Acadian Flycatcher Empidonax virescens
Acadian Flycatcher Empidonax virescens |
Work in zoology continues to centre around revising and updating element occurrence records contained in the Biological and Conservation Database (BCD), particularly those for birds. NHIC Zoologist Don Sutherland has been working with Long Point Bird Observatory's Ontario Birds At Risk program coordinator, Lisa Enright, to rectify discrepancies between the Ontario Rare Breeding Bird Program (ORBBP) and BCD databases.
Field surveys for Acadian Flycatcher (Empidonax virescens), an S2-ranked species in Ontario, were conducted by NHIC biologists in mid-June. Fourteen sites in Essex and Kent counties and Haldimand-Norfolk and Hamilton-Wentworth regional municipalities were visited. Although all of these sites had supported territories of this species in recent years, singing males were found at only four sites: one in Essex County and three in the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk, where in 1992 as many as 15 singing males had been present at six sites in South Walsingham Township alone! Whether the apparent absences at so many former sites is indicative of a real decline or an artifact of the seemingly ephemeral or transitory nature of the species' population in the province, is uncertain. Hot, windy, generally unfavourable weather throughout the fieldsurveys may also have played a role.
NHIC biologists made incidental discoveries of two significant unionid mollusc species, the S2-ranked, False Pig-toe (Pleurobema coccineum) and the Pig-toe (Fusconaia flava), currently ranked S3, while conducting field surveys for the nationally and provincially rare sedge, Carex nigromarginata, on Long Point in June. Should these identifications prove correct, then the relatively fresh, 'dead' shells confirm both the continued presence of these species in Long Point Bay and the location of a new, relatively rich mussel bed on Long Point. False Pig-toe had last been collected in Long Point Bay at Port Dover in 1890.
In conjunction with fieldwork in southwestern and eastern Ontario, a few interesting botanical discoveries were made. At Springgarden Road Prairie in Windsor, a new location for Lily-leaved Twayblade, Liparis liliifolia (S2) was discovered. At Rondeau Provincial Park, a new site for the sedge Carex amphibola sensu stricto (S1) was found, the first record for Kent County, and only the fifth for Ontario. On Beausoleil Island, part of Georgian Bay Islands National Park, a new population of the sedge Carex artitecta (S2) was located. This is the first record of this southern plant from the Georgian Bay area. Fieldwork on the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island on Lakeside Daisy or Rubberweed, Hymenoxys acaulis var. glabra (or Tetraneuris herbacea), resulted in the location of five populations numbering at least 10,000 individuals, as well as several smaller populations. On the La Cloche Peninsula near Manitoulin Island, a population of Beaked Spike-rush, Eleocharis rostellata (S3), was found, the first for Manitoulin District, and the most northerly for Ontario.
While checking existing sites and searching for new populations of Juniper Sedge, Carex juniperorum (S1) in the Belleville area, NHIC botanist Mike Oldham and Agriculture Canada botanist Dr. Paul Catling made some exciting finds. Carex juniperorum was previously known from three sites in Ontario, and only nine other sites world-wide (in southern Ohio and northern Kentucky). At the Salmon River Alvar near Shannonville, a fourth Canadian site was found, almost certainly the world's largest population, numbering several thousand plants. While looking for new Juniper Sedge sites, a population of Bicknell's Sedge, Carex bicknellii (S2), was found near Deseronto in Hastings County. This is the first eastern Ontario record of this rare plant. In addition, three new sites were found for Carex oligocarpa (S2), two new sites for Carex conoidea (S3), two new sites for Carex gracilescens (S3), and one new site for Carex formosa (S3). At Point Anne in Hastings County, Shaggy False Gromwell, Onosmodium molle var. hispidissimum (S2), was found. Shaggy False Gromwell had not been seen in eastern Ontario since 1872 when John Macoun collected a specimen at Belleville.
