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First 3 pages of B. Bruns field journal
22-04-2019 to 25-04-2019
The site I selected for my field research project is the acreage on which I live, in the Creston Valley, about half a kilometer west of the Kootenay River. It is a partly wooded, 3.15ha site, on an east-facing hillside at 49˚05’N; 116˚36’W. The elevation ranges from 540-576m above sea level. The site is part of a corridor between farm fields below through a narrow band of rural properties, backing up to the foot of a steep mountain slope covered with dense, undisturbed coniferous forest, above. I would like to better understand the role of wildlife connectivity corridors in the face of increasing human population pressures in rural British Columbia.
I am including in my site an approximately 200m2 pond adjacent to our lower southeast corner (please see my attached “map”); though it is on our neighbours’ lot, it is important to observed species richness. There is a dense aspen stand adjacent to the northeast corner of our property that may also contribute to animal biodiversity. Thus, my study area includes the pond and its wetland, about two acres of mixed conifer forest, two and a half acres of grassland, a quarter-acre hillside of moss-covered bedrock, and three acres of intensely cultivated farm with a small homestead, outbuildings, greenhouse, orchard, and market garden. The property has been a farm for at least 60 years.
Although I’ve lived on this land for ten years and know something of the diverse species here, I want to know them more precisely, and to understand their interactions (patterns and processes) more scientifically. I went out to ground-truth some of my ideas about the land, plants, and animals on April 22, 2019, 14:00-16:00, on a sunny, early-spring, afternoon. I’d like to make an approximate census of the plants, animals, and fungi present now, so that I can better monitor future change.
My detailed observations are recorded in my field journal. I noted an encroachment of noxious weeds. There is also presently a die-off of two key mature tree species (grand fir and western redcedar), which a local forester told me is widely occurring throughout the Kootenays, due to the extreme heat and extended droughts of the past few summers. I am interested in whether the natural germination and early success of seedlings of only certain species indicates a community change as a result of changing climate of the valley – for example, if a census of trees less than 2ft tall would show a statistically significant difference in richness and distribution compared to the mature trees fifty years of age or greater?
Questions that I might like to explore are:
- Does the encroachment of noxious weeds spread outward from our roads in a definite gradient?
- Can I demonstrate that the conifer die-off is related to drought?
- Can the observed richness and biodiversity of birds and mammals be associated with the variety of habitats available on our property? Or is it that we provide a connectivity corridor between farm fields/Kootenay River below and the upland mountain habitat?
- By comparing an old growth conifer census with seedling census, can I demonstrate that the composition of the conifer community is changing in response to a decade of hotter, drier summers? Can a future mature stand be predicted by seedling starts, or are there too many confounding factors relating to which plants will survive to maturity to make this correlation?
A couple of natural history observations included a beautiful display of the early wildflowers western spring beauty (Claytonia lanceolata) and glacier lily (Erythronium grandiflorum) on the mossy rocks. I observed a courtship display by four male hooded mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus), in the presence of three females. Since I didn’t have a way to record the visual display and sound, I found a you-tube video of what I saw that had been recorded at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary. The link is www.youtube.com/watch?v=XanDih-x2TQ if you’d like to see and hear pretty much exactly what happened on the pond!
I listed in my field notes my sightings of a number of bird species and a reptile (Western painted turtle); I heard some frogs; and saw evidence of a number of mammals. I have listed the common and scientific names in my attached field notes.
