Lady’s Slippers

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Brett
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Pink Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium acaule)

It looks like pink lady’s slippers (Cypripedium acaule) have started blooming – I saw these earlier today on my lunch break. A lot of people think the pink lady’s slipper is threatened or endangered around here, but that is actually not the case (although it is in endangered in some states at the outer limits of its range, such as Illinois and Tennessee). The closely related yellow lady’s slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum), however, is endangered in many northeastern states, including New Hampshire.

These species, like many other showy orchids, face the most risk from collectors. Even though pink lady’s slippers are relatively common, they face a lot of pressure from uneducated collectors, who can easily wipe out small populations in one fell swoop.

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Day Hike Up Mount Whiteface

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Brett

It was gorgeous out today, so I figured it was a good time to go for my first hike of the season. I decided on Mount Whiteface because it’s fairly close (about and hour and fifteen minutes from Concord), it was a four thousand footer I had not yet hiked, and it was be a quick and relatively easy way for Pemi to bag her first four thousand footer.

I started from the Ferncroft Road trailhead, from which it is about a 4 mile hike up the Blueberry Ledge Trail to the summit. Most of the trail is on a fairly gentle grade through a northern hardwood forest with the occasional spruce-fir pocket mixed in. The last half mile, however, is quite a bit steeper and more difficult. There are a number of precipitous ledges up which I struggled to carry Pemi, who couldn’t scramble her way up. These efforts were rewarded, though, with excellent views. At different spots I could see the lakes to the south and the Presidentials to the north. Don’t expect any views from the summit, though – at only 4020 feet in elevation, the summit is well below the tree line. There is a “fake” summit about a quarter of a mile from the real summit, and this makes for a great place to stop, have some lunch, and enjoy the views.

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It ended up being a pretty slow hike because of the many wildlife viewing opportunities I had. I saw a snowshoe hare in a spruce-fir dominated section of the trail, which I believe was the first one I have ever seen. I knew it wasn’t a cottontail because it was much, much bigger than any rabbit I had ever seen in the area, and also because of the habitat in which I found it. I also came across several mixed flocks of birds, and these included many migrants that I had not seen yet this season. Over the course of the hike, I saw the following bird species:

American robin
Yellow-rumped warbler
Blue jay
Red-breasted nuthatch
Blackburnian warbler
Black-throated green warbler
Black-throated blue warbler
Ovenbird
Winter wren
Least flycatcher
Blue-headed vireo
Red-eyed vireo
Dark-eyed junco
White-throated sparrow
Eastern phoebe
Hairy woodpecker
Black-and-white warbler
Chestnut-sided warbler
Golden-crowned kinglet
Hermit thrush
Black-capped chickadee

The forest floor is coming alive as well. A number of plants associated with either northern hardwood or spruce-fir forests are in bloom, including painted trillium (Trillium undulatum), purple trillium (Trillium erectum), hobblebush (Viburnum lantanoides), and sessile-leaved bellwort (Uvularia sessilifolia). Shadbush, the common name of about 20 species in the genus Amelanchier, is also in bloom. It is called shadbush because its blooming coincides with the time when American shad, an anadromous fish, migrates upriver from the ocean to spawn. Its other common name is serviceberry, which also refers to the time of year when the plant blooms. When its flowers open in the early spring, it is generally around the time when the ground is no longer frozen, and funeral services (thus “service” berry) for those who passed on in the winter can be held.

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Painted trillium (Trillium undulatum)

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Purple trillium (Trillium erectum)

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Hobblebush (Viburnum lantanoides)

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Shadbush or Serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.)

I found some young blue-bead lily (Clintonia borealis) along the trail, which is an edible and tasty plant this time of year. I also came across some patches of false hellebore (Veratrum viride), which is absolutely NOT edible. In fact, in some Native American tribes, men who could eat a good deal of the plant without vomiting held a badge of honor.

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False hellebore (Veratrum viride)

So all in all, it was a great hike on a perfect day. Pemi bagged her first four thousand footer and there was plenty to see. I used my GPS app from Trimble on my new smartphone for the first time, and that thing was incredible. The GPS and mapping capabilities are phenomenal and I believe it has replaced my standalone GPS for day hikes. Below are a couple of figures detailing my hike, along with some additional photos I took from my phone.

Terrain map with track

Elevation profile

 

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Pemi's Overlook

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Old, barely recognizable stone wall

Categories: Animals, Communities & Habitats, Hiking, Plants, White Mountains, Wilderness | 5 Comments

Iconic Here, Invasive There

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Brett

I’ve taken a long hiatus from blogging because I’ve been so busy with school. But now that I’m done with classes, I hope to write more regularly!

