Exhibit Layouts

I was out on Victoria Beach after Labour Day looking for more bugseeds and it was like a scene from an Alfred Hitchcock movie or episode of that documentary “Life After People”.

When I visited Victoria Beach before it was full of families and buff teenagers laying on brightly coloured towels or cavorting happily in the water. Now the only signs of any human presence at all were the occasional empty pop cans, discarded sandals, and cast off fluorescent pool noodles. It was like humanity had vanished off the face of the earth and I was destined to live out my final days as the last member of our species. The gulls were sitting quietly on the rocks by the shore, masters of all they surveyed. They looked rather smug, presumably with satisfaction that the human squatters were finally gone, leaving them in peace once more. Or perhaps I was just imagining it.

Later in the week while out at an equally deserted Grand Beach I was puzzled to find an odd animal track in the sand that I had never seen before: tiny little footprints and a pronounced tail mark. The tracks looked fresh so I figured that if I just did a bit more investigating I’d find the culprit. I was eventually overjoyed to find a tiny baby snapping turtle, only about 8 cm long from head to tail tip. He/she was probably only a few weeks old and heading to the lake to find a nice muddy spot to bury him/herself in for the winter. I’m sure that the journey from the marsh to the lake was easier without hundreds of sunbathers to crawl around or harass it.

The absence of people made my task a lot easier as well as I could hike through the dunes without being fearful of barging in on any scantily clad young couples hoping for a few moments of privacy. I set out early in the morning to hike along shore and see if I could find some bugseeds in the sand dunes. Fortunately, it didn’t take long. I had just reached the beach and was bending over to tie my shoe when voila there it was on the eroding bank right next to the stairway. If only all my field work could be that easy! Anyway I spent the rest of the day walking along the beach to determine how widespread the species was. So this trip resulted in the rediscovery of two populations of bugseeds in the area and two new records of bugseeds at Traverse Bay and Grand Beach. Now it’s back to the laboratory to prepare my plant collection for processing and try to make some sense out of my field notes.

I’m sure the birds were happy to see me go.

For the last several weeks I’ve been climbing over sand dunes, hiking over hills and sauntering along beaches in pursuit of bugseeds. What are bugseeds you may wonder? They are a group of annual plants that grow in sandy habitats. Up until fairly recently, they were thought to be weeds introduced to North America from Europe. Recent research revealed that they are in fact native to the Americas. After studying herbarium specimens from all over Canada, I realized that some of the species may be rare. Since most specimens of bugseed were collected 40 to 100 years ago, I decided to try to relocate the old populations to determine if the populations had disappeared or were still present.

My first few days of field work were spent north of Glenboro in Spruce Woods Provincial Park and Canadian Forces Base Shilo. American bugseed was locally common at Shilo due to it’s tolerance and even preference for, areas with some disturbance. I found it on sandy roads, cutaways into sandy hills, bladed trails, and old sand pits as well as on sand dunes and natural blowouts. Hooker’s bugseed, on the other hand, was found in only one spot in the whole province: firm wind-swept dune blowouts in Spruce Woods Provincial Park. Hairy bugseed was also found on natural dune blowouts in the park and at Shilo. At several sites, particularly along railroads, the bugseeds appear to have been extirpated, their likely habitat taken over by exotic weeds like Russian thistle and Lamb’s quarters.

One of the things I love about doing field work is the opportunity to see interesting plants and animals while I’m searching for rare plants. I saw a tiny little chipmunk on a fallen spruce tree, very kindly posing for the camera for me. In a little bluff of trees I was thrilled to finally encounter a specimen of Branched Hericium (Hericium ramosum) growing on a rotting log. I’ve been looking for that species for years. I was also astounded to find the largest pincushion cactus (Coryphantha vivipara) that I’ve ever seen (about 25 cm high and 60 cm in diameter). So despite the windy weather that whipped sand in my face and made me feel like I could become airborne, it was an interesting and successful week.