Friends of the Pollinators Research Lab Alberta

About

This remote research lab was created to apply multi-disciplinary knowledge and approaches to monarch butterfly and other pollinators' conservation, research, and community engagement efforts in Alberta. Due to a lack of data on migrating monarch butterflies and milkweed availability in Alberta, the main objective of our research project was created to monitor milkweed and monarch butterfly migration in Alberta. The project visions and objective aims to monitor and research many more pollinators, animals, and plants in the future. This research project and lab is funded by Yorkville University. Multi-disciplinary fields drawn on for this project include comparative psychology, biology, ecology, and gender and disability studies.

Land Acknowledgement

Friends of the Pollinators Research Lab is situated in Treaty 6 territory, which is the traditional and present, ancestral, and unceded territory, travelling route, gathering place and home of many Indigenous Peoples, including the Cree, Tsuut'ina, Haudenosaunee, Saulteaux, Blackfoot, Métis, Dene, Anishinaabe, Nakota Sioux, and Inuit.

Project Timeline

Research Objectives

Monarch and Milkweed Monitoring

In central and southern Alberta, milkweed and monarch butterflies will be monitored. Historical analysis of citizen science reports made in the last ten years on milkweed sightings and monarch butterflies will also be compiled into a map. (June-September)

Native Plant Restoration

Native plants and a pollinator garden is in the process of creation to provide host plants to various local butterfly species. (February-October)

Community Engagement

Community engagement will be fostered through making accessible educational resources on monarch and local pollinator conservation. One of these project outcomes will be a community resource book. Another outcome is encouraging and celebrating community members who participate in citizen science. (Year-round)

Research Team

Dr. Andrew Fuyarchuk (he/him)

Andrew Fuyarchuk is a professor of the humanities at Yorkville University. He has been teaching at the post-secondary level for about twenty years and has published several articles and two books. He is currently developing an environmental ethic based on the impasses in contemporary thought and contributions from Asian philosophy including Daoism.

When he isn’t teaching and supporting the well-being of learners, or doing research, Fuyarchuk contributes to his community through various service organizations. He enjoys promoting heritage in his local area, taking initiatives to protect the environment and in general, initiates ways to make a positive difference.

A few years ago, in response to the extensive poaching of turtles in his area (Rouge River Water Shed) that were being sold in an illegal international and domestic market, he decided to make a film “Turtles of Ontario: A Silent Cry for Help.” He also has a website on Facebook dedicated to this cause.

https://vimeo.com/616777930

https://www.facebook.com/Turtle.Ontario.758/

J. Heber (they/she)

J.Heber (they/she) is a queer, disabled researcher, artist, and graduate student at Yorkville University, completing an M.A. in psychology. They completed their undergraduate degree in honours psychology and gender studies at MacEwan University. For their undergraduate thesis, they studied American Pika communication in Alberta. Noticing a lack of data on local monarch butterfly migration, they wrote a research thesis proposal to survey monarchs and milkweed in southern and central Alberta. Using multi-disciplinary approaches, they aim to make pollinator education accessible and engaging to the public through citizen science. They created the Friends of the Pollinator Alberta to help make monarch butterfly monitoring in Alberta sustainable. Understanding the connections between environmental studies and psychology is essential for fostering community mental health and conservation efforts.

Instagram: @friendsofthepollinators

https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/thelilembroidebee

Friends of the Pollinators Research Lab