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--Boundary_(ID_tAEBubiUu3mJ03wWk6eLfQ) Content-type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT [Somebody wrote to me quite a while ago and asked for the Latinized name of the fairy shrimp -- I haven't forgotten about that, but I haven't yet tried to find that name for the report -- when I do find it, I will send that out to everybody! Apologies also for the length below, from Jim in Wolfville.] MAY 29, 2011 - Blomidon Park Pond Life Field Trip for N.S. Dept. of Nat. Resources and Blomidon Naturalists Society, led by Jim Wolford. We had a nice warm day (up to 25 C.) with Sunny breaks but mostly overcast, windy at first but calm in the woods, with black flies present but not a problem -- small housefly-like flies were the biggest problem for myself, since they seem to be attracted by my perspiration? Perhaps 20 people were along for most of the way, including Andy Dean, Bernard Forsythe, and Richard Stern; thus I didn't need to point out the birds at all. Also with us was Cecil ? , a seasonal employee of the Dept. of Nat. Resources. My welcome to the walk emphasized the conflicting mandates of both provincial and national parks: protection of representative habitats and all forms of biodiversity, AND the recreational uses of the outdoors by people. I mentioned that everything is protected in these parks, and that I had a special one-day permit to temporarily collect pond life with a dip-net for educational purposes, with the proviso that anything collected gets quickly returned to its habitat. Usually this annual late-May foray finds an early-Spring forest floor, but I found the flora to be quite advanced, despite our very cool and wet Spring. Red trilliums/trillia? were nearly all finished with blooming; flowers seen included pin cherry along park road, trailing raspberries or dewberries, blue-bead lily or Clintonia, bunchberry or Canada dogwood, red-berried baneberry, hobblebush, American fly honeysuckle, striped maple or moose maple, wild strawberry and blue violets in the big open field where we parked our cars by the park trail map, and red elderberry near the registration building. Of course the abundant, but provincially very rare, wild leeks in leaf were shown and discussed. Other plants pointed out included mountain maple (lots), sugar maple, red spruce vs. balsam fir, Christmas fern, New York fern, sensitive fern, and ostrich fern (but most of the latter in the nw. corner of the campground seem to be gone now -- look for oodles of them along the descending steps just north of the lower park parking lot. Birds heard or seen included ovenbird, Am. redstart, black-throated green warbler, winter wren (at the pond), red-eyed vireo, raven, black-throated blue warbler, etc. (others could add several species). Less than a mile along this part of the Jodrey Trail is the very special vernal or ephemeral woodland pond with no inlet or outlet. Water here comes from Spring runoff/melt, plus any precipitation during the year, plus perhaps seeps from springs? This year I was particularly interested in how the pond life would appear, since last year the pond was extremely dry and nearly non-existent in late May, after a very warm and very dry Spring. We had a light moment at the pond when we all had to wait a bit for my second rubber boot to arrive (volunteers carried the two buckets with one boot in each). This year the pond is predictably very large and very full of water. As usual I set up two upturned buckets and white enamel pans on top of them with pond water, and then swept my dip-net back and forth a few times through the pond water. The emptied net contents revealed much less life than we are used to seeing there. Medium-sized dark tadpoles (of wood frogs?) were most obvious, but much less abundant than in other years. And a single spring peeper was heard calling. We did find the very rare fairy shrimps, but only a few of both sexes, and the females had egg-sacs at their tail-bases. These would have laid very few eggs last year, and it might take a few to several years to bring the population back up. Other crustaceans seen were lots of tiny "water fleas" (Daphnia relatives). These Cladocerans were seen to form dense active clusters in the corner of the enamel pan where reflected light was maximal (adaptation for finding food, i.e., microscopic swimming algae). Also a few small red water mites were present. Lots of black flatworms or planarians were gliding on the pan bottoms, and there were a few small snails. Aquatic insects: this year there were no damselfly larvae, no caddisfly larvae in cases, very few fly larvae (one mosquito larva, 1 fly pupa, no midge larvae), only one aquatic beetle larva, one very tiny dragonfly larva, and one big adult swimming backswimmer. Because the water level was so high, it was difficult to find places to look for bright green masses of eggs of yellow-spotted salamanders, which are seen there in most years. My guess is that they were probably present but just not observable, being below the surface attached to sticks or aquatic vegetation. (The symbiotic alga is only found associated with amphibian eggs; the salamander larvae use the oxygen produced by the algae to speed their development, and in turn the algae utilize the waste products of the developing salamanders -- thus a mutualistic symbiosis benefitting both partners.) --Boundary_(ID_tAEBubiUu3mJ03wWk6eLfQ) Content-type: text/html; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable <html><body style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; = -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "> <div>[Somebody wrote to me quite a while ago and asked for the Latinized = name of the fairy shrimp -- I haven't forgotten about that, but I = haven't yet tried to find that name for the report -- when I do find it, = I will send that out to everybody! Apologies also for the length = below, from Jim in Wolfville.]</div><div><br></div><div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"5" style=3D"font: = 20.0px Helvetica"><b>MAY 29, 2011 - Blomidon Park Pond Life Field Trip = </b>for N.S. Dept. of Nat. Resources and Blomidon Naturalists Society, = led by Jim Wolford. </font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal = normal normal 20px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 24px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"5" style=3D"font: = 20.0px Helvetica">We had a nice warm day (up to 25 C.) with Sunny breaks = but mostly overcast, windy at first but calm in the woods, with black = flies present but not a problem -- small housefly-like flies were the = biggest problem for myself, since they seem to be attracted by my = perspiration?</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: = 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 20px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 24px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"5" style=3D"font: = 20.0px Helvetica">Perhaps 20 people were along for most of the way, = including Andy Dean, Bernard Forsythe, and Richard Stern; thus I didn't = need to point out the birds at all. Also with us was Cecil ? , a = seasonal employee of the Dept. of Nat. Resources.