A Fen-tastic Saturday Morning, Part I

This past Saturday morning, I had the opportunity to visit three of northeastern Indiana's best fen preserves with Nate Simons of Blue Heron Ministries and Indiana Department of Natural Resources - Division of Nature Preserves. In this and my next two posts on this blog, I will focus on the plant communities and some of the plants and butterflies we saw during our five or so hours of botanizing these highly diverse and interesting sites.


A fen is a unique wetland type that receives much of its water via groundwater flow. Fens are often mineral-rich systems, but mineral-poor fens also exist. Another unique wetland community that occurs in northeastern Indiana is bog; bogs differ from fens in that they are located in historic glacial lakes and therefore are not connected to groundwater flow, receiving nearly all of their mineral-poor water from precipitation. In northeastern Indiana, fens are often located at the base of glacial moraines. Groundwater coming from the sandy or gravelly moraine picks up calcium and other minerals and often surfaces as a seep or spring, then begins to flow downslope through the soil towards a river or lake (as in the photograph above, taken at the point where Nasby Fen is adjacent to the Pigeon River). A hardpan layer (often marl) beneath the ground surface keeps the water close to the surface as it continues to follow the gradient. This results in a surface soil layer (often muck) that is nearly always saturated with calcium-rich water. This groundwater often surfaces at other points in the fen, known as marl flats, where the marl layer is at the surface.


Above is another photograph of Nasby Fen, the larget fen in the Pigeon River system (and maybe in the state). In this photograph, you can see the diverse structure and composition of a typical northern Indiana fen. These fens consist of a mix of species common in other plant communities that are not expected to be seen growing together. Plant species typical of tallgrass prairies, such as Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), and Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans) are often found associating with plant species typical of sedge meadows and marshes, such as Tussock Sedge (Carex stricta), Shining Aster (Aster firmus), and Spotted Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatoriadelphus maculatus). In addition to these plants, fen indicator species that thrive in calcareous conditions make this seemingly hybrid plant community a distinct entity. Some of these species include Shrubby Cinquefoil (Dasiphora fruticosa ssp. floribunda), Grass of Parnassus (Parnassia glauca), and Sticky Tofieldia (Tofieldia glutinosa).


In the photographs above and below of Sawmill Fen, you can see more of the species richness and diversity that helps to define these nutrient rich systems. Fens and sedge meadows often can be found at the same site, and it is sometimes difficult to determine where the fen ends and where the sedge meadow begins, as many of the plant species found in fens are also found in sedge meadows. Fens in northeastern Indiana are usually graminoid-dominated systems, but in the absence of disturbance (such as fire) and with a lack of soil moisture, shrubs including dogwoods (Cornus spp.) and willows (Salix spp.) increase in abundance, leading to a decrease in grasses, sedges, rushes, and forbs.


Extensive restoration in the form of shrub removal and prescribed fire has taken place to maintain the high level of biodiversity present in these graminoid fens. This biodiversity includes more than just the plants. For example, the rare Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus) is at home in fens, making use of the adjacent glacial moraine uplands later in the season.


As you can tell, the photograph above is not a fen; instead, this is one of the gravelly glacial moraines adjacent to the third preserve we visited, Lime Lake Fen. The plant community on this moraine consists of an oak-hickory woodland, with approximately 100 trees per acre. Nate told me that before restoration began in this woodland, you couldn't see five feet in front of you as a result of the dense undergrowth of the non-native shrub Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata). These shrubs and some native species including Wild Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) and Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) were removed, and native species characteristic of woodlands were seeded to restore this important but often overlooked and underappreciated habitat. Burning has also been utilized to maintain the open understory characteristic of an oak woodland. Several species from the oak woodlands present historically at this location are now reoccurring at the site, coming back either from the seed bank or from propagules that had been suppressed by the dense woody understory for many years.


The photographs above and below show Lime Lake Fen, which, as the name implies, is adjacent to one of the several lakes known as Lime Lake in northern Indiana. You can see a distinct difference in the plant communties in the two photogaphs. The photograph above was taken near the base of the glacial moraine, where groundwater is flowing through mucky soil towards Lime Lake. The photograph below, on the other hand, was taken in a marl flat on the perimeter of Lime Lake. If you click on the photograph above to expand it, you can see 18-wheelers in the distance; amazingly, this beautiful site is adjacent to the Indiana Toll Road! Unfortunately, the nutrient input from the toll road has led to an abundance of the invasive Narrow-leaved Cattail (Typha angustifolia) and Hybrid Cattail (Typha x glauca) closest to the highway.


