Highlights from Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre
Botany Highlights, 2008. Sean Blaney, Atlantic Canada CDC.
The Atlantic Canada CDC botany program had a busy field schedule over the summer. Our largest project was a survey of the lower Saint John River in New Brunswick, supported by the New Brunswick Environmental and Wildlife Trust Funds. Although unusually high river levels hampered our efforts somewhat, we managed to find hundreds of rare plant locations including the rediscovery of Virginia Mountain-Mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum, S1) which had not been seen at the single New Brunswick location since 1984 and significant northeasterly range extensions for Silky Dogwood (Cornus obliqua, S2) and Brookside Alder (Alnus serrulata, S2).
Species at Risk surveys in southern Nova Scotia supported by the Nova Scotia Species at Risk Conservation Fund yielded two new sites for the federally listed Redroot (Lachnanthes caroliniana, S1 – Threatened), and single sites for Goldencrest (Lophiola aurea, S2 – Threatened), Long’s Bulrush (Scirpus longii, S2 – Special Concern) and the nationally rare Spotted Pondweed (Potamogeton pulcher, N1, S1) among many other rare species.
Fieldwork in Prince Edward Island, primarily for the PEI Mi’qmaqConfederacy, Prince Edward Island National Park and Prince Edward Island Department of Environment, Energy and Forestry resulted in the discovery of about 500 rare plant locations of over 100 rare species. These included three new native species for PEI – Meadow Sedge (Carex granularis), Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata) and Red-disk Pond-Lily (Nuphar lutea ssp. rubrodisca), as well as the first records for Water Pigmy-Weed (Crassula aquatica, S1) since 1888 and for Climbing False-Buckwheat (Polygonum scandens, S1) since 1953, the first definitively located PEI record for Yellow-Seed False-Pimpernel (Lindernia dubia, S1) and second island records for Menzies’ Rattlesnake-Plantain (Goodyera oblongifolia, S1), Slender Naiad (Najas flexilis, S1) and Hooker’s Orchid (Platanthera hookeri, S1).
Silky Dogwood (Cornus obliqua). Photo: Sean Blaney
Zoology Highlights, 2008. Denis Doucet, Atlantic Canada CDC.
The 2008 field season focused on surveys of three major New Brunswick watersheds for rare Odonata, mainly three COSEWIC candidate dragonflies – Ophiogomphus howei (Pygmy Snaketail, N1 S1), Gomphus ventricosus (Skillet Clubtail, N1 S1) and Neurocordulia obsoleta (Umber Shadowdragon, N2N4 S1). This effort was supported by the New Brunswick Environmental and Wildlife Trust Funds and follows up on very successful 2007 efforts in the Miramichi watershed, which found Canada’s first (and perhaps only) relatively stable population of the Pygmy Snaketail. That species was found, in low to moderate densities, at six sites along a 40 km section of the SW branch of the Miramichi River and one tributary (the Cains River). This summer’s efforts produced two new sites for the Pygmy Snaketail, including the first confirmed record (a single exuvium) for the Magaguadivic River. This summer’s work failed to produce any new records for the other two rare species, but did lead to significant new records of other rare species, including a third river in the Maritimes, the Meduxnekeag, for the American Rubyspot (Hetaerina americana), an N3N4 S2 damselfly.
The second field effort, supported by the Nova Scotia Species at Risk Conservation Fund, took place in the salt marshes along the Northumberland Strait of Nova Scotia between mid-July and early September. These marshes were surveyed for signs of the following endemic butterfly species: The Salt Marsh Copper (Lycaena dospassosi N2 SNR), the Maritime Ringlet (Coenonympha nipisiquit, N1 SNR) and the Short-tailed Swallowtail (Papilio brevicauda N2N3 S2). While no signs of the latter two species were located, a total of nine Salt Marsh Copper sites were located within 65 km of the New Brunswick border. Along with the discovery of Prince Edward Island’s first colony of this species in 2002 and nearly a dozen more found all around the Island subsequently (several by CDC staff or contract workers) , these new sites significantly extend the known range of this special little butterfly, one of only four species known to be endemic to Canada.
American Rubyspot (Hetaerina americana). Photo: Denis Doucet
Highlights from Ontario Natural Heritage Information Centre
Needleleaf Sedge (Carex duriuscula) New to Ontario. Michael J. Oldham, Sam Brinker and Wasyl D. Bakowsky, Ontarion NHIC.
Biologists from the Ontario Natural Heritage Information Centre have been conducting fieldwork in the Lake of the Woods area of northwestern Ontario for several years in order to improve information on tracked species in the area and contribute to biodiversity conservation initiatives underway by Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources field offices and partner organizations. This fieldwork has resulted in several additions to the Ontario flora, mostly prairie species reaching their eastern range limits in this part of the province. Early in 2008 we were informed by Dr. Tony Reznicek of the University of Michigan that a specimen we had collected during fieldwork in 2004 on Shoal Lake near the Manitoba border was in fact Needleleaf Sedge (Carex duriuscula), a species not previously known from Ontario, rather than Dryland Blunt Sedge (Carex obtusata) which we had initially identified it as.
