Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Geo Blitz Thoughts


As much as I enjoyed the Bio Blitz fieldwork, the paperwork at the end is getting me down a bit. I have over 800 plants on my database that I have identified over the years but only at the genus/species level. All the other information (family, order, class, division) I have to look up. And then there are the birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, insects, spiders that I only know by their common names that need lots of research for even the genius and species information. Oh well, even if I don't get the information sent in, I still had a good time out in the field and now I am learning more about plants. Today, while I was at the herbarium at the Royal Botanical Garden, I found out that there are over 700 lichens in Ontario. (I don't know any of them.) There are over 540 mosses. (I keyed out one last year, but I don't remember the name.) There are over 130 liverworts. (Again I cannot identify any of them.) There are only 4 hornworts. (But I would not recognize one if I tripped over it.) There are 15 native conifers. (I think I can sort these out fairly quickly.) There are just over 170 trees and 340 shrubs. (I know more trees than shrubs.) There are 1900 herbs. (OK, my 800 is not looking too good here either.) Notice that I did not even mention the 270+ grasses and 360+ sedges and rushes. I guess what the Bio Blitz has shown me, is how much there is yet to learn. Back to the books . . .

3 comments:

robin andrea said...

Maybe there will be a way for people to participate without having to know all of this stuff. I thought part of the importance of this endeavor, from my perspective, was the snapshot of a particular region in time. Even without the scientific names, the diversity of species was recorded and noted. That seems like a great accomplishment.

Sonja Andic said...

I have to agree with Robin - it was an excellent accomplishment and sounds like it was fun. Thanks for your pic of the Morning Cloak - I saw one hiking last weekend but didnt know its name. Do you hike much to find your animal or plant subjects?
Cheers
Sonja

Ontario Wanderer said...

Well, here I am about 20 days later and never did finish the project. It's gone now but I do want to continue writing down new species found here. That too is not working out as I expected. Just so many things I want to do and so little time . . . .