This past week I was able to attend a training workshop as part of my CLM internship. Since my position started early in February, I elected to attend an alternative training workshop that focused more on plant identification in the field. The workshop took place on Isle Royale National Park, an island in the middle of Lake Superior. It combined learning about the various ecosystems on the island, practice using dichotomous keys, learning key characteristics of plant families to help distinguish them from similar species in the field, and learning about some rare and disjunct species on the island.
Barrier islands in Isle Royale National Park
Each day we hiked around different parts of the island to explore the various plant communities. The first full day we explored a small barrier island close to the main island and visited a fen and the rocky shores of Lake Superior. As we walked through the fen, we went through a key to identify some of the ericaceous species most commonly found there. Additionally, we learned about the types of habitat they prefer and how bogs are distinguished from fens (fens are fed from