From my commentary and these photographs, I hope that you can see why fens are amongst my favorite plant communities. My next post will take you from these landscape views into the dense vegetation, highlighting some of the colorful flowering species that we saw while botanizing these preserves.

Garden "Pests"

I had hoped to be able to post about the St. Joseph County Parks - Spicer Lake BioBlitz that took place this past Saturday, but because the rain never let up from the time we began until about 6 PM, I never even took my camera out of its case.

Instead, here are a couple of "pests" that I found in our garden when picking vegetables this past Friday. Personally, I enjoy having these "pests" around, and considering how tired Lindsay is of trying to come up with new ways to prepare and preserve tomatoes and peppers, she is probably pretty happy to have them as well.


This is the caterpillar of a Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) butterfly, feeding on the leaves of our carrot (Daucus carota) plants. Black Swallowtails not only thrive in areas of agriculture, but they are even said to be declining in the northeastern United States, where former agricultural areas are being converted to forests. In addition to carrots, Black Swallowtail larvae can be found feeding on other members of the carrot family (Apiaceae), as well as members of the citrus family (Rutaceae).


I have only ever seen these caterpillars with this coloration of lime green with black bands, each with six yellow spots, but apparently the green coloration can be replaced by white on some specimens.


Another "pest" that I found was munching on our jalapeno pepper (Capsicum sp.) plants. This is the larval stage of the Carolina Sphinx (Manduca sexta) moth, also known as a Tobacco Hornworm. This is one enormous caterpillar, reaching a length of 9 cm! As the common name implies, Tobacco Hornworms are often found devastating tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) crops, but just as commonly they are found on tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicon), peppers (Capsicum spp.), and other members of the nighshade family (Solanaceae). Because of their attraction to tomato plants, they are often referred to as Tomato Hornworms, but this common name is said to refer to a different species, the caterpillar of the Five-spotted Hawk Moth (Manduca quinquemaculata).

Before I found this caterpillar, which in spite of its size blends in very well, I noticed that the fence around our garden had been broken in one spot, coincidentally near our pepper plants. Considering that Tobacco Hornworms are voracious eaters, I can't help but wonder now if it didn't eat through our fence to get to the peppers!

Gotta Love A Good Parking Lot Weed

There are not many places that I can go where I can't find a way to quench my botanical thirst. Let me take that back... I don't think there is anywhere I can go that I can't find something green of interest. Just ask Lindsay... we could be walking through downtown Chicago, and you will find me scouring the sidewalk cracks and decorative planters for naturally occurring weeds of interest. You never know what you might find.


Take, for example, the parking lot at the Best Western Bay Walk Inn in Superior, Wisconsin. The photograph above, taken in this parking lot, shows most of our sampling crew for the job we did in Superior a couple of weeks ago, learning about Phragmites australis ssp. americanus from Tony Troche. If you click on the link to the hotel above, you will see another shot of this parking lot. Seems like a pretty unassuming place, on all accounts. However, if you were at the location from which the photograph on Best Western's web page was captured during the summer, you would see this growing along the edge of the parking lot...


This is Alkali Buttercup (Ranunculus cymbalaria), also known as Seaside Crowfoot. "So what?"... you say? Although widespread throughout western North America and considered native in parts of Eurasia and South America, Alkali Buttercup is a species of concern in Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. That's right, I said Wisconsin, where it is listed as Threatened.


In Wisconsin, Alkali Buttercup is known from wet areas along Lake Michigan, as well as from salted roadsides and parking lots in and near Superior (on the other side of the state). It spreads by stolons, often forming large colonies where it occurs, as is the case in the Best Western parking lot.


Alkali Buttercup was used in a variety of ways by Native American tribes, including as a ceremonial medicine and as a way to induce vomiting.


