Learn about measuring plant elevation changes

The following free online lecture presented by the Strathcona Wilderness Institute (SWI) will be of interest to CVN members and others:

Title: Can community science measure vascular plant elevation changes in Strathcona Park?
Speaker: Steven Hayward
Date: Tuesday September 13, 2022
Time: 7:00 p.m. PDT

This webinar is facilitated by the Canadian Society of Environmental Biologists and is open to the public (see the registration link below).

One aspect of climate change and increasing summer temperatures is the prediction that plants will shift their ranges higher in elevation or northward in latitude to remain in their optimal growing conditions. Community science platforms such as iNaturalist can provide large datasets to researchers and have been used to document flora and fauna in Strathcona Park. Can this dataset be used to track vascular plant elevation changes in Strathcona Provincial Park?

Validation of an R package ‘rgbif’ that provides elevation data based on GPS coordinates and evaluating the current flora dataset of Strathcona Park are necessary first steps to see if answering this research question is possible. Further steps include analyzing this dataset and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of using this approach.

About the speaker

Steven Hayward is a university student who worked for SWI during the summer of 2022.

Registration

“Seating capacity” for the talk is limited, and you need to register in advance. You can check the computer requirements for attendees here.

Register here

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions for joining the webinar.

If you are new to Comox Valley Nature, find out more about us here.

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