The following individuals generously provided assistance during NHIC fieldwork: Dr. Paul Catling (eastern Ontario), Don Cuddy (eastern Ontario), Bob Gray (Bruce Peninsula), Joe Johnson (Bruce Peninsula), Jackie Litzgus (12-mile Bay), Todd Norris (eastern Ontario), Ben Porchuk (Pelee Island), Paul Pratt (Windsor), and Michel Villeneuve (Georgian Bay Islands National Park).
Review comments continue to be received on the NHIC draft rare vascular plant list, and a final version will be produced this fall. The NHIC would like to thank the following botanists for providing useful comments on the draft list: Dr. Peter Ball, Dr. Donald Britton, Vivian Brownell, Dr. Paul Catling, Stephen Darbyshire, Joe Johnson, Dr. James Phipps, Dr. Tony Reznicek, Daniel Brunton and Dr. John Semple. We welcome additional comments on the draft list.
NHIC biologists, in cooperation with the Canadian Museum of Nature, have been contracted to prepare status reports for six vascular plant species for the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). Those species for which reports are currently in preparation include five sedges, Carex alata, C. juniperorum, C. nigromarginata, Eleocharis caribaea and E. equisetoides, and the Lakeside Daisy, Hymenoxys acaulis var. glabra (= Tetraneuris herbacea). Three of these species, Carex alata, C. nigromarginata, and Eleocharis equisetoides, are all apparently restricted in their occurrence in Canada to Long Point; while E. caribaea is known to occur only at Long Point and historically at Rondeau Provincial Park. Carex juniperorum is a recently described, globally rare species confined to alvar habitats. The Lakeside Daisy is a Great Lakes Basin endemic with most of its global occurrences located on Ontario's Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island.
Biologists are frequently asked to provide evaluations and assessments of the quality of natural areas. These can be difficult judgements, and are often qualitative in nature. Sites may be referred to as "high quality", "significant", "exceptional", etc., but there is no way of quantifying or standardizing these concepts. A method of assessing the inherent quality, or integrity, of a natural area has been developed by botanists at The Morton Arboretum in Chicago. It uses the flora of a site to derive a numeric index known as the Natural Area Index (NAI), and this can provide a standard quantitative assessment of quality.
The method requires that a 'coefficient of conservatism' be designated for all native species in a flora. Values for this coefficient range from 0 for extremely weedy species, to 10 for those which exhibit a marked fidelity to specialized habitats. As an example, consider Lysimachia quadrifolia (whorled loosestrife), a species typically found in dry, sandy, oak woods and oak savannahs. This is a fairly conservative species in terms of its habitat preferences, and could be assigned a value of 7. In comparison, Field Horsetail, Equisetum arvense, occurs in such a variety of habitats that it would have a value of 0. To put this into further perspective, if one were given a specimen of E. arvense and asked to identify the habitat, it would be impossible to predict.
An NAI value is calculated according to the following formula:
I=R/N*the square root of N
where
I = the Natural Area Index
R = the sum of the valuation coefficients
N = the number of native species recorded.
Natural areas with NAI values above 35 are considered certainly significant at a
state or provincial level (Wilhelm and Ladd, 1988).
Under a contract with the Long Point Bird Observatory, NHIC staff members will individually assign coefficients to a southern Ontario checklist (compilation based on MNR floras for "old" southwestern, central and eastern regions). Once this is done, staff will meet and go over these values, reaching a consensus for the coefficient assigned to each species. This list will then go out for expert review. Review comments will then be assessed and incorporated into the production of a final list of coeficients of conservatism for the flora of southern Ontario.
Reference:
Wilhelm, G. and D. Ladd. 1988. Natural Area Assessment in the Chicago Region.
Transactions of the 53rd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources
Conference.361-375
The NHIC has been contracted by the Norfolk Field Naturalists and Lambton Wildlife Inc. to conduct a life science inventory of the two sites from where the extripated Karner Blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) was last known. Lambton Wildlife Inc. owns a 15 ha property near Port Franks which was purchased to protect the habitat and lupines of the Karner Blue. For this same reason, the Manester Tract adjacent to the St. Williams Provincial Forestry Station, was purchased by the Nature Conservancy of Canada. Unfortunately, a severe drought in 1988 caused early senescence of lupine; this, coupled with habitat losses and successional changes, led to serious population declines, from which the Karner Blue was not able to recover. By 1989 or 1990, it was extirpated from Canada (Schweitzer, 1993).