This is just another example of a tiny-flowered weed that goes completely unnoticed to 99% of the people that walk by it, and in this case, it is a state-listed plant. I can't imagine how many people have been in that parking lot without even the slightest idea that they were in the presence of a plant considered rare in the state. Sure, most don't care, but I'd be willing to bet there are even botanists, ecologists, and native plant enthusiasts who have walked right past this population in a hurried effort to get from their vehicle to their room. That's why my assessment of a field botanist's skills has nothing to do with their ability to identify the showy, charismatic macroflora, but instead has everything to do with their familiarity with the weeds.

Common Reed - The Good And The Bad

Arguably one of the most common and widespread plants on the planet is Common Reed (Phragmites australis), a large grass (up to 15 feet tall) found in marshy areas throughout all but the most northern reaches of North America, as well as in temperate and tropical regions around the rest of the world. Known for its dense, erect growth form and showy inflorescence plumes, Common Reed is the target of land stewards across the continent, as it rapidly spreads by rhizomes, creating monocultures and outcompeting native vegetation. It is especially prevalent in areas with high nutrient levels, in areas of high salinity (such as roadsides), and in places where the soil has been disturbed. The rhizomes by which is spreads are particularly impressive; I've seen the plant coming up through asphalt under which its roots have spread. It was once thought that Common Reed did not spread by seed, but only by these rhizomes; we now know that Common Reed does in fact spread to new locations by seed, and that it then reproduces rapidly at that new location through vegetative reproduction.


As a result of recent research, three subspecies of Common Reed have been described. One of these, Phragmites australis ssp. australis, is the strain native to Europe that was introduced in ballast material in the late 18th century. This subspecies has since invaded wet areas across North America. Phragmites australis ssp. americanus is native to the United States and Canada, though it is being replaced in the eastern United States by the introduced European subspecies. The third subspecies, P. australis ssp. berlandieri, is known from Florida to California and south, but its nativity in the United States portion of its range is in question. It is definitely thought to be introduced in Arizona and California.

In most of North America, we only have to deal with two of the subspecies, P. australis ssp. australis and P. australis ssp. americanus. There are several morphological characters that can be used to distinguish between these two.


In the non-native P. australis ssp. australis (above), the inflorescences are dense, bushy, and often purplish or golden in color. The native P. australis ssp. americanus (below) has inflorescences that are more sparse and diffuse.


There are additional floral characters used to distinguish between the two subspecies, including the length of the upper and lower glumes. The native subspecies has longer glumes than the non-native subspecies (lower 3.0-6.5 mm, upper 5.5-11.0 mm in the native; lower 2.5-5.0 mm, upper 4.5-7.5 mm in the non-native).


Examining the culm can also help to tell if you are looking at the native or non-native strain of Common Reed. The non-native P. australis ssp. australis (above) has dull, slightly ridged culms that are mostly green. It also never has the characteristic black spots (formed by a native fungus that has adapted to the native subspecies) that are sometimes seen on the native subspecies. The native P. australis ssp. americanus (below) has shiny, smooth culms that are often pigmented red.


The sheaths of P. australis ssp. australis remain tight on the plant when the plant senesces, whereas those of P. australis ssp. americanus become loose and fall off of the stem rather easily. Stems of the non-native subspecies are often in dense colonies, and they persist through the winter into the next season. Stems of the native subspecies, conversely, are often more sparse and intermixed within other native vegetation, and they have a tendency to not persist into the following spring.


Leaf color can be used in conjuction with other characters to distinguish between the native and non-native subspecies of Common Reed. The non-native strain (above) has leaves that are more commonly dark green, whereas the leaves are more commonly yellow-green in the native strain (below). Ligule length is a consistent character, with longer ligules (more than 1.0 mm) on P. australis ssp. americanus and shorter ligures (less than 1.0 mm) on P. australis ssp. australis.


As additional research is conducted, there will likely be changes to the Latin names of these subspecies, and additional new subspecies may be described.

For more information, be sure to check out Phragmites Field Guide: Distinguishing Native and Exotic Forms of Common Reed (Phragmites australis) in the United States by Jil Swearingen and Kristin Saltonstall.

Pine Station and Clark and Pine Nature Preserves

For each of the past several years, Shirley Heinze Land Trust has asked me to lead one of their member hikes at northern Indiana preserves. This year, my hike was at Pine Station and Clark and Pine Nature Preserves in Lake County. The hike that I led took place a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted to post some of the highlights.


