Alberta Volunteer Amphibian Monitoring Program

Volunteers play a crucial role in wildlife conservation efforts through their involvement in biodiversity-related citizen science projects. The Alberta Volunteer Amphibian Monitoring Program (AVAMP) invites people to engage with nature and to provide unique information on amphibian and reptile distribution and life-cycle events. To streamline the way AVAMP participants make and report their observations, we are partnering with Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute and trialing their free NatureLynx mobile application. The NatureLynx app allows AVAMP participants to complete data entry in the field. Data are organized in an AVAMP community group set up on the app by ACA and accessible to us. In 2019/20, 41 participants from AVAMP submitted 43 amphibian and 16 reptile observations, including locations of five snake hibernacula (dens) directly through AVAMP. An additional seven amphibian records were submitted through the AVAMP Group on ABMI’s NatureLynx platform. Combined, these data represented 60% of the amphibian and 44% of the reptile species native to the province. Setting appropriate conservation measures for amphibians and reptiles requires a good understanding of species distributions and timing of life-cycle events, which are often based on relatively few observation records. AVAMP is an example of how ACA can work with a network of enthusiastic volunteers and partners to fill these data gaps and positively impact conservation.

Partnerships

Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute, Alberta Environment and Parks

Annual Summaries

We are working hard to upload all past summaries. If there is a report you would like to see that isn't presently here, please email info@ab-conservation.com