As part of a recovery plan spearheaded by Lambton Wildlife Inc. and the Norfolk Field Naturalists to re-introduce this species back into its former habitat, a life science inventory must be undertaken prior to any recovery management undertakings. This work includes inventories of flora and fauna, vegetation description and mapping, and significant features mapping. Hopefully, the recovery plan will be successful, and an important indicator of ecosystem health will be restored.
Reference:
Schweitzer, D.F. 1993. A Recovery Plan for The Karner Blue Butterfly (Lycaeides
melissa
samuelis Nabokov) for the Province of Ontario, with discussions of other rare oak savanna
species. Prepared for Terry Crabe, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Pinery
Provincial Park.
As mentioned in the last issue of our newsletter, NHIC biologists are conducting fieldwork on a number of Ontario alvars (sparsely vegetated areas on thin soil over flat limestone bedrock), and already this research is paying dividends. Alvars have been overlooked as extremely significant sites for biodiversity conservation. Last year a new species of sedge, Juniper Sedge (Carex juniperorum), was described from 3 alvar sites in Ontario, and 9 additional sites in Ohio and Kentucky (Catling et al., 1993). While conducting fieldwork on Juniper Sedge in eastern Ontario alvars, NHIC biologists collected snail samples as part of a co-operative study with malacologist (snail expert) Dr. Wayne Grimm of Pakenham, Ontario. Dr. Grimm has been studying snails and other invertebrates on the Burnt Lands Alvar near Ottawa, and has been making many exciting discoveries, including new species of land snails. Based on snails collected at the Point Anne Alvar near Belleville by NHIC biologists, Dr. Grimm has identified a possible new species of Catinella snail, and samples collected from the Salmon River Alvar near Shannonville produced a new species of slug of the genus Pallifera. Since species new to science are rarely discovered in glaciated northeastern North America, these findings are particularly exciting and lend additional weight to the conservation significance of Ontario alvars.
Reference:
Catling, P.M., A.A. Reznicek and W.J. Crins. 1993. Carex juniperorum
(Cyperaceae), a new species from Northeastern North America, with a key to Carex sect. Phyllostachys. Systematic Botany 18(3):496-501.
There are three key phases in the operations of the Natural Heritage Information Centre: development or collection of data, storage of data, and use of the data for land and species stewardship programs.
The centre currently is in the development phase. During this time, our emphasis wil be to acquire sources of data on vulnerable, threatened and endangered species and spaces. Examples of data we are attempting to acquire and convert into the BCD format include such databases as the Atlas of Rare Vascular Plants of Ontario (ARVPO), the Ontario Rare Breeding Bird Program (ORBBP), and the Ontario Herpetofaunal Summary (OHS).
The centre is devoting two years to the development phase. During this time, centre staff will concentrate their efforts on Southern Ontario. After two years, the centre's mandate will extend to the entire province. This doesn't mean we are restricting our view solely to southern Ontario. We will gladly accept data from northern Ontario as well, with a view to the future when Northern Ontario will be part of our mandate.
Once data are acquired, the centre will convert and store them in the BCD format (described in the article Introduction to the BCD in Volume 1, Number 1). Data will be mapped manually and linked into an ARC/INFO GIS environment. The centre will be capable of extracting data in dBase format or ASCII text. Applications for distribution of the data, standard formats for handling information requests will be developed. The centre has begun to fulfill its mandate as a central repository for data on vulnerable, threatened, and endangered species.
Finally, the data are made available to a wide variety of environmental agencies and organizations to assist with their stewardship efforts. Applications include land use planning, environmental assessments, selection of areas to protect, scientific studies and public education. The centre's data will be used directly by its partners, the Natural Heritage League, The Nature Conservancy (U.S.), the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the Nature Conservancy of Canada, to determine priority sites containing important species and spaces.
