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Index of Subjects Just a reminder to all you Wild-Floraites going on the walk, keep an eye out for ticks, especially in the Spryfield area. If you get any, we would appreciate seeing them. As an alternative, take them to your nearest DNR office for processing. Many Thanks Andrew A Hebda Curator of Zoology Nova Scotia Museum >>> Anne Mills <ocotillo@ns.sympatico.ca> 8/8/2006 7:49 PM >>> Upcoming NS Wild Flora Society walks. The NS Wild Flora Society will host a series of walks in Halifax intended to survey the urban flora of several "roadsides & waste places", as the field guides and other botanical publications like to describe them. These tend to be places that are neglected by amateur naturalists, yet harbour may many interesting plants. It will be interesting to see how many species previously unrecorded in N.S. we find! This project is the idea of Prof. Jeremy Lundholm of St. Mary's University. Prof. Lundholm's introduction is printed below... Urban Botany An increasing portion of the world’s population lives in cities. In Canada, we are over 80% urban. As an ecologist, this trend begs several questions: What kinds of habitats are present in cities? What value does urban biodiversity have? How can remnant natural habitats survive in cities? Urban ecological research has been a neglected component of the whole field of ecology. This has changed in the last 10 years, with studies of urban plants, birds, insects, mammals, nutrient flows and other parameters. Urban ecology is crucial not just to increase our scientific understanding of human impacts, but perhaps most importantly that the majority of our population grows up with experience primarily of urban habitats. In order for these people to grow up with any feel for the natural world, it may be necessary to revitalize our conception of urban habitats and celebrate the biodiversity that is there. As botanists, urban areas are interesting first because they are dominated by non-native species, especially in disturbed or artificial substrates away from remnants of natural habitats. Many are concerned that cities represent a source of potential biological invaders that can colonize natural areas. Certainly some introduced plants can cause problems for natives, but these are a small minority of all the non-native species found in urban areas. Many of these species are in fact, found only in urban areas, and sometimes in very specific urban habitats, such as pavement cracks or roadsides. Halifax is an important place for the study of exotic urban plants because it represents a ‘ground zero’ for introductions via our port and the terminus of a cross-continental rail line. A second point of interest for urban botanists is the sheer diversity of urban plants and their ability to grow in the harshest of environments. Many of these species originally evolved in dry rocky areas, which may explain their abundance in urban sites such as gravel parking lots and pavement cracks. Many botanists look down upon urban plants as consisting mainly of a few scraggly weeds, but these plants are the ones we share are immediate environment with. They are our compatriots: we have built it and that’s why they have come! I believe that we should get to know are closest neighbours in the plant world. Eventually, we may actually come to respect them for their sheer toughness but also elucidate any ecological value they may have. One of the first tasks that faces anyone interested in urban botany is to assemble a list of species for any given area of interest. This is especially important here, given the probability of new introductions to the Maritimes entering through Halifax first. Indeed, we have already discovered one new species for the province while surveying an especially species-rich vacant lot in Spryfield! While an exhaustive list of plant species for even an area as small as the peninsula of Halifax is a daunting prospect, we can make this easier by starting with certain species-rich sites that will contain a large proportion of interesting species we are likely to encounter. I suggest that we pick two or three areas for repeated sampling this summer (this is the fun kind of sampling which simply involves identifying plants and making species lists, not the kind plant ecologists usually do) and develop comprehensive lists for these areas. We should also start a database to be circulated to the membership whereby we can take the provincial species list and simply submit sight records for any species we know are in Halifax (we need to carefully define the region of interest*the whole of HRM is way too big and mostly not urban anyway). Any takers? -- Jeremy Lundholm The walks are: Date: Monday August 14 2006 Time: 6:30 p.m. Place: Roach's Pond, Spryfield. Directions: Take the Herring Cove Rd & travel about 5 kilometres from the Armdale Rotary (or about 2 kilometres from Sussex St.). Look for Mansion Rd. on the right; Roach's Pond is just across Herring Cove Rd. There is a small parking area along Herring Cove Rd. Date: Monday August 28 2006 Time: 6:30 p.m. Place: Along the railway across from the Pier 21 parking lot. Directions: Barrington St. to South St. to Terminal Rd. to Marginal Rd., which runs behind the Hotel Nova Scotian & Via Rail Station. Date: Saturday September 9 2006 Time: 10:00 a.m. Place: Roach's Pond, Spryfield Directions: as above Note: After this walk, we will take unidentified specimens to the botany lab at St. Mary's to work on identification. Date: Saturday September 16 2006 Time: 10:00 a.m. Place: Seaview Park Directions: Seaview Park is adjacent to the Fairview Container Pier, on North Marginal Rd. (not to be confused with the location of walk #2, which is at the other end of Barrington St.!). It is reached either from Barrington St. or via McIntosh St. off Lady Hammond Rd. Note: After this walk, we will take unidentified specimens to the botany lab at St. Mary's to work on identification. For further information, contact Barry Sawyer, NS Wild Flora Society, at (902) 445-4938.
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Index of Subjects