I’ve written in a previous article on how science not communicated (i.e., not published) is science not finished; at the museum this often means telling both the public sphere and the academic world about our findings. While the former may take the form of museum exhibits, public presentations and blogs, the peer-reviewed journal article is still king of the latter.
Our research group’s latest open-access journal article is a complete, detailed checklist (with lots of colour photos) enumerating the vascular-plant flora of the lower Coppermine River, the focus of our 2014 collecting trip. By combining our over 1200 newly collected specimens with all previously collected specimens in herbaria across Canada, we now know that 300 vascular plant species can be found along this stretch of the river, making it one of the most species-rich areas known on mainland Nunavut.
Many of these new vascular plant records (56) are range extensions, which expand upon previous work and establish new native ranges for these plants.
Seven species are newly recorded for mainland Nunavut, and 14 additional species are recorded for the first time ever in the territory itself.
Notably, we found 207 vascular plant taxa (species, subspecies and varieties) in Kugluk (Bloody Falls) Territorial Park, just south of Kugluktuk. This park, set aside for recreation and preservation because of its long, and sometimes bloody, history, can also be considered an important protected area for native vascular plants in the low Arctic.
Now that the paper has been published, the data and interpretation contained in this new contribution are out in the world for other scientists to read, reference, cite and (hopefully) use in the field.
The project may be over, but the specimens that we collected and the knowledge that we collated will be useful for decades to come. And as the Arctic field seasons go by, the museum’s botany team will continue to press plants, peer into microscopes, sequence DNA, publish results and widely share our findings for the benefit of everyone who wants to know.
After all, the museum’s collections and knowledge isn’t ours, it’s yours.
Canadian Museum of Nature Blog 
Enjoyed your post and the photos. Perhaps it’s too soon to say, but are any of the “new to Nunavut” species related to climate change and the northward movement of plants to compensate for changing conditions?
Thanks Sally! In many cases, we are still building the baseline on where species occur at the very edges of the Arctic ecozone, so it’s difficult to say if our records are the result of species moving north. In the future, however, botanists visiting Kugluktuk will be able to compare what’s there with what we collected in 2014, allowing them to determine if species are moving north.