Research and Collections: How About Stewardship?

By Emma Lehmberg and Cassandra Robillard

Did you know that the Canadian Museum of Nature not only houses the most extensive collections of Canadian flora and fauna, but also works to conserve local land?

The Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP) was established to study and protect the property surrounding the museum’s research and collections facility, called the Natural Heritage Building, in the Aylmer sector of Gatineau, Québec. Seventy-six hectares of mixed wetland, lowland and upland forest have been protected from large-scale development.

Many wildflower species, including this marsh blue violet (Viola cucullata), are commonly found on the property. Image: Emma Lehmberg © Canadian Museum of Nature

Your friendly environmental-monitoring duo for 2012. From left: Emma Lehmberg, Cassandra Robillard. Image: Brian W. Coad © Canadian Museum of Nature

This entails a number of activities, including hydrogeological surveys (to understand groundwater movement), biological surveys, property maintenance, and acting as a liaison between the museum and the local community with regard to environmental issues on and near the property.

This summer, we are proud to introduce ourselves as this year’s EMP field team: Emma Lehmberg and Cassandra Robillard. We’re both students with a love of biology and enthusiasm for educating others about the natural world. Over the next few months, it will be our focus to spearhead the program’s various projects for the season.

Current Projects for 2012

Natural Education
Running guided tours of the property for fellow staff members and groups such as natural-history clubs and biology classes. We’ll demonstrate the kind of work that we do in the field, while teaching them about the local plants, habitats and wildlife. We also hope to establish an outdoor information network that will allow self-guided nature interpretation of a previously established trail network.

A spider blends in on the petal of a white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum). Image: Brian W. Coad © Canadian Museum of Nature

Communication
Preparing a web page on the Environmental Monitoring Program for the museum’s web site, nature.ca.

Monitoring
Looking at ways to deal with European glossy buckthorn (Frangula alnus), an invasive non-native shrub that is a serious threat to native forests. We’ll also surveying for ticks in the interest of the health and safety of people on the property.

Cassandra Robillard checks the GPS while the team works away from the trails. Image: Emma Lehmberg © Canadian Museum of Nature

We are also excited about the possibility of participating in the Barcode of Life (BOL) project. This is an international initiative to sequence the DNA of all known multicellular species for the purpose of future molecular identification of unknown specimens.

Our aim is to compile a collection of specimens that represent the full diversity of plant species in the area around the research and collections facility, and hopefully submit these to the BOL project for DNA sequencing and coding. Many specimens have been collected in past EMP initiatives, and we hope to fill in the gaps with field collections of our own, including specimens of mosses.

Two species of moss grow together on the side of a trail. Image: Emma Lehmberg © Canadian Museum of Nature

As the summer progresses, we will certainly be busy doing all of these things, and maybe much more! And because we love to share our work, we hope that we’ll be able to share that with you.

Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), seen here at left, is abundant on the property. Right: Foamflower (Tiarella sp.). Images: Emma Lehmberg © Canadian Museum of Nature