Week 3
I use this
link to combine some notes from David Morris’ lecture, and my own notes pooling
together the stuff on watershed attributes, and precipitation and temperature
averages across the watershed, etc.
These
lectures are meant to help create some sense of:
1. the kind of
unique character of the vegetation and animals associated with this region –
especially the bottom part of the GR region (the Carolinian Zone)
2. and the kinds of
changes across this watershed region associated with aspects of the watershed,
and with its distinct weather patterns.
Carolinian Canada – some of my own notes, with a few links à your own notes
may have been more complete!
David Morris
(Ph.D.) spoke to you about unique vegetation & fauna associated with this
part of southern Ontario -- the Carolinian Zone à a major point of the
talk was how unique ecologically this area is, and ironically, how little of
this unique ecological zone/region is left
Carolinian Canada is a popular name for the extreme southwest region of
Ontario where the Eastern Deciduous Forest of North America has its
northernmost limits. Many kinds of flora and fauna are found here but nowhere
else in Canada [http://www.carolinian.org/]
Concerns
about degradation of Carolinian zone associated with many other environmental
issues, all tied to the kinds of economic & cultural perceptions &
impacts that arose with the new European agrarian and the subsequent
industrialized way of life that took hold – that shaped the landscape of this
region.
From his
lecture file, I see that Dr. Morris took you through a bunch of ideas about how
unique this southern part of the GR region is due to the presence of the
Carolinian Zone, which is a very productive and biologically diverse region in
southern Ontario.
“Carolinian Canada is the southernmost region of
Canada and contains more rare and endangered species of plants and animals than
any other part of Canada. Southwestern Ontario is also home to some of the most
productive industry and agriculture in North America, and the large population that
goes with it.” [http://www.carolinian.org/
He also
showed a variety of Carolinian plants and animals in his slides. Local examples
were of the tall-grass, oak-savanna (the Hill’s Oak species being found only in
this area, and ‘perched-fen’ ecosystems that were unique to the
Brantford area.
Some Example
SPECIES (that I saw from his slides, and from my own readings): he is really
into trees, and noted that there were something like 70 known tree species in
this area
Paw-paw – ancient tropical relatives; interesting story of the tastier variety
of paw-paw transplanted via natives on what was called the Navajo Trail
annual journey from south-west U.S. up through Gt. Lakes north of L. Erie
(trading for certain goods), & then down the coast of U.S. & back around
to the south-west)
Cucumber tree – a Canadian Magnolia (very ancient)
Tulip Trees – does not set seeds very well
Kentucky Coffee Tree (their seeds dispersed by Mastodons)
American Chestnut
Magnolia
Blue Ash – likes sand environment
Redbud – “extirpated”: gone from this area, but now being reintroduced (I have
on in my backyard)
Lots of different kinds of oaks, hickory species, chestnut
trees -- e.g., Northern Pin-Oak – rare, only grows in this area; Dwarf
Chinquapin Oak
Eastern Prickly-Pear Cactus – [gardeners having impact on wild remnants when
they take bits of them]
Spring
ephemerals – plants that come up in spring each year in forests before tree
canopy of leaves is fully out (lots of examples like Mayapple, Trout Lillies,
Trilliums, skunk cabbage, etc.)
Animals (though there are not Dr. Morris’ specialty):
Southern
Flying Squirrel, Oppossum (arrived in 1980 or so via trucks, passageways across
river etc.)
Eastern fox;
American Badger, Elk, black bear, etc.
Birds:
Barn owl,
Hooded Warbler, Yellow-billed Cuckoo – insect eater, Red-shouldered Hawk, Wild
Turkey, Passenger Pigeon (billions and billions, but all gone now), etc.
Eastern Swallowtail Butterfly – eat Carolinian species plants
Different
kinds of snakes, turtles, toads, fish, etc. as well
Irony is
that the unique climatic & soil characteristics of this area that gave rise
to this unique zone, also were the things that Euro immigrants sought for
settlement, agricultural production, & industry à very quick loss of
forests and other Carolinian zone vegetation and animal habitat as Europeans
cleared the area – fragmentation of the zone is how it is described à
loss of genetic diversity as a result. Euro farming-orientation meant clearing
of forests, draining of wetlands, killing off of much of wildlife & habitat
destruction generally [animals like lynx, bear, wolves, moose, passenger
pigeons, wild turkeys, etc.]
Some of the
stats he shared about this zone:
2.5% of the
area of Canada – unique climatic, vegetative zone
25% of the people of Canada located here
close to 50%
of Canada’s species – very biologically diverse area
à quite fragmented now – ‘patchy’, irregular
à too much edge habitat – not enough interior habitat or spaces: he showed some
schematics about how the shapes and sizes of forested areas had influences on
what kinds of species could or could not live there
à 70
known native species of trees in Carolinian zone,
· perhaps
100-120 tree species before European settlement
· just
35 tree species in the Ontario boreal forest
Carolinian Zone Challenges:
•
Land clearance/conversion to other uses
•
Fragmentation (not much interior forest space which many species
need)
•
Misuse and overuse of remaining patches
•
Non-native species (he gave examples like purple loosestrife,
garlic mustard, spruce, European Buckthorn, gypsy moth, emerald ash borer, and
various other beetles, wasps, moths and blights, along with plant species
coming in from elsewhere)
•
Young woodlands
•
Homogenization
•
Climate Change
Some of the effects of climate change on the
Carolinian zone include:
·
Warmer climate and altered moisture regimes
·
Northward species migration
·
Altered species competitiveness (increased weediness)
·
Altered growth rates (lower or higher)
·
Increased disturbances (storms, fires, insects)
à 125 species at risk formally, though this could
be more like 400 in reality
Note: the movement of invasive species into this area – quite
devastating for Carolinian zone species – very little of what we see out there
these days is ‘native’ to this area
Climate
Change is also a reality that is creating many concerns about adaptability:
Some of the
effects of climate change on the Carolinian zone include:
Warmer climate and altered moisture regimes
Northward species migration
Altered species competitiveness (increased weediness)
Altered growth rates (lower or higher)
Increased disturbances (storms, fires,
insects
[go here for more in-depth look
at this Group's concerns and efforts]
WATERSHED ATTRIBUTES, AND WEATHER BASICS
Watershed: defined as
“an area of
land that drains precipitation through a particular river system or group of
river systems. [Gt. Lakes watershed is one that drains a group of river
systems, one of them being the GR watershed – which is a smaller version]
… a region of interconnected waterways which functions as a single system.”
Here are all the watersheds at
the level of southern Ontario – Grand is notable in the middle there
Then I made
some notes on how the glacial activities of past had given rise to the Huron
and Georgian Bay lobe till plain area in the north end of the watershed,
the Ontario and Erie lobe till plains in the centre of the GR watershed,
and the Lake Plain in the bottom 1/3 of the watershed.
These notes
included some stuff on mouth and source headwaters locations; on older names
for the river; some stuff on main tributaries of Grand; of differences in
altitude between the headwaters and mouth of the river; length of watershed and
area; etc.
Then through
some pictures and stories, sort of took you on a trip from the top of the
watershed, to the bottom (and I repeated a bit of this on the Friday – last
lecture)
Picture from
the Heritage in Water signage across Lorne Bridge in Brantford.
