Human Footprint​
• 2007 Human Footprint Map Layer Metadata​
• 2010 Human Footprint Map Layer Metadata​
• ABMI Wall-to-wall Landcover Map (Beta) Accuracy Assessment