 

We have our fair share of annoying exotic species in New England – house sparrow, rock pigeon, Norway rat, Japanese knotweed, etc. Rarely do I consider that these species belong somewhere – that there are ecosystems elsewhere in the world that have evolved with them. Recently I was thinking that there must be a number of iconic New England plants and animals that have been introduced to other parts of the world and are now considered nuisances (or worse). I looked into this, and here are a few such species:

- The northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), which is certainly among our most recognizable birds, is one of around 170 bird species that have invaded the Hawaiian Islands in recent decades. They were introduced in the late 1920′s and early 1930′s intentionally because folks wanted this colorful bird to become a permanent resident. Unfortunately, these people were successful – the bird is now widespread, displacing native birds and dispersing seeds of invasive plants.

Northern Cardinal (courtesy of Johnny N. Dell, Bugwood.org)

- The American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) is familiar to anyone who has visited a lake, pond, or marsh in New England. The croaking of this large frog is (to me, at least) a typical sound of early summer. However, these frogs are not as appreciated in the 40 countries in which they’ve been introduced (sometimes intentionally, sometimes not). They are voracious predators, eating any animal they can fit in their mouths, even when they are in the tadpole stage of their life cycle. They outcompete native amphibians and fish in many of the areas they’ve invaded.

American Bullfrog (courtesy of Russ Ottens, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org)

- I bet everyone reading this has seen a gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) within the last 24 hours, either on a lawn, on a bird feeder, or darting across a busy street. It’s not surprising that these rodents have invaded other areas given that they are a generalist species and thrive in disturbed areas around humans. They are now established in South Africa, Italy, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. In Europe, they have caused a number of problems, including extensive damage to the bark of trees and the extirpation of the native red squirrel in areas where the two species’ ranges overlap.

To learn more about the world’s worst invasive species, check out the Global Invasive Species Database.

Categories: Animals | 1 Comment

Gray Treefrog

Posted on September 11, 2011 by Brett

Gray Treefrog

Here’s an addendum to a previous post about the amphibian species in my backyard. I saw this gray treefrog on a blueberry bush in my yard several days ago. I hear these all the time, but I had never seen one because they are nocturnal and spend most of their time high up in the trees. Below is a video of a treefrog calling – it’s another typical sound of a New England summer night.

This species can change its color to blend in with its surroundings, which explains why the frog is green in my photo and gray in the video. The scientific name of the gray treefrog, Hyla versicolor, reflects this trait.

 

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Indian Pipes

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Brett

Indian Pipes (Monotropa uniflora)

Have you ever seen these strange looking things growing on the forest floor? They are called Indian pipes and are in the plant kingdom, even though they look more like fungi. They are members of the heath family, which also includes plants like blueberries and rhododendrons. Unlike those other plants, Indian pipes do not contain any chlorophyll so they are not green and don’t photosynthesize.

Since they don’t photosynthesize, Indian pipes can’t get their energy from the sun like most plants. Instead, they are parasitic and have to mooch off of other organisms. In fact, Indian pipes actually depend on a symbiotic relationship between plant roots and what are known as mycorrhizal fungi. The fungi work to make nutrients in the soil available to the plant, while the plant repays the favor by supplying the fungi with carbohydrates. They both benefit greatly from this relationship.

Indian pipes, on the other hand, give nothing back. They tap into this exchange and take nutrients flowing both ways. This forces both the plant and fungus hosts to work a little bit harder to make their relationship work.

Hosts and parasites are constantly evolving together. There are three general models of co-evolution:

1. Mutual aggression – Hosts and parasites are locked in an ongoing evolutionary arms race. The parasite evolves better ways to exploit its host while the host develops better defense mechanisms. Both entities are constantly and aggressively opposing each other.

2. Prudent parasite – In this relationship, the parasite minimizes the damage it does to its host. Therefore, the host requires no evolutionary response to thwart the parasite. Although the parasite is still getting a free ride, the host doesn’t mind as much.

3. Mutualism – This relationship develops from a long period of co-evolution that results in adaptations that are beneficial to both species. In many cases, the host ends up requiring the presence of the former parasite! An example of this is the mycorrhizal fungi-plant root association discussed earlier.

Right now, I would say that Indian pipes are prudent parasites. They are mooches, but they aren’t overly aggressive toward either its host plant or host fungus. It is possible that this relationship will evolve in such a way that all three species benefit each other.

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