In June of 2008 while conducting fieldwork in northwestern Ontario we revisited Shoal Lake and attempted to relocate Needleleaf Sedge at the site of our earlier collection. The site was still intact but we were unable to find Needleleaf Sedge, which is a small and inconspicuous species and could have been missed during our brief visit or perhaps the population has died out since 2004. Interestingly during the same trip we found a second Ontario site for Needleleaf Sedge on an island in Lake of the Woods. Needleleaf Sedge is one of a suite of rare Ontario plants which occur on dry, open rocky sites on islands and shorelines in the Lake of the Woods area often in association with Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa).
Needleleaf Sedge (Carex duriuscula), Lake of the Woods, Ontario. Photo: Sam Brinker
Toothed Umbrella-sedge (Cyperus dentatus) Rediscovered in Ontario. Sam Brinker, Michael J. Oldham and Wasyl D. Bakowsky, Ontarion NHIC.
Ontario NHIC botanists spent several days exploring wetlands and shoreline sites on portions of the Ottawa River north of Voyageur Provincial Park while assisting Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources staff in surveys for a highly invasive aquatic plant, Water-chestnut (Trapa natans) which is now established in one bay of the park (its only documented location in the province). Fortunately these surveys were unsuccessful in finding additional Water-chestnut populations. A secondary objective of the surveys involved searching for a number of rare vascular plants. Of particular interest was Toothed Umbrella-sedge (Cyperus dentatus), which reaches its northern and western distributional limits in Ontario, and has only been vouchered once from the province in 1982 on the south shore of the Ottawa River in Prescott and Russell County. In spite of attempts to relocate the population about a decade ago by NHIC botanists, it was not reconfirmed. With no observations made within the past 20 years, the species’ status was upgraded from S1 (critically imperiled, often 5 or fewer occurrences) to SH (possibly extirpated/historical). After a day of searching and despite high water levels this year and a lack of suitable exposed sandy-shoreline, NHIC botanists were able to locate two new populations of Toothed Umbrella-sedge, updating its status in Ontario from SH to S1.
Toothed Umbrella-sedge (Cyperus dentatus): close-up of proliferating spikelets. Photo: Sam Brinker
Cactus Mystery Solved in Ontario. Michael J. Oldham and Sam Brinker, Ontarion NHIC.
We have been informed by the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) about a newly discovered patch of prickly pear cactus at Long Point. The population was found by a couple of CWS staff while conducting (unsuccessful) surveys for Piping Plover along the Long Point beach. This discovery caused some excitement since Eastern Prickly Pear (Opuntia humifusa) is an Endangered species both provincially and nationally and was only known from Long Point based on an old (1883) literature report. Was this the rediscovery of a long lost native population of cactus on Long Point or a recent natural colonization (e.g. through cactus pad(s) washing up on the beach) or a deliberate human introduction?
By coincidence Sam and I were heading to Pelee Island late last week to assist with a Field Botanists of Ontario trip and inventory of recently acquired Nature Conservancy of Canada properties on the island. We were able to rearrange our schedule and participate in a site visit at Long Point last Thursday (with MNR SAR staff and CWS staff) to try and relocate the cactus population and attempt to determine its origin. We were successful in relocating the plants which grew on the side of a dune at least a kilometre from the nearest road or human habitation in a natural appearing setting (see attached photos). However, after a few moments of examining the bases of some of the cactus clumps, it was evident that these plants were associated with a potting medium, and after lifting one out of the ground (as you’ll see from the photo), it was obvious that the plants had recently been in pots – mystery solved! Several other planted populations of Eastern Prickly Pear are known in southern Ontario natural areas including at Turkey Point and Rondeau.
Although we now know that the cactus plants were deliberately planted at Long Point we do not know who planted them, where the cactus plants were originally from, or why they were planted. Since Eastern Prickly Pear plants from Canada’s only two native populations (at Point Pelee National Park and Fish Point Provincial Nature Reserve) have been genotyped (by Dr. Lesley Lovett-Doust of the University of Windsor, now of Lakehead University) we collected a sample for possible genetic analysis to help determine the origin of the Long Point plants. The origin of the Long Point cactus plants will help to decide what should be done with them. If they are from a native Canadian population they could potentially be repatriated to their original location. If the plants are not of Canadian origin they could potentially be removed and destroyed (this is a common species in the horticultural trade and plants could have originated from anywhere within the extensive range of the species). The Eastern Prickly Pear Recovery Team has been informed of this find and will assist in helping to determine what should become of the Long Point colony.
Prickly pear cactus at Long Point.
Interesting Field Discoveries from Quebec
2008. Jacques Labrecque, Centre de données sur le patrimoine naturel du Québec.
In August, two weeks were spent on Anticosti Island, looking for historical and potentially new occurrences of Symphyotrichum anticostense. Our survey confirmed the presence of this species along the four already known occurrences: Jupiter, Brick, Galiote and Chicotte Rivers. It was also found along three other rivers: aux Plats, aux Rats and Martin. In the center of the island, S. anticostense was observed on the shores of three lakes: Creux, Smith and au Rat-Musqué. Altough it is present in at least 10 occurrences, the populations are always small and local. During our survey we also added a new species to the flora of the island: Trichophorum clintonii.