The stewardship element of our mandate is critical: the centre cannot become an information "black hole" that fails to produce useful products for clients. The ongoing requirements of our partners alone will ensure that this doesn't happen. To date, the centre has serviced about 200 information requests from a wide variety of sources.
"The Nature Conservancy of Canada is very excited about the establishment of the Natural Heritage Information Centre in Ontario. It will help us to do our job better", said Amanda M. Jones, National Projects Director of the Conservancy.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada, the only national membership-based organization dedicated to preserving Canadian biodiversity through the purchase and protection of ecologically significant natural areas and places of special beauty and educational interest, has invested over 2 million dollars in the establishment of provincial Conservation Data Centres across Canada. Not only are these Centres of tremendous benefit to the Conservancy in the assessment of future projects, the information gathered and shared by the dedicated staff who run each office is also of value to governments and other non-government conservation groups that are interested in focusing their efforts on those species and habitats most in need of protection.
"Limited conservation dollars and volunteer contributions for land protection must be allocated carefully. Information from Conservation Data Centres, such as Ontario's Natural Heritage Information Centre, can help us focus attention on the province's most critically threatened species and habitats and enhance our ability to protect special areas throughout Ontario," she said.
The Nature Conservancy welcomes the Ontario Natural Heritage Information Centre to the Biodiversity Information Network, which now encompasses 68 states, provinces and nations hroughout the western hemisphere and Pacific region. By centralizing and organizing information on the global and provincial status of key biodiversity elements in Ontario, the Centre will support conservation of those elements throughout their ranges. For example, data contributed by the natural heritage information centres in the Great Lakes provinces and states is already being used on an international scale by the Nature Conservancy and its partners to identify globally significant communities and species that depend on the Great Lakes ecosystem and guide conservation planning to protect this region's unique biological heritage.
Work continues on the Canadian Museum of Nature's Atlas of the Rare Vascular Plants of Ontario (ARVPO) database. There are many records that have incorrect latitudes and longitudes. Where possible, these will be corrected by summer students at the NHIC. The data have been converted completely from the original text file into database form. Each record has been updated to include the species MNR official status, its COSEWIC status, the MNR district where it is located, and its NHIC S-Rank and G-Rank.
The data were organized according to MNR district, and maps of each MNR district produced for Terrestrial Ecosystems Branch, MNR.
ARVPO maps have been created for each district. All points within 5 km of the district boundary have been included to allow for the fact that some dots are accurate only to within a ten km variance. Therefore, a record whose latitude and longitude put it within one district might, in fact, lie within the neighbouring district.
The ARVPO database product is comprised of three parts:
(1) There is a map of each district, buffered by a five km zone. This map (1:250000 scale
for Southern Ontario, variable for Northern Ontario depending on the number of locations) has
a unique dot number at each rare plant location on the map. Since the dataset's accuracy is
rarely better than one degree of latitude or longitude, these dots generally form a grid of
dots one degree apart.
(2) Map sheets accompany the map itself. These pages contain a list of the species found at
each unique location, their COSEWIC status designation, MNR status designation, G-Rank, S-Rank,
the LOCATION field from the database, and the date of the most recent specimen of each species at
that location. Note that the ARVPO data dates from before 1985; more recent specimens are not
contained within this database.
(3) The database file itself contains the rest of the Atlas information, for all specimens at
each unique site. Included are key fields such as the herbarium accession number to make it
easier to verify the data from the original specimen.
 20 percent scale version of a typical map being sent out to MNR Districts. This particular map for MNR Aylmer District has a Large number of locations with rare vascular plants. |
On the technical side, here is a summary of the computing environment at the NHIC.
The main file server is a 66-Mhz 486 PC with 32 megabytes (MB) of RAM (random access memory), 2.5 giga-bytes of hard disk space, and a CD-ROM drive (for loading software). The individual workstations are 33-Mhz 486 PCs with 4 to 16 MB of RAM, and 210 MB hard drives. All computers have colour SVGA monitors.
