Goose Pond Fauna, And A Final Note On The Goose Pond Biodiversity Survey

I've already posted in general about the recent Goose Pond Biodiversity Survey, and in more detail about the results of our vascular plant survey, so this post will be dedicated to the fauna observed during the event.

The bird highlight for me was seeing so many Black-necked Stilts (Himantopus mexicanus) throughout the marsh communities. Aptly named for the black plumage on the backs of their necks and the long, pink legs, this shorebird species was not known to breed in Indiana until as recently as 2005. With the restoration of ~4,000 acres of marsh habitat, Goose Pond is now a hot spot for this otherwise primarily coastal species, as 19 Black-necked Stilts were tallied during the two-day survey.


In the seeded prairies, Sedge Wrens (Cistothorus platensis) were singing constantly. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get photos of the Henslow's Sparrows (Ammodramus henslowii) that were also giving their insect-like "tsilik" songs from the same prairies. Both of these grassland species are listed as State Endangered in Indiana, and without the installation of ~1400 acres of prairie on the preserve, they would not be as successful in Greene County, Indiana as they are today.


A common butterfly, Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus), has also benefitted somewhat from the restoration at Goose Pond; however, this species is widespread and often thrives in weedy old-field areas as well as prairies. If you're not watching for butterflies, this one can go undetected, as its wingspan only totals ~1 inch.


The much more conspicuous species shown below is a female Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes), which has a wingspan of 3 1/4 to 4 1/4 inches. Black Swallowtails are found throughout the eastern 2/3 of the continental United States, in all sorts of open habitats.


Thanks to Don Gorney and Sandy Belth for verifying my butterfly identifications.

The Smartweed Caterpillar (Acronicta oblinita) is a common species of open, often moist habitats throughout eastern North America. As the common name implies, larvae of this species often feed on smartweeds (Polygonum spp.), but they will also feed on a variety of other plant species including forbs, shrubs, and trees. As an adult moth, this species is known as a Smeared Dagger Moth. Identification in the field was made by Ben Hess.


One of the common dragonflies observed at Goose Pond was the Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia, aka Libellula lydia), a member of the group known as Skimmers. Common Whitetails display sexual dimorphism, as the males (shown below) and females look quite different. This conspicuous species can be found in nearly any wet area throughout the Lower 48, as well as in southeastern Canada.


Another common dragonfly found in abundance at Goose Pond was the Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis). Another "Skimmer," this species is also widespread, found in all types of wet areas throughout most of the contiguous United States and into portions of southern Canada. In the photograph below, the male Blue Dasher is shown in "obelisk" position, a posture taken to reduce the amount of surface area exposed to the sun to prevent overheating. As you can see in this Wikipedia link, the posture of the Blue Dasher below is in fact reminiscent of an obelisk.


For most of the two days, my eyes were focused on the ground, so my fauna observations were limited. However, the article below, printed in the Bloomington Herald Times, gives a nice recap of the wildlife that was observed, and of the biodiversity survey in general.

Portrait of life: Goose Pond biodiversity survey paints a picture of wildlife that call southern Indiana wetlands home
By Dawn Hewitt
7/25/2010
Who would have dreamed that bog lemmings live at Goose Pond? The small rodent is found in grassy openings in forests and forest edges, especially where sedges, ferns and shrubs grow, and not in corn and soybean fields. Somehow, the hardy little mammals survived a century of draining, plowing, row crops, pesticides, fertilizers and bulldozing during wetlands restoration.

The critter was one of thousands caught and cataloged July 16 and 17 during the first Goose Pond Biodiversity Survey. The newly restored, 8,000-plus acre state fish and wildlife area is teeming with life. The bird species the wetlands have attracted have been well documented and jaw-dropping at times. But what else is out there?

Scientists from across the state and beyond joined forces to address that question. Organized and co-sponsored by the Indiana Academy of Science and Friends of Goose Pond, 82 biologists, including botanists, ichthyologists, lepidopterists and other entomologists, herpetologists, mammalogists, ornithologists and biogeochemists went into the fields and marshes in an attempt to paint a two-day, summertime picture of all life forms present there.

While the lemming was a shocking find, many scientists were more impressed with the sheer numbers of organisms found.

“We didn’t find anything exceptional, but the abundance is phenomenal,” said herpetologist team leader Daryl Kerns, with the IAS and a biology professor at Hanover College. The school’s Rivers Institute was also a key player in organizing the event.

Goose Pond property manager Brad Feaster provided some preliminary results:
• Vascular plants: more than 400 species identified so far
• Beetles: 79 species and counting
• Butterflies: 47 species
• Moths: 41 species and counting
• Dragonflies: 22 species
• Reptiles and amphibians: 19 species
• Birds: 123 species

Many reports and final tallies are still to come from the 13 teams that were in the field that weekend. Team leaders have until Aug. 16 to submit their results, and some will spend a month sorting, identifying and counting.

The entomologists collected literally buckets of bugs that will take weeks to identify. Some set up bright lights in fields at night, and the insects dove by the thousands onto collecting sheets.

The final results will be published in the Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Sciences and will also be made available to the public. Such a list already exists for birds on the web at www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/3094.htm.

Other species likely or known to be at Goose Pond will not show up in the survey because they are dormant this time of year, or simply weren’t found on the two-day search, Feaster said.

“This one event will significantly expand our knowledge of the biota at Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area,” Feaster said.

Barbara Simpson, a member of Friends of Goose Pond and key organizer of the event, said publishing the results will encourage nature lovers to document additional species there. “It will be like an on-going treasure hunt,” she said.

Simpson said the success of the survey includes more than species tallies, but also the enthusiastic participation of scientists, students, nature lovers and volunteers, all of whom donated their time and expertise to the project, including travel expenses. In return, they got free meals and lodging, a chance to socialize with like-minded biologists, and an opportunity to explore the re-established wetlands.

Goose Pond is “well-managed for diversity, and suitable to become a world-class natural resource,” Kerns said.

Goose Pond Flora Highlights

In my previous post, I provided a bit of background about the Goose Pond Biodiversity Survey, which took place on 16-17 July 2010. In this post, I will point out some of the highlights of our vascular plant inventory during the two-day event.

As I couldn't resist mentioning in my previous post, one of our highlight plants was Purple Fringeless Orchid (Platanthera peramoena), shown below. So common is this orchid in the southern part of Indiana that it is often found on roadsides with Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata), which possesses a similar habit and flower color. Like several other orchid species, Purple Fringeless Orchid seems to do well in situations with some disturbance. This colony of 18 individuals was growing along a forest edge with Tall Fescue (Schedonorus phoenix). Purple Fringeless Orchid is known to occur through much of the southern 3/4 of the eastern United States.


Many of you have probably heard the phrase "sedges have edges," a rhyme generally used by students to distinguish the often triangular stemmed members of the sedge family (Cyperaceae) from the round or flattened stems of plants in the grass (Poaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) families. The sedge below takes "sedges have edges" to the extreme, as it has not just three edges, but four! Ben Hess (of Ben and Joy) found this population and quickly alerted us to come and see what he found. We were thrilled to see that Ben had found Squarestem Spikerush (Eleocharis quadrangulata), shown below. Until Kirk Roth, working on the butterfly survey crew, showed us Purple Fringeless Orchid, this was our highlight, and it still ranks a very close second. Squarestem Spikerush has an interesting North American range, found from the East Coast to Texas and Ontario, and also in a few counties in California and Oregon. Its Indiana distribution is nearly as odd, as it is known from shallow water wetlands in scattered counties in the northern and southern thirds of the state, but not from the central third. We found one additional population of this species at Goose Pond, and I believe that our collection represents a first record of this unique spikerush for Greene County, Indiana.


As if one crazy sedge was not enough for a weekend, my survey crew was lucky enough to see yet another. As one member of my team pointed out, the inflorescence of the sedge below looks a bit like that of Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium), prompting him to state that the Latin name of this plant should be Cyperus eryngiumyuccifolioides. Luckily we don't have to deal with that tongue-twister, as this plant was simply named for its spiny spikes and was given the Latin name Cyperus echinatus and the common name Globe Flatsedge. This was a lifer for me, but it was one of those unmistakable plants that I'd read about and knew as soon as I saw it. In Sedges of Indiana and the Adjacent States: The Non-Carex Species, Rothrock points out that the entire spikelets fall from this plant as intact units, a trait unusual to members of the genus Cyperus. Another likely county record, Clustered Umbrella Sedge, as this species is also known, has been observed in scattered counties in the southern third of Indiana; its North American distribution ranges from New Mexico to Wisconsin east to the East Coast.


Another unique species that I don't recall seeing before the Goose Pond survey but that I recognized at first glance was Roundleaf Water-hyssop (Bacopa rotundifolia), shown below. This species is considered Threatened in Indiana, and represents yet another first record for Greene County, Indiana. With a distribution in the United States from coast-to-coast and country border-to-country border, Roundleaf Water-hyssop grows in shallow water and mudflats, including in and around streams, lakes, ponds, sloughs, swamps, and ditches.


The last flora highlight that I will point out in this post is shown below.


If you're like 95% of the people who have a casual to decent understanding of Indiana's flora, you are wondering why I'm showing a photo of Broadleaf Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia) and considering it a highlight. However, if you were part of the Vascular Plant Team at the Goose Pond Biodiversity Survey, you are keen enough to know that there are several species of arrowhead in Indiana. The most common species of arrowhead that we came across was actually Shortbeak Arrowhead (Sagittaria brevirostra), but the species shown above and below is neither Broadleaf Arrowhead nor Shortbeak Arrowhead. Instead, this is Hooded Arrowhead (Sagittaria calycina var. calycina), a species found in the southern 1/3 of Indiana and in much of the United States.

In the photograph below, you can see the identifying characteristics of Hooded Arrowhead. You have to look closely, but you will notice that the flowers are perfect (they have male and female parts). This, in addition to the fruit on recurved stalks and the appressed sepals when in fruit, are the identifying characteristics of the widespread Hooded Arrowhead, which is often found along rivers and lakes and in mudflats, and which probably often goes undetected.


Our total species list for the site will end up north of 375; not bad for a two-day survey of a wetland restoration and prairie planting.

Goose Pond Biodiversity Survey - A Rousing Success!

This past weekend (16-17 July 2010), I participated in the Goose Pond Biodiversity Survey near Linton in Greene County, Indiana. This event, sponsored by Rivers Institute at Hanover College, Amos W. Butler Audubon Society, Indiana Academy of Science, Indiana Department of Natural Resources - Division of Fish and Wildlife, Friends of Goose Pond, and Greene County Soil and Water Conservation District, was created in the general mold of a bioblitz. The purpose was to collect baseline data in a variety of disciplines, and a total of 98 scientists and college students from around the state and beyond attended to provide their expertise. Data were gathered on everything from fish to macroinvertebrates to mammals to butterflies; there was even a biogeochemistry team on hand. The plan is to hold another similar event at Goose Pond in five to ten years to document how conditions have changed and what impact these changes have had on the species that call Goose Pond their home. My role in this year's event was to serve as team leader for the vascular plant survey team.


Goose Pond (including Beehunter Marsh) is an approximately 8000-acre property that was farmed as recently as within the past five to ten years. Restoration efforts have focused on marsh, tallgrass prairie, shortgrass prairie, and upland forest communities. Trees were planted and prairie species were seeded in locations with appropriate hydrologic regimes; however, all wetland restoration (4000 acres worth) has occurred through natural regeneration of the seedbank and recruitment from nearby wetlands. The results so far are very encouraging.


The vascular plant team consisted of Don Ruch, Paul Rothrock, Kevin Tungesvick, Chris Reidy, John Taylor, Ben Hess, Bruce Behan, Ed Paynter, Grace Chapman, and me. We were joined by other individuals at various times.


Although we were not able to intensively cover the entire property in just two days, we think that we've recorded at least 75% of the plant species present on the site. It will be very interesting to see what management decisions are made for the property long term, and how these decisions will shape the biodiversity of the site over time.


I plan to post one or two more entries about the results of the biodiversity survey, including photos of some of the plants and animals that I observed, in the next couple of weeks. One of our highlights, though, that I can't resist mentioning now, was Purple Fringeless Orchid (Platanthera peramoena), showed to our team by Kirk Roth, who was inventorying butterflies during the event. Below is a photograph of several members of our team photographing and observing this attractive plant. For more photos and more information on Purple Fringeless Orchid, see my post on Get Your Botany On!.


So, what are the preliminary results of the biodiversity survey, you ask? Take a look at the sheet below...


Final results will be submitted for publication in Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science. In the meantime, be sure to check out the post about the biodiversity survey on the Amos W. Butler Audubon Society blog.

Loblolly Marsh Bioblitz

This past Friday and Saturday, I attended my third bioblitz of the year, this time at Loblolly Marsh in Jay County, Indiana. As recently as 1997, Loblolly (apparently named for the "stinking river" that once ran through the site) was agricultural field. Thanks to the tireless work of many, and especially Ken Brunswick, subsurface drainage tiles have been removed and what was once wetland is now wetland again. There is also tallgrass prairie in the restored areas, and trees have been planted in select locations to restore forest.

Much of our 24-hour biological inventory took place within these restored communities, but a portion of the inventory occurred in a natural oak-hickory woodland. Our botanical inventory yielded approximately 360 vascular plant species. Some of these were planted or seeded, but the majority were either in the natural woodland or were restored from the existing seed bank after a more natural hydrologic regime was restored.

I was so busy writing down plants and looking for new ones that I didn't have time to take many photos. Those that I did take were mostly of plants along the road.

This is Troublesome Sedge, Carex molesta. I find it often this member of the Sedge family (Cyperaceae) in ditches, along roads, and in former agricultural fields that are naturally revegetating. Although somewhat weedy, this native sedge really is a beautiful plant. It can be found throughout much of eastern North America, in the Great Plains, and in California.

This was a new one for me in Indiana. Pinkladies (or Showy Evening Primrose), Oenothera speciosa, is not native in Indiana, but has persisted along the road at Loblolly Marsh for many years. These flowers are a good three inches across, making a colony of them nothing short of showy. I usually think that plants with flowers this large are too flashy; however, this one doesn't fit in this category, as I find it quite attractive. Pinkladies is a member of the Evening Primrose family (Onagraceae).

Limestone Wild Petunia, Ruellia strepens, is a common plant in northeast Indiana, but it is only known from two historic collections at a single location in northcentral/northwest Indiana. Range-wide, it is know from Nebraska south to Texas and east to the East Coast. I have only ever seen this member of the Acanthus family (Acanthaceae) growing in calcareous soils or in shallow soil over limestone (such as on glades).

The highlight for me in the woods was American Columbo, Frasera caroliniensis, a member of the Gentian family (Gentianaceae). I've only seen this species a couple of times before, and it was not flowering either of those times. American Columbo forms a large, distinctive basal rosette of leaves, making it easily identifiable prior to bolting to a height of up to 8 feet tall. And those flowers are something else, too. Now that's an attractive flower! To see a famous photo of the plant in its full glory, click here.

We had a wonderful time at the bioblitz, and there was a good public turnout as well. While one goal for a bioblitz is to obtain a biological inventory for a site, another goal is public involvement and education. Students and families come to the bioblitz to join the inventory teams, find out how scientists work, and learn about the diversity of life that can be found in a single 24-hour period right in their backyards. It's great to see kids get involved and get excited about nature, and it gives me hope that there may be a next generation of naturalists on the horizon.

Indiana Dunes BioBlitz - Will You Be There?

The National Geographic/National Park Service 24-hour BioBlitz at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore will be held on May 15-16, 2009. Public registration for this event is now open. I am leading botany/birding groups from 1PM-4PM Friday, 4:30PM-8PM Friday, and 8AM-12PM Saturday. Karen Quinlan is also leading botany groups at these times. If you are available, you should really try to make it to this huge event. There are limits on the number of people that can join each field team, and joining a team is handled on a first come, first served basis, so reserve your spots early. Visit the official Indiana Dunes BioBlitz website for more details and to sign up for the event. I hope to see you there!

Chamaesyce polygonifolia, August 12, 2006