Plant Communities (GO) and ID keys and Mccdougal paper

Question 1

What are some early season herbaceous species associated with GO?

Answer 1

• Common Camas (Camassia quamash)
• Trout lily (Erythronium oregonum)
• Shooting Star (Dodecatheon hendersonii)
• Buttercup (Ranunculus occidentalis)
• Great Camas (Camassia leichtlinii)
• Broom Moss (Dicranum scoparium)
• Miner’s Lettuce (Montia perfoliata)
• Rock Moss (Rhacomitrium canescens)

Question 2

Why does the BC coast have high diversity in mosses and lichens?

Answer 2

Wet

- Mosses and lichens difficult to key due to high diversity on coast

Question 3

What species are you likely to find associated with GO bedrock outcrops?

Answer 3

• Broom Moss (Dicranum scoparium)

- Rock Moss (Rhacomitrium canescens)

Question 4

What other species may be found associated with GO communities (non-early season herbaceous)?

Answer 4

Festuca roemerii (Roemer's fescue)
Bromus carinatus (California brome)
Melica subulata (Alaska oniongrass)
Elymus glaucus (Blue wildrye)
Symphoricarpus albus (Snowberry-shrub)

Question 5

What is happening at the Christmas Hill site in Victoria?

Answer 5

CDF overtopping oaks, no real management of site

Question 6

What is the desired state of GO?

Answer 6

Savannah, not woodland

Question 7

Snowberry is a native species, but how is it also invasive?

Answer 7

Snowberry is an ‘increaser’ of the middle story and along with Indian Plum overshadows the meadow layer and detracts from savannah landscape

Question 8

When is the ideal time to burn?

Answer 8

Spring: not too dry and the sun can solarize and cook the blackened burnt land surface

Question 9

What is the state of the GO system at the NCC Maple Bay property?

Answer 9

Woodland well represented, but not savannah yet.

- Savannah side used to be a sheep farm and doesn’t have enough native species left to re-establish after a burn

Question 10

Take home messages from MccDougall paper

Answer 10

• Burning is good, essential even
• Need enough of the original (native) population left (seed bank)
• ie. need remnant communities in place already
• Stable
• Resistant (Don’t change a lot)
• Resilient (Bounce back quickly)

Question 11

Coppice

Answer 11

• Cut main stem and suckers (clones) spring up
• Cut growing leader promotes spreading base
• cut right to base, not just top buds
• get higher density of wood and thicket
• Used in England to build hedgerows (instead of fences)
• FN used on GO to get more wood

Question 12

Physiognomic Key

Answer 12

• Based on Structure
• Advantages: Can be used anywhere in the world, easiest.
• tall, canopy cover

Question 13

Floristic Key

Answer 13

• Based on composition and flora
• Need the name of the species
• Disadvantage: Need the reproductive parts which are not always available or may have been mowed down
• ex. BC Flora key

Question 14

What is easiest kind of key to use? Why?

Answer 14

Physiognomic

• start with canopy cover and height
• Moving into habitat description gets tougher when describing species

Question 15

Physiognomic vs. Floristic Keys

Answer 15

Physiognomic: Species free, only structural
-Can be used anywhere

Floristic: Species, not structure

• Specific to regions and locations
• Know species, then you know the structure

Question 16

Higher-level physiognomic vegetation … for GO surrounding ecosystem

Answer 16

Partially merged classifications of structure and species

- Formation class, formation sub-class, species