</font></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 20px/normal Helvetica; = min-height: 24px; "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font = face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"5" style=3D"font: 20.0px Helvetica">My = welcome to the walk emphasized the <b>conflicting mandates of</b> both = provincial and national <b>parks</b>: protection of representative = habitats and all forms of biodiversity, AND the recreational uses of the = outdoors by people. I mentioned that everything is protected in = these parks, and that I had a special one-day permit to temporarily = collect pond life with a dip-net for educational purposes, with the = proviso that anything collected gets quickly returned to its = habitat.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 20px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 24px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"5" style=3D"font: = 20.0px Helvetica">Usually this annual late-May foray finds an = early-Spring forest floor, but I found the flora to be quite advanced, = despite our very cool and wet Spring. Red trilliums/trillia? were = nearly all finished with blooming; flowers seen included <b>pin = cherry</b> along park road, trailing raspberries or <b>dewberries</b>, = <b>blue-bead lily</b> or Clintonia, <b>bunchberry</b> or Canada dogwood, = <b>red-berried baneberry</b>, <b>hobblebush</b>, <b>American fly = honeysuckle</b>, <b>striped maple</b> or moose maple, <b>wild</b> = <b>strawberry</b> and <b>blue violets</b> in the big open field where we = parked our cars by the park trail map, and <b>red elderberry</b> near = the registration building. Of course the abundant, but = provincially very rare, <b>wild leeks</b> in leaf were shown and = discussed. Other plants pointed out included mountain maple = (lots), sugar maple, red spruce vs. balsam fir, Christmas fern, New York = fern, sensitive fern, and ostrich fern (but most of the latter in the = nw. corner of the campground seem to be gone now -- look for oodles of = them along the descending steps just north of the lower park parking = lot.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 20px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 24px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"5" style=3D"font: = 20.0px Helvetica"><b>Birds heard or seen</b> included ovenbird, Am. = redstart, black-throated green warbler, winter wren (at the pond), = red-eyed vireo, raven, black-throated blue warbler, etc. (others could = add several species).</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal = normal normal 20px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 24px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"5" style=3D"font: = 20.0px Helvetica">Less than a mile along this part of the Jodrey Trail = is the very special <b>vernal or ephemeral woodland pond</b> with no = inlet or outlet. Water here comes from Spring runoff/melt, plus = any precipitation during the year, plus perhaps seeps from = springs? This year I was particularly interested in how the pond = life would appear, since <b>last year</b> the pond was extremely dry and = nearly non-existent in late May, after a very warm and very dry = Spring.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 20px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 24px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"5" style=3D"font: = 20.0px Helvetica">We had a light moment at the pond when we all = had to wait a bit for my second rubber boot to arrive (volunteers = carried the two buckets with one boot in each). = </font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 20px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 24px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"5" style=3D"font: = 20.0px Helvetica"><b>This year</b> the pond is predictably very large = and very full of water. As usual I set up two upturned buckets and = white enamel pans on top of them with pond water, and then swept my = dip-net back and forth a few times through the pond water. The = emptied net contents revealed much less life than we are used to seeing = there. </font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: = 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 20px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 24px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"5" style=3D"font: = 20.0px Helvetica">Medium-sized dark <b>tadpoles (of wood frogs?)</b> = were most obvious, but much less abundant than in other years. And = a single spring peeper was heard calling. </font></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 20px/normal Helvetica; = min-height: 24px; "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font = face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"5" style=3D"font: 20.0px Helvetica">We did = find the very rare <b>fairy shrimps</b>, but only a few of both sexes, = and the females had egg-sacs at their tail-bases. These would have = laid very few eggs last year, and it might take a few to several years = to bring the population back up.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: = 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: = normal normal normal 20px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 24px; = "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" = size=3D"5" style=3D"font: 20.0px Helvetica">Other crustaceans seen were = lots of tiny <b>"water fleas"</b> (<i>Daphnia</i> relatives). = These Cladocerans were seen to form dense active clusters in the corner = of the enamel pan where reflected light was maximal (adaptation for = finding food, i.e., microscopic swimming algae). Also a few small = red <b>water mites</b> were present.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top:= 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: = normal normal normal 20px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 24px; = "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" = size=3D"5" style=3D"font: 20.0px Helvetica">Lots of black<b> = flatworms</b> or planarians were gliding on the pan bottoms, and there = were a few small <b>snails</b>.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: = 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: = normal normal normal 20px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 24px; = "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" = size=3D"5" style=3D"font: 20.0px Helvetica"><b>Aquatic insects</b>: this = year there were no damselfly larvae, no caddisfly larvae in cases, very = few fly larvae (one mosquito larva, 1 fly pupa, no midge larvae), only = one aquatic beetle larva, one very tiny dragonfly larva, and one big = adult swimming backswimmer. </font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: = 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: = normal normal normal 20px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 24px; = "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" = size=3D"5" style=3D"font: 20.0px Helvetica">Because the water level was = so high, it was difficult to find places to look for bright green masses = of <b>eggs of yellow-spotted salamanders</b>, which are seen there in = most years. My guess is that they were probably present but just = not observable, being below the surface attached to sticks or aquatic = vegetation. (The <b>symbiotic alga</b> is only found associated = with amphibian eggs; the salamander larvae use the oxygen produced by = the algae to speed their development, and in turn the algae utilize the = waste products of the developing salamanders -- thus a <b>mutualistic = symbiosis</b> benefitting both = partners.)</font></div></div></body></html>= --Boundary_(ID_tAEBubiUu3mJ03wWk6eLfQ)--
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