January 28 to Feb 2, 2018 - Society for Range Management Annual Meeting: Empowerment through Applied Science - Sparks, Nevada
MSc student, Kristine Dahl, presented some of her preliminary research entitled, "Different Perspectives on Grazing Management and Range Health Outcomes by Beef Producers in Alberta, Canada".
U of A Range Team comprised of 13 undergraduate students continued the long-standing tradition of competing with other North American University teams as they write the Undergraduate Range Management Exam (URME) and Plant Identification Exam. Ryan James won 1st place in the plant identification exam; the University of Alberta Range Team placed 2nd when the top 3 students from the teams scores were combined. Presley Peacock won 3rd and Sally Thomas won 4th for the Combined awards (plant ID and undergraduate exam scores are combined). Well done U of A Range Team!
For more information: Society for Range Management 2018 Annual Meeting.
Feb 20 - 22, 2018 - Alberta Soil Science Workshop: Harnessing Big Data to Advance Soil Science - Edmonton, AB
MSc student, Sara Barszczewski, presented some of her research results and gave a presentation entitled, "The effects of clipping and compaction on microbial enzyme activity, vegetation, soil thermal properties and soil health in Alberta's rangelands".
For more information: Alberta Soil Science Workshop.
March 16, 2018 - MSc defense seminar - Carly Moore - Edmonton, AB
Carly Moore presented her M.Sc. defense seminar entitled, "Rangeland Habitat Use and Activity of Cattle with Divergent Molecular Breeding Values for Residual Feed Intake". The seminar took place on Fri, March 16, 2018 at 8:30 AM at the University of Alberta in the Agriculture/Forestry Centre room 3-18J.
April 12, 2018 - Mixed Grass Forum - Invasive Species and the Mixed Grass prairie - Medicine Hat College, AB
U of A graduate students whose research has taken place on the Mattheis Research Ranch presented some of their results at the Mixed Grass Forum at the Medicine Hat College on April 12.
To view the agenda: Mixed Grass Forum 2018
2017
January 6, 2017 - MSc thesis defense seminar - Edmonton, AB
Angela Phung successfully defended her MSc thesis following her defense seminar on January 6, 2017 at 9:00 am at the University of Alberta in Biological Sciences Bldg. CW 313. Angela's project has been supervised by Dr. Cameron Carlyle and Dr. Jessamyn Manson.
Title: The effects of defoliation on growth, reproduction and pollination of a non-native legume (Astragalus cicer) in the mixed grass prairie
More information about Angela Phung's MSc seminar.
January 27 - 28, 2017 - Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan: Native Plants in a Working Landscape - Saskatoon, SK
PhD candidate, Lysandra Pyle, presented a talk entitled Dynamics of vegetation, biological soil crusts, and seed banks along pipelines in southern Alberta’s Mixedgrass Prairie. For more information: Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan: Native Plants in a Working Landscape.
January 28, 2017 - Ladies Livestock Lessons - Balzac, AB
Dr. Cameron Carlyle spoke about Sustainable Pasture Management at the Ladies Livestock Lessons in Balzac, AB.
January 29 to February 2, 2017 - 70th Annual Society for Range Management Meeting: "Red Rock and Rangelands" - St. George, Utah
Graduate students whose research was conducted at the Mattheis Research Ranch: Kassia James, Nicky Lansink, Caroline Martin, and Carly Moore presented their research results at this meeting.
Kassia James: Duration of access mat application influences Mixedgrass Prairie plant community cover and composition
Nicky Lansink: Testing performance of residual feed intake selected cattle under extensive cow/calf production systems
Caroline Martin: Breeding bird responses to roads and powerlines in the grasslands of southeastern Alberta
Carly Moore: Exploration of activity in rangeland cattle with divergent residual feed intake molecular breeding value
Additionally, the University of Alberta Range Team continued the annual tradition of competing with other teams from universities across North America in the Undergraduate Range Plant Identification competition and Undergraduate Range Management Exam.
For more information: SRM Annual Meeting: Red Rock and Rangelands.
February 8 & 9, 2017 - Native Prairie Restoration and Reclamation Workshop: "Reclaiming Spaces, Restoring Species" - Regina, SK
At this workshop organized by Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan, Dr. Karen Thompson talked about the restoration of a power line at Mattheis Ranch and Dr. Tan Bao discussed a biodiversity assessment of the Alberta's beef industry.
