IMERSS

07/10/2026

04/10/2026

A team of IMERSS biodiversity researchers were recently awarded the Ebbe Nielsen Challenge Award for the creation of a customizable, community-driven tool for regional biodiversity reporting and monitoring. Congrats to Emma Menchions for leading this project—which we are excited to share far and wide, beyond the Salish Sea, with the global biodiversity research community!

Winning projects came from Argentina, Belgium, Canada and Portugal... The 2026 Ebbe Nielsen Challenge (ENC) jury is awarding prizes to four projects from Argentina, Belgium, Canada and Portugal. This…

19/08/2026

Join Emma Menchions who will share the outcomes of an ongoing collaborative project focused on revising Szczawinski and Harrison's Flora of the Saanich Peninsula—with an eye to historical biodiversity change. Emma will walk folks through an online resource that community members can use to help track down some of the "lost plants" of the Saanich Peninsula.

Are you fascinated by native plants? Want to learn more about how to find rarely spotted species? Or want to become part of a community interested in searching for these plants together?
Join us for an interactive seminar on the lost plants of the Saanich Peninsula! 🌿

We will talk about:
1) the stories that an updated Saanich plant inventory reveals,
2) which species are missing but may still be out there to look for,
3) tips and tricks for finding and identifying these lost friends, and
4) tools to use to guide your efforts.

Where: Swan Lake Nature House - 3873 Swan Lake Road
When: Saturday, August 22nd, 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Who: Participants must be aged 14+. Any level of plant expertise (or none) is welcome!
Cost: Free

Register online: https://swanlake.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/swanlake/event.jsp?event=91374&

24/06/2026

Thank you our speakers—Rosemary Georgeson, Emma Menchions, and Elaine Humphrey—who opened our 6th Annual AGM with another instalment of our Speaker Series: Perspectives on the Salish Sea. We're posted the proceedings here for anyone who was not able to attend.

Times of Change
Rosemary Georgeson
Working together as a collective, we can uplift and embody change. Across Galiano Island, we see patterns of continuity alongside ever evolving changes, socially, culturally, and ecologically. In old and new ways, these transformations are bringing people together, across disciplines and cultural boundaries to shift vision into momentum and positive change making at the grassroots community level.

Ecosystem Connectivity & Patterns
Emma Menchions

Emma is a plant ecologist, artist, and biodiversity data scientist who is beginning her PhD studying ecosystem service connectivity and landscape structure patterns to inform conservation planning. This talk will focus on her work with Andrew Simon and Antranig Basman to expedite the revision of the historical Flora of the Saanish Peninsula (begun by the late Harvey Janszen) using iNaturalist and GBIF data and establishing a reproducible pathway for iterative updates of regional species lists for Saanich and beyond.

Diatoms of the Salish Sea
Elaine Humphrey & Arjan van Asselt

Hear from Elaine Humphrey and Arjan van Asselt about longstanding research efforts to inventory diatoms in the Salish Sea, resulting in the first comprehensive baseline of diatoms in the bioregion. Learn more about the importance of diatoms, how identifications are made and their use in ecological studies, and see stunning examples of new marine diatom records for Western Canada and the Salish Sea. This research is a collaboration with Mark Webber, researcher and founding director of IMERSS, Laura Parfrey and her students at the Parfrey Lab at the University of British Columbia, and part of a developing joint project with the Hakai Institute.

Territorial AcknowledgementAs we proceed, I would like to acknowle...

20/05/2026

Over 160 years of diatom research in the Salish Sea had resulted in a fragmented record—which we recently brought together in support of ongoing research and monitoring. This work sets an example for how collaboration among academic researchers and community scientists can help establish the data foundations for long-term ecological research.

Extensive scientific research has resulted in a comprehensive database of diatoms (photosynthetic microalgae) in the Salish Sea. This new inventory and dataset are intended to assist researchers and policymakers in future environmental assessments of the region.

🌊Dive into the details here: https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.14.e189060

👉Or read Pensoft Publishers' blog here: https://blog.pensoft.net/2026/05/19/revealing-the-invisible-a-new-baseline-for-salish-sea-diatoms-answers-a-global-call/

IMERSS

09/04/2026

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/satellite-spots-a-spawn/?fbclid=IwY2xjawRAuC1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA80MDk5NjI2MjMwODU2MDkAAR6LzouyMlc10W9POgdX1rpJudSLxe81ldAunII3sKhNb6cYutb8TglV7WQO1Q_aem_uCjM_xs8BCxNaRhkiw-7bQ

The activity of herring around Vancouver Island in British Columbia brightened coastal waters enough to be detectable from space.

11/03/2026

Discover the "Wonders of the Salish Sea," a 4-evening webinar series that takes you for a deep dive into this uniquely biodiverse, yet fragile, ecosystem. We'll start out at East Point Saturna Island and end with a gripping whale tale told by Grant Lawrence. In between, we'll learn about shallow water fish, mysterious harbour porpoises, recovering sea stars, indigenous food systems, gulls (not dull!), and the 30-year career of Seattle Times environment reporter, Lynda Mapes. All welcome!
March 23, 30, April 13, 20. 7 - 9 PM. $30 for the series, subsidies and group rates available. More information and registration link at Wondersofthesalishsea.com.
Host: Georgia Strait Alliance in partnership with the Salish Sea Institute (WWU).

27/01/2026

Applications Open Jan 26th – March 1st
The Salish Sea Institute is accepting applications for our third international cohort of Salish Sea Fellows. Academic scholars, journalists, researchers, knowledge holders, and others are encouraged to apply. This is a competitive process. Fellows will receive funds to pursue an innovative project relevant to the protection and recovery of the Salish Sea.

Fellows are awarded small grants to carry out their proposed projects. The average grant will be $3000 - $12,000, with a maximum of $20,000. See application form for eligibility and priority topics. Applications due March 1st.

The Salish Sea Institute is accepting applications for our third international cohort of Salish Sea Fellows. Academic scholars, journalists, researchers, knowledge holders, and others are encouraged to apply. This is a competitive process. Fellows will receive funds to pursue an innovative project r...

21/12/2025

Happy solstice!

We're delighted to offer these beautiful art cards, created by the talented Kath Boake Wüthrich—to share your love of biodiversity this coming New Year!

Pick them up on Zeffy at the link below.

https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/imerss-merch-sales

08/12/2025

Community science in action on Galiano Island 💚

Our new paper highlights how herbarium collections combined with local knowledge and community science can play a powerful role in addressing the global biodiversity crisis. By combining historical collections, community observations, and targeted field surveys, we developed a method to detect local extirpation—an important step toward curbing the slow burning effects of biodiversity loss.

Two moments captured in this figure say it all:

🔹 The late Harvey Janszen, whose decades of field work and local knowledge provided the historical baseline for this project

🔹 Shauna Anderson, documenting a rare plant species on Mount Galiano that hadn’t been recorded there in over 40 years

Their contributions—and those of many others on Galiano Island—show how local communities are essential partners in global biodiversity conservation.

Thank you, Galiano Island, for leading by example. 🌱
Open access article here: https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ppp3.70130

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Detecting extirpation: A localized approach to a global problem

Andrew D. F. Simon, et al.

https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ppp3.70130

Societal Impact Statement also available in Spanish and French.