In September, while taking photographs in alvars near the US border, a peculiar looking aster was observed. It turned out to be Symphyotrichum firmum (long known as Aster lucidulus or A. puniceus var. firmus). It is strikingly different from S. puniceum in the field, with its clonal habit, short internodes and very pale, almost white, ray flowers. The taxon was observed at three alvars: Roxham, Huntingdon and Henrysburg. The species was only known from an uncertain report in the Flore laurentienne (1935), and it was not reported for Quebec in the recent FNA treatment. So this is the first « solid » report for Quebec.
Anticosti Aster (Symphyotrichum anticostense). Photo: Jacques Labrecque
Hunting Flies in Yukon's Relict Dunes
Syd Cannings and Lea Randall, NatureServe Yukon.
NatureServe Yukon took up the challenge of mapping the range of the rare Dune Tachinid Fly (Germaria angustata Zetterstedt) this past summer, and found it in a number of relict dune sites in southwestern Yukon. Previously, this fly was known only from one location in Yukon in North America, a discovery made in 1987 by Monty Wood of Agriculture Canada in Ottawa. There is good reason to believe that this fly survived the last glaciation in the Yukon, contracting its range as the great periglacial dune fields stabilized and became forested.
Monty and his student, Michal Polak, searched for it in a number of the large dune complexes of the northwest, but could find it only at the Carcross Dunes. Because of its extremely restricted range, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) identified the Dune Tachinid Fly as a high priority for assessment. Another dune specialist in the southwestern Yukon, the Baikal Sedge (Carex sabulosa), is listed as Threatened under the federal Species at Risk Act.
Germaria angustata isn’t much to look at when you see it first—a medium-sized (9 mm long), blackish, bristly fly zipping about the bare sand—but closer up, it is quite attractive… in an alien sort of way! Tachinid flies are parasites of the larvae of other insects, often moths. We don’t know the host of this species, but experts suspect it may be the caterpillar of the Coast Dart (Euxoa cursoria), a noctuid moth that occurs in the same locality and has a similar global distribution. Coast Dart larvae are cutworms that feed on the roots of a variety of dune plants. There are, however, other moths inhabiting these dunes that could be hosts.
We surveyed four general areas this past summer and found Dune Tachinid Flies wherever we sampled, with the exception of one small Baikal Sedge site between Carcross and Whitehorse. They flew at the Dezadeash River dunes in Kluane National Park, the Takhini River dunes in Kusawa Territorial Park, the Carcross dunes at the head of Bennett Lake, and at several small sand blowouts near the city of Whitehorse. Next summer we hope to look for them (and expect to find them) at a few more small sites in the region, identified from satellite photos.
So is the Dune Tachinid Fly too common to be considered a threatened species? Well, even though we found it wherever we looked, the active dunes that it requires are still few and terribly small amidst the vastness of the Yukon wilderness. Some are protected in parks, but others are being impacted by recreational vehicles, and some may be shrinking still as the boreal forest slowly reclaims them. The experts on COSEWIC will look at all these factors when making their decision.
Takhini River dunes in Kusawa Territorial Park, Yukon. Photo: Syd Cannings
Tiny Plant, Big Discovery in Northwest Territories
Dr. Paul M. Catling, Agriculture Canada, and Dr. Suzanne Carrière, Environment & Natural Resources, NWT Government.
During a study of world-class limestone features south of Great Bear Lake in July 2007, botanists Dr. Paul Catling and Ms. Jennifer Skelton with the help of a geomophologist, Dr. Derek Ford, discovered a tiny plant that has never before been found in Northwest Territories. Not only is it new to the territories, but it is one of the rarest plants in North America. Although it also occurs in Europe and Asia, it is very rare there as well. It is listed in the IUCN red book as globally rare.
Although it is easily overlooked, certainly one of the things that make Moss Grass rare is its special habitat. It occurs in deep lake bottoms that become exposed as the lakes drain underground through the porous rock of the limestone plateau. Each spring snow melt and runoff into the depression causes a large lake to form. Then as the season progresses, water drains underground and the water level drops as much as 20 metres leaving bands of different kinds of vegetation related to the different lengths of exposure. On the drying mud of the last part of the lake to disappear, where water was 20 metres deep only a few months earlier, the seeds of moss grass and other tiny rarities germinate and grow quickly to create a seedbank for the next year when the lake will disappear again.
The correct term for a disappearing lake of this kind is “polje”, a Slovenian term for large sunken and closed depressions that drain underground. The poljes are one of a number of karst (meaning limestone) features that are remarkably well developed in the Northwest Territories. Other karst features include caves with disappearing rivers, columns, arches, and sinkholes. Some of the karst in Northwest Territories is significant on a world scale. The remarkable karst topography is accompanied by unusual biological features, Moss Grass being a good example.
Moss Grass (Coleanthus subtilis)