March 13 to 17, 2017 - Prairie's Got the Goods Week! hosted by Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan offered many free webinars:
March 13, 2017 - Dr. Edward Bork presented a webinar entitled, "Understanding Carbon Storage and Greenhouse Gas Uptake in Grasslands".
View Dr. Bork's Carbon Storage presentation.
March 13, 2017 - Dr. Jessamyn Manson presented a webinar entitled, "Pollination in the Prairies".
View Dr. Manson's Pollination presentation.
March 14, 2017 - Dr. Karen Thompson presented a webinar entitled, "Impacts of Industrial Disturbance on Soil and Plant Communities in Southern Alberta".
View Dr. Thompson's Industrial Disturbance Impact presentation.
March 17, 2017 - Dr. Cameron Carlyle presented a webinar entitled, "Biodiversity in Alberta's Grasslands".
View Dr. Carlyle's Biodiversity presentation.
April 6, 2017 - Mixed Grass Forum: "Restoring the Native Prairie" - Medicine Hat, AB
Lisa Raatz gave a presentation introducing the Rangeland Research Institute and an overview of research on the Mattheis and Kinsella Research Ranches. Graduate students presented their research results:
Jessica Grenke (undergraduate) – Recreational Trail Effects on Rangeland Ecology Using Google Earth as a Monitoring Tool
Kassia James (MSc candidate) - Duration of access mat application influences Mixedgrass Prairie plant community cover and composition
Lysandra Pyle (PhD candidate) – The influence of producer management and industrial disturbance on grassland seed banks in AB
Nicky Lansink (MSc candidate) - Testing performance of Reduced Feed Intake (RFI) selected cattle under extensive cow/calf production systems
April 6, 2017 - MSc Thesis Defense Seminar - Xiaozhu (Sean) Chuan - Edmonton, AB
Sean Chuan successfully defended his MSc following his thesis seminar entitled, "Effect of Grazing on Litter Decomposition and Microbial Enzyme Activity across Agro-climatic Subregions in Alberta". The seminar took place on April 6, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. at the University of Alberta in the Ag/For Bldg. Room 3-18J. Sean's project has been supervised by Dr. Cameron Carlyle and Dr. Edward Bork.
Sean Chuan MSc Thesis Abstract
April 8, 2017 - Rangeland Research Institute at Telus World of Science! 12:00 to 3:00 - Edmonton, AB
RRI shared our love of native grasslands and rangeland research with excited young children (budding scientists), their parents and other members of the general public. We were located in the Syncrude Environment Gallery next to the display about bees, which was very fitting. We had an insect collection, cattle GPS collar and pedometer, a piece of native grassland blooming with Prairie crocus, and a microscope set up for people to look at various lichens, western porcupine grass seed, showy milkweed pods and seeds, and more. The centre had approximately 2500 visitors and we had lots of engagement and fun!
April 29, 2017 - Alberta Native Plant Council Workshop: Biodiversity in Alberta's Changing Landscape - Ponoka, AB
PhD candidate, Lysandra Pyle, presented a talk entitled "The influence of producer management and industrial disturbance on grassland seed banks in Alberta" .
View Lysandra Pyle's presentation abstract
For more information: Alberta Native Plant Council 2017 Workshop
June 10 - 14, 2017 - Canadian Soil Science Society Annual Meeting: Soil and the Environment - Peterborough, ON
MSc candidate, Faezeh Najafi, presented her research results: "The effect of different powerline construction methods on soils in the Mixedgrass prairie".
Dr. Karen Thompson also presented work that she and her collaborators have been involved in, "Impacts of industrial disturbance on nitrogen-cycling soil microbial communities in Mixedgrass prairies of Alberta".
For more information: CSSS Meeting, Soil and the Environment
June 11, 2017 - Institute of Prairie Archaeology: Stones & Bones Public Open House, 10:00 am - 3:00 pm - Mattheis Ranch, AB
A Free Stones & Bones Open House was hosted by University of Alberta's Institute of Prairie Archaeology and Department of Paleontology on the Rangeland Research Institute's Mattheis Ranch on Sunday, June 11 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.