The two dedicated state nature preserves are on opposite sides of Clark Road, with Clark and Pine on the west and Pine Station on the east. The highlight plant at these preserves is the State Endangered American Blue Hearts (Buchnera americana, shown above), a plant of moist sandy prairies with a scattered distribution throughout the eastern United States. American Blue Hearts is considered "one of our very rarest plants" according to Plants of the Chicago Region (1994), and it is considered the plant responsible for initially bringing legendary botanist Floyd Swink to Chicago (be sure to see this link for an account on Floyd, including the story about him, the great Julian Steyermark, and American Blue Hearts).


Clark and Pine Nature preserve consists of shallow swell-and-swale topography, with aquatic plants such as Water Shield (Brasenia schreberi), White Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata), and Variegated Yellow Pond Lily (Nuphar variegata) dominating the swales and mesic prairie plants dominating the swells. When standing at this site, it is always amazing to think of all of the development and destruction that has taken place immediately surrounding these preserves, yet that this kind of quality still exists on much reduced postage stamp parcels. In fact, Clark and Pine Nature Preserve is said to harbor more species of concern (plants and animals combined) than any other nature preserve in Indiana. Another of these state listed species, Purple Bladderwort (Utricularia purpurea, State Rare, shown below) is so common at this site as to form a purple haze over the swales in July and August.


One of our first field trip observations as people were arriving to hike the preserves was an enormous Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus) caterpillar feeding on Sandbar Willow (Salix interior) along the road. This caterpillar, immortalized below, was nearly as large as my index finger, both in length and girth. And let me tell you... I have one hefty index finger!


As we were observing and photographing this caterpillar, we found another green caterpillar, that of and IO Moth (Automeris io) feeding on the same colony of Sandbar Willow. As I was telling those in attendance not to touch this caterpillar, shown below, because those bristly barbs may sting, someone assured me that yes, they do sting, as they had just rubbed up against it and felt its wrath.


Sand mining took place historically at Pine Station, leaving swaths of panne community in areas that were historically mesic prairie swells. Near the Great Lakes, when sand is excavated down to the water table, a unique and rare flora often results, yielding an expression of a seed bank that must be thousands of years old (see my commentary on this topic posted at Get Your Botany On!). The dominant plant species in the man-made panne shown below include Twig Rush (Cladium mariscoides), Golden-seeded Spike Rush (Eleocharis elliptica), Baltic Rush (Juncus balticus var. littoralis, State Rare), Hair Beak Rush (Rhynchospora capillacea), and Low Nutrush (Scleria verticillata). Plant species of conservation concern are common to abundant in this scrape.


One of the plants that often shows up in these scrapes but that occurs naturally in calcareous sands and fens is Kalm's Lobelia (Lobelia kalmii, below). This delicate plant is much more attractive to me than its more conspicous and gaudy relatives Cardinal Flower (L. cardinalis) and Great Blue Lobelia (L. siphilitica), which are much more generalist species in terms of where they will grow.


Another species of concern, Common Bog Arrow Grass (Triglochin maritimum, State Rare, below), is more abundant in this panne than I have seen it anywhere in the state. According to Derek Nimetz of Indiana Department of Natural Resources - Division of Nature Preserves, this species has done extremely well where recreational 4-wheelers have driven through the site. Species like this require periodic disturbance, as they need their space and don't do well in the presence of much competition. Thanks, illegal 4-wheelers!


While walking through the panne, I scared up a Great Egret (Ardea alba, State Special Concern, below), whose white feathered body made for a statuesque subject against a cloudless sapphire sky.


As expected, Pine Station and Clark and Pine Nature Preserves proved an excellent location for a late July field trip.

What I Do

Friends and family not involved in the conservation field often ask me what I do at my job, and it is sometimes difficult to explain in words. In addition to conducting botanical inventories and endangered species surveys, my primary responsibility at JFNew is to monitor mitigation wetlands. But what does that entail?

A mitigation wetland is a wetland that has been created, restored, or enhanced to "offset" impacts to another wetland. In Indiana, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management regulate mitigation wetlands. My job is to sample vegetation and document water levels in these mitigation wetlands, and to write reports addressing the performance standards.

So what exactly is involed in sampling vegetation? Well, here's what it looks like...


