Environment Canada’s Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network (EMAN) is a national network of scientists, local institutions, government agencies, industry, and community volunteers dedicated to long-term, multi-disciplinary ecological monitoring across Canada. Nature Canada has partnered with the EMAN Coordinating Office to implement NatureWatch, a series of programs to monitor, track, and respond to issues of concern. NatureWatch (www.naturewatch.ca), which includes IceWatch, FrogWatch, PlantWatch and WormWatch, is helping Canadians to participate in science and understand the changes in the environment. These programs encourage participants to learn about the environment while gathering the information needed to protect it. The general public, educational institutions, policy-makers, and the scientific community mutually benefit from the results.
Through NatureWatch Canadians of all ages can discover how - and more importantly, why – natural ecosystems are changing. Volunteer observers help scientists to understand what is happening in the environment by observing and tracking some of the natural events around them. Using selected indicator species, a citizen network of ice, frog, plant, and earthworm Watchers spread throughout Canada can help fill critical gaps in scientific knowledge. Volunteers expand our capacity to monitor changes over a greater geographical area, allow us to track trends more efficiently, and respond more rapidly to ecosystem changes. At the same time, communities gain sound information on local ecosystem changes which can be readily compared with historic trends.
NatureWatch provides us with standardized data, allows us to perform assessments, gain a clearer understanding of local change effects, and transmit this information back to volunteers. The knowledge provided by NatureWatchers will be used to improve ecosystem management as well as to help develop initiatives aimed at tackling environmental issues at all scales.
IceWatch: www.icewatch.ca
Ice cover on lakes and rivers is mainly created and destroyed by seasonal temperature fluctuations. Change in the annual freeze-thaw cycle is an event that can easily be observed and recorded by Canadians. Long-term records of these events coupled with meteorological data are an excellent tool to assess climate change. IceWatch educates volunteers to record and submit their observations so we can create a national database and assess freeze and thaw events across Canada.
FrogWatch: www.frogwatch.ca
FrogWatch participants track the distribution of frogs and toads across Canada by learning how to identify amphibians by their calls and appearance, and then report what they see and hear in the lakes, ponds, and wetlands around them. FrogWatch was established to respond to the recognition that amphibian populations are declining and are being affected by a variety of interacting factors. In Canada, it appears that habitat loss, toxic chemicals, and parasites are their greatest threats. Having an extensive network of volunteer observers allows us to determine where frogs are found so we can develop conservation or rehabilitation plans.
PlantWatch: www.plantwatch.ca
The first bloom dates of plants are an excellent indicator of climate change and its effects. Through PlantWatch, participants can help track changes in the timing of flowering dates for selected plant species across Canada. The plants include wildflowers, lilacs and dandelions, among others. The information collected can be compared to climate data to determine whether plants change their behaviour according to climatic changes and to validate climate models.
WormWatch: www.wormwatch.ca
Through WormWatch, scientists are drawing on the assistance of citizens to create a Canadian database of earthworm species and habitat distribution. With their benefits to soil structure and fertility, earthworms help engineer the earth’s ecosystems from the ground up. Most native earthworms were lost during the last glaciation, and new species have since been introduced, but we still need more information to tell us how many species there are and where they live. Information about earthworms is important since they are a vital component of our forest ecosystems.
Becoming a NatureWatch Observer
Anyone can become a NatureWatcher by logging on to www.naturewatch.ca and following the instructions. Like to travel? You can NatureWatch at home and on the road. For more information and to participate using print media contact:
Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network Coordinating Office
867 Lakeshore Road
Burlington, ON L7R 4A6
(905) 336-4411
eman@ec.gc.ca
Through NatureWatch Canadians of all ages can discover how - and more importantly, why – natural ecosystems are changing. Volunteer observers help scientists to understand what is happening in the environment by observing and tracking some of the natural events around them. Using selected indicator species, a citizen network of ice, frog, plant, and earthworm Watchers spread throughout Canada can help fill critical gaps in scientific knowledge. Volunteers expand our capacity to monitor changes over a greater geographical area, allow us to track trends more efficiently, and respond more rapidly to ecosystem changes. At the same time, communities gain sound information on local ecosystem changes which can be readily compared with historic trends.
NatureWatch provides us with standardized data, allows us to perform assessments, gain a clearer understanding of local change effects, and transmit this information back to volunteers. The knowledge provided by NatureWatchers will be used to improve ecosystem management as well as to help develop initiatives aimed at tackling environmental issues at all scales.
IceWatch: www.icewatch.ca
Ice cover on lakes and rivers is mainly created and destroyed by seasonal temperature fluctuations. Change in the annual freeze-thaw cycle is an event that can easily be observed and recorded by Canadians. Long-term records of these events coupled with meteorological data are an excellent tool to assess climate change. IceWatch educates volunteers to record and submit their observations so we can create a national database and assess freeze and thaw events across Canada.
FrogWatch: www.frogwatch.ca
FrogWatch participants track the distribution of frogs and toads across Canada by learning how to identify amphibians by their calls and appearance, and then report what they see and hear in the lakes, ponds, and wetlands around them. FrogWatch was established to respond to the recognition that amphibian populations are declining and are being affected by a variety of interacting factors. In Canada, it appears that habitat loss, toxic chemicals, and parasites are their greatest threats. Having an extensive network of volunteer observers allows us to determine where frogs are found so we can develop conservation or rehabilitation plans.
PlantWatch: www.plantwatch.ca
The first bloom dates of plants are an excellent indicator of climate change and its effects. Through PlantWatch, participants can help track changes in the timing of flowering dates for selected plant species across Canada. The plants include wildflowers, lilacs and dandelions, among others. The information collected can be compared to climate data to determine whether plants change their behaviour according to climatic changes and to validate climate models.
WormWatch: www.wormwatch.ca
Through WormWatch, scientists are drawing on the assistance of citizens to create a Canadian database of earthworm species and habitat distribution. With their benefits to soil structure and fertility, earthworms help engineer the earth’s ecosystems from the ground up. Most native earthworms were lost during the last glaciation, and new species have since been introduced, but we still need more information to tell us how many species there are and where they live. Information about earthworms is important since they are a vital component of our forest ecosystems.
Becoming a NatureWatch Observer
Anyone can become a NatureWatcher by logging on to www.naturewatch.ca and following the instructions. Like to travel? You can NatureWatch at home and on the road. For more information and to participate using print media contact:
Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network Coordinating Office
867 Lakeshore Road
Burlington, ON L7R 4A6
(905) 336-4411
eman@ec.gc.ca
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