June 20, 2017 - Edmonton Valley Zoo Event Day (Adults only) presented Wine & Wildlife: Bees! - Edmonton, AB
Dr. Cameron Carlyle spoke about native bees at the Edmonton Valley Zoo "Wine & Wildlife: Bees!" event on June 20, 2017 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm.
June 19 - 22, 2017 - North American Forest Ecology Workshop; Sustaining Forests: From Restoration to Conservation - Edmonton, AB
Dr. Edward Bork presented a talk entitled, "The evolution of grazing management within central Alberta's aspen forests" on June 20.
For more information about the NA Forest Ecology Workshop and the Agenda.
July 14, 2017 - APAS Prairie Agriculture Carbon Summit: Growing Sustainability - Saskatoon, SK
Dr. Daniel Hewins, professor at Rhode Island College and former post-doctoral fellow with RRI, gave a presentation entitled, "Rangeland Ecological Goods and Services: A synoptic view of research efforts from Alberta grasslands".
For more information: APAS Carbon Summit
July 19, 2017 - Foothills Forage and Grazing Association: Carbon & Forages Field Day - near Didsbury, AB
Dr. Barry Irving spoke about 'Carbon Capture & Forages - Current research in Alberta' at the Carbon & Forages Field Day organized by the Foothills Forage and Grazing Association.
For more information: Carbon Capture and Forages.
Aug 4, 2017 - MSc Thesis Defense Seminar - Ashton Sturm - Edmonton, AB
Ashton successfully defended her MSc thesis and gave a seminar entitled, "Assessing native bee biodiversity in Alberta’s grasslands: Influence of regional differences and relative grazing on bee community assemblages and the investigation of prospective indicator strategies for native bees". The seminar took place on Friday, Aug 4, 2017 at 9:00 AM in Ag/For Bldg. 3-18 J. Ashton's project has been supervised by Dr. Cameron Carlyle and Dr. Jessamyn Manson.
Ashton Sturm MSc defense seminar abstract
August 31, 2017 - Western Stock Growers Association tour of the Mattheis Research Ranch
The Western Stock Growers Association toured the Mattheis Research Ranch as part of their summer meeting Aug 30-31. They joined ENCS 471 students, who were at the ranch to learn about rangelands and the current research happening on the ranch. Graduate students, Dr. Barry Irving, and Dr. Edward Bork spoke about their research.
September 21, 2017 - Monica Kohler thesis defense seminar - Edmonton, AB
Monica Kohler successfully defended her MSc thesis on Thursday, September 21, 2017 at 10:00 am at the University of Alberta in Biological Sciences Bldg. CW 410. Monica's project has been supervised by Dr. Cameron Carlyle and Dr. Jessamyn Manson.
Title: Effects of environmental, landscape, and disturbance gradients on native bee diversity, abundance and composition in the Canadian Prairies
October 20, 2017 - MSc Thesis Defense Seminar - Nicky Lansink - Edmonton, AB
Nicky Lansink presented her MSc thesis defense seminar entitled, "Performance and methane emissions of RFI-selected cattle in drylot and under open range conditions" on Friday, Oct 20, 2017 at 9:00 AM in Ag/For Bldg. 3-18 J. Nicky successfully defended her thesis. Her project has been supervised by Dr. Edward Bork and Dr. Graham Plastow.
Nicky Lansink's MSc thesis abstract
November 2, 2017 - Society for Range Management - International Mountain Section Fall Meeting and Workshop, 'Managing Disturbances on Native Grasslands' - Lethbridge, AB
The annual business meeting and workshop was held at the Coast Terrace Inn Lethbridge, AB on November 2. University of Alberta graduate students presented their research results during the afternoon workshop.
November 16, 2017 - Foothills Restoration Forum Fall Information Session: Evolving Energy and Climate on the Grasslands - Claresholm, Alberta
Along with many other speakers, Lysandra Pyle, PhD candidate, presented her research entitled "Producer Management and Industrial Disturbance Influences on Grassland Seed Banks in Alberta"
For more information, Foothills Restoration Forum Fall Info Session
December 5-7, 2017 - Western Canada Conference on Soil Health & Grazing: Profit Above, Wealth Below - Edmonton, Alberta
Rangeland Research Institute had a table in the trade show at the conference.
For more Information: Soil Health & Grazing Conference