The computers each have a network interface card, and are networked together via twisted-pair cabling (10-Base T).
Windows for Workgroups (WFW) is running on each of the workstations. In addition to regular Windows features, it also enables us to share printers and disk drives between machines. The server software is Windows NT, which has a similar look to WFW, but has more network-management versatility (file security, backup software, etc.). We have been very pleased with the ease of set-up and use of the Windows networking software.
Most software used by the staff (other than Windows) is stored on the server, and accessed as required, with no noticeable sacrifice in performance. User data files are kept on the hard drive of their workstation, and are backed up to the server on a regular basis.
The BCD system software and data reside on the server, and can be accessed by up to 5 users at once. The server also acts as the main repository for other databases which the NHIC has acquired (hence the large hard drive).
Ontario Birds At Risk (OBAR), a program developed to both foster and facilitate cooperation between volunteers, government and non-government conservation organizations in the monitoring of provincially rare bird species and their habitats, is the latest initiative of the Long Point Bird Observatory. OBAR is a logical continuation of the Ontario Rare Breeding Bird Program (ORBBP), which ran from 1989-92, compiling field data gathered by volunteers on the locations of breeding sites of 58 rare species, and which resulted in the recently published book: Ontario Birds At Risk (see Publications Notice).
According to the Long Point Bird Observatory, OBAR will be a cooperative undertaking effecting the common goal of rare bird species protection. In cooperation with such agencies as the Canadian Wildlife Service, Federation of Ontario Naturalists, Natural Heritage Information Centre, Ontario Field Ornithologists, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the Royal Ontario Museum, OBAR will continue to monitor the status of the 40 VTE and scarce species identified through the ORBBP by: developing a registry of rare breeding sites; coordinating surveys through a network of volunteers; complementing existing monitoring projects, thereby avoiding much unnecessary duplication of effort; and working with Recovery Teams to develop management plans for species recovery and habitat protection and/or restoration. OBAR plans to accomplish this task by adopting a multi-species approach, focussing survey efforts on those habitats which support rare species, rather than on specific searches for individual species.
OBAR plans for the current year include updating of the ORBBP database; continuation of the Henslow's Sparrow, Loggerhead Shrike, and Red-shouldered Hawk surveys; and development of an effective field methodology which will employ the multi-species approach.
Data resulting from OBAR will be stored with the NHIC.
For more information, contact: Lisa Enright, OBAR Project Coordinator, Long Point Bird Observatory, P.O. Box 160, Port Rowan, Ontario, N0E 1M0. TEL: (519) 586-3531 or FAX: (519) 586-3532.
Several of North America's most significant prairie remnants are located within the City of Windsor, one of these is the Springarden Road Prairie. At least 60 plant species on the NHIC's draft rare vascular plant list and several significant animal species have been reported from this site. NHIC Botanist/Herpetologist Mike Oldham is assisting MNR Ecologist Al Woodliffe and City of Windsor Naturalist Paul Pratt on a study of this prairie. The study will more accurately define the site's boundaries and will map the locations of rare species. This will assist planners and resource managers to better protect the site.
The three newest additions to Ontario's Endangered Species Act are Henslow's Sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii), Hoary Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum incanum) and Wood Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum). These species were officially added on 24 May 1994, and are now protected by law. Henslow's Sparrow is a bird of open grasslands which has declined drastically both in Ontario and elsewhere in North America. Hoary Mountain Mint ranges throughout much of the eastern United States, but in Canada is known from only a few sites in Halton and Hamilton-Wentworth. Wood Poppy, a showy yellow-flowered member of the Poppy family, is likewise at the northern limit of a fairly extensive range in eastern North America. In Canada it is restricted to two populations in the London area. The NHIC and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources will be working with other conservation agencies to monitor and ensure the continued survival of these three endangered species in the province.
Four environmentalists have been hired for the summer, three of them under the Environmental Youth Corps (EYC) program, and one under the Summer Experience Program (SEP).
