In an earlier newsletter I wrote about the importance of the natural biodiversity of ecosystems. It is such a critical concept it warrants revisiting. Also, I have to admit the almost infinite variety of living things is a fascinating subject to think and write about.
The writer David Quammen, in his book The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction, relates a metaphor that nicely illustrates the importance of biodiversity. He asks us to imagine that we have a fine Persian carpet, say 12 by 18 feet, a hand-knotted carpet with hand dyed yarns, a thing of great beauty and craft and very precious. Now let us imagine carefully cutting this carpet apart into small rectangles of 2 by 3 feet. When we're done do we have a Persian carpet anymore? No, we have 36 rather elegant doormats. And it is the same with ecosystems; the remnants left after we have disturbed natural systems and reduced the biodiversity are less significant than the original system in a qualitative way. And as with the Persian carpet, we can never completely restore the ecosystem any more than we can weave the pieces of carpet back together.
The losses of biodiversity we hear the most about are occurring in the tropics. These natural areas with great intrinsic biodiversity are being destroyed at a rapid rate. But biodiversity is something that exists in our backyards too; it is threatened here just as it is in the tropics. In a way our local biodiversity is easier to relate to because it is more personal, it is what we actually experience. So the first question is: What do we know about the biodiversity of the Boquet watershed?
The beginning of any study of biodiversity is constructing a list of the species present in the area. BRASS has begun gathering this sort of information. The information has usually come from different agencies, each concerned with different groups of organisms. For example, we've received information about fish from Fisheries in the Department of Environmental Conservation, but information about reptiles and amphibians has come from the New York State Natural Heritage Program. Sometimes the information we get isn't specific enough for our purposes. It may tell us that a certain species is present in the state or in Essex County, but not whether it occurs in our watershed. As we begin to compile the lists, we have tried very hard to include only species that have actually been found in the watershed and not let slip in any that are only "supposed" to be here.
In lists of fish and reptiles/amphibians we have fairly complete information. These species lists are published on the BRASS website (http://www.boquetriver.org). In the case of plants, where distribution information is available only on a state and county level, I have begun to create a list and database for the Boquet watershed and the Lake Champlain drainages of Westport, Essex, and Willsboro. We have no funds to do this, but walking around looking at plants has always appealed to me and I have a technical background in plant taxonomy. On weekend hikes or even as we do other field work I make notes about what plants I see, where they are, and what habitats they are in. I have to emphasize that this is a very low-key effort and is more of a hobby than a job (except for entering the information in the database).
Over the last two years I've come up with a confirmed list of over 400 species of vascular plants in the area. In some cases adding a new species to the list is as simple as recognizing it. You can't mistake showy trillium (Trillium grandiflora) for anything other than what it is. On the other hand the identification of those like the rosy sedge (Carex rosea) depends on the determination of many of the characters of the tiny seed-bearing capsule, the achene, and requires at least a good hand lens or, better, a stereo dissecting scope. At this point I've perhaps found a lot of the trees and shrubs, some of the herbs and wildflowers, and a few of the grasses and sedges. This list may eventually number 700 to 900 species. To me this seems like rich flora for such a small area. This summer I vacationed in North Dakota where the whole state has only about 1000 species. Eventually I hope to be able to include this list of vascular plants of the region on the website.
A species list is only the first step in studying biodiversity. Are the Adirondacks still a whole carpet or have they already been irreversibly cut up into doormats? And what can we do about it? Even as we create species lists for various groups of plants and animals we've begun working on other aspects of biodiversity, such as threatened and endangered species, invasive species, and critical habitat areas. I'll discuss some of these efforts in a future newsletter.