In the photograph above, you can see a one-square meter quadrat frame engulfed in green. At our mitigation wetlands, linear transects made up of a string of these quadrats are located throughout the site. At each of these quadrats, my job is to record all vascular plant species rooted in the quadrat and their respective percent cover values. When I say all vascular plant species, I mean all vascular plant species. Nothing goes unrecorded, no matter how young or small, flowering or sterile. To do this right, one must get on hands and knees, dig through the razor-sharp Rice Cut Grass (Leersia oryzoides) and annoying clinging seeds of Devil's Beggars Ticks (Bidens frondosa), and spend time really looking for seedlings and senesced vegetation that may someday comprise a much larger part of the overall vegetation community. For interesting and accurate accounts of quadrat sampling, be sure to check out the commentary by Justin Thomas at The Vasculum (here) and Allison Vaughn at Ozark Highlands of Missouri (here).

The site where the quadrat above was located was a wetland that had been illegally filled in, and the fill was then removed to restore wetland conditions. My job is to determine whether or not wetland conditions are returning at the site, and if the vegetation that has come back is meeting performance standards including total coverage, coverage by native species, and coverage by certain invasive species. Many times at new mitigation sites, I can only find 10-20 or fewer species in a sampling quadrat. At this site, my quadrats averaged near 30 species each, and this particular quadrat harbored 35 species. Plants that I found in this quadrat include: Common Threeseed Mercury (Acalypha rhomboidea), Swamp Agrimony (Agrimonia parviflora), Common Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia var. elatior), New England Aster (Aster novae-angliae), Hairy Aster (Aster pilosus), Panicled Aster (Aster simplex), Yellow Rocket (Barbarea vulgaris), Devil's Beggars Ticks (Bidens frondosa), Frank's Sedge (Carex frankii), Limestone Meadow Sedge (Carex granularis), Brown Fox Sedge (Carex vulpinoidea), Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense), Cut-leaved Teasel (Dipsacus laciniatus), Eastern Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron annuus), Marsh Fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus), Common Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), Hairy Grass-leaved Goldenrod (Euthamia graminifolia var. nuttallii), Green Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica var. subintegerima), Rough Avens (Geum laciniatum), Fowl Manna Grass (Glyceria striata), Virginia Sticktight (Hackelia virginiana), Soft Rush (Juncus effusus), Path Rush (Juncus tenuis), Torrey's Rush (Juncus torreyi), Rice Cut Grass (Leersia oryzoides), Common Water Horehound (Lycopus americanus), Monkey Flower (Mimulus ringens), Common Yellow Oxalis (Oxalis stricta), Curly Dock (Rumex crispus), Dark Green Rush (Scirpus atrovirens), River Bulrush (Scirpus fluviatilis), Tall Goldenrod (Solidago altissima), Alsike Clover (Trifolium hybridum), Swamp Verbena (Verbena hastata), and White Vervain (Verbena urticifolia).

Unfortunately, not enough quadrat-level sampling takes place these days. In twenty years when we look back and wonder what happened to our natural areas, we will realize that we should have spent more time documenting the changes to our flora that were occurring at a level that most people don't comprehend instead of floundering in the fields of genetics and molecular botany.

Rock 'n' Roll!

This past weekend, Lindsay ran her second half marathon of the year, this time with approximatley 25,000 other people, at the Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon.


Joining Lindsay were several of her friends, including Amanda and her husband Steve, Diana and her husband Nick, Michelle, and Irma and her daughter Kristy. For those who enjoy lots of people, concrete, and music, Chicago provides a great backdrop for this race.


Thanks to the scenery (especially running along Lake Michigan) and the 13 bands along the way, Lindsay has never had so much fun being miserable in her entire life.


Although she couldn't keep up with Patrick Rizzo, who won the race in an astonishing time of 1:06:19, Lindsay did run the 13.1 miles in 2:17:50, around the same time as her first half marathon, the Sunburst, in June. She also had no problem outrunning the likes of Al Roker, Jason, Jake, and Molly of The Bachelor "fame," and Julianna Rancik (who apparently is someone else "famous" that I've never heard of).


We also had some of our friends there to visit and cheer on Lindsay during the race, including Mike, Ben, Alex (not pictured), Nick, and Jill.

Congratulations, Lindsay, and good luck next year!

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.