Sonya Gerkema, Andrew Cram, Peter Czerny and David Taylor will help with the completion of the following tasks:
All four will be working at the centre until September, and their assistance with our data work will prove invaluable as we prepare for initiatives like the MNR's Natural Heritage Inventory (NHI) program.
The Manitoba Conservation Data Centre (CDC) joined the hemisphere-wide Biodiversity Information Network (BIN) with its opening on July 4 1994.Canada now has conservation data centres or natural heritage information centres in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Québec.
The centre was created as a partnership between Manitoba Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy (U.S.), the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature. During the two-year start-up phase, the five-person staff will be housed within the Land Information Centre, Winnipeg.
The Manitoba CDC will provide an easily accessible database of integrated information on endangered and rare plants, animals, and communities. This information is essential to sound resource management, planning and development in Manitoba.
Support for the centre comes from a unique public/private/nonprofit partnership. The CDC is grateful to the following organizations for their support:
Centre staff include:
Manager - Carol ScottTo contact the centre:
Manitoba Conservation Data CentreTelephone: - (204) 945-2911
Facsimile : - (204) 945-1365
Don is the NHIC's Zoologist. Prior to this position, he worked for 14 years as an independent consulting biologist in Ontario. He has a comprehensive knowledge of the province's flora and fauna, having worked in most areas of southern Ontario on behalf of provincial, federal and municipal agencies, and has been an integral part of many important projects, including the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas, the Ontario Herpetofaunal Summary, and the Haldimand-Norfolk Natural Areas Inventory.
Austen, M.J.W., M.D. Cadman and R.D. James. 1994. Ontario Birds at Risk. Federation of Ontario Naturalists, Don Mills, and Long Point Bird Observatory, Port Rowan, Ontario. 165 pp.
This new book presents the results of the Ontario Rare Breeding Bird Program and outlines actions needed to conserve the 58 species covered in detail. A further 22 northern Ontario birds are given brief descriptions. Black and white illustrations and North American and Ontario breeding distribution maps are provided for the 58 featured species. Copies are available from: Federation of Ontario Naturalists, 355 Lesmill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, M3B 2W8, (416)444-8419 ($13.75).
Lamond, W. 1994. The Reptiles and Amphibians of the Hamilton Area. Hamilton Naturalists' Club, Hamilton, Ontario. 174 pp.
This spiral-bound report presents the results of an intensive inventory of the amphibians and reptiles of the Hamilton area, and also summarizes historical information on these species. Detailed distribution maps for the Hamilton area, black and white photographs and line drawings, and a comprehensive bibliography add value to the publication. The NHIC strongly recommends this excellent report to anyone interested in Ontario herpetology. Copies can be purchased for $20.90 from the Hamilton Naturalists' Club, P.O. Box 89052, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4R5.
Wickett, R.G., P.D. Lewis, A. Woodliffe and P. Pratt, editors. 1994. Proceedings of the Thirteenth North American Prairie Conference: Spirit of the Land, Our Prairie Legacy. City of Windsor, Ontario. 262 pp.
In August of 1992, the North American Prairie Conference was held for the first time in Canada. These proceedings publish the papers presented at that conference. Papers are grouped under the following headings: Ontario Prairies and Savannah, Ecological Studies - Prairie Fauna, Ecological Studies - Prairie Flora, Prairie Restoration and Management, and People and the Prairie. Available from Department of Parks and Recreation, Proceedings of the 13th North American Prairie Conference, 2450 McDougall Avenue, Windsor, Ontario, N8X 3N6 ($30.00).
Once again, a big thank-you to local biologist-artist Peter Burke for his artwork for this issue. He took time out from his busy summer schedule to complete two images for us, one of which will appear in the Fall issue.
Feel free to copy us; if you do, please acknowledge us as the source. Here's an example of the NHIC Newsletter citation:
Natural Heritage Information Centre, 1994. Botany Program Update. NHIC Newsletter, 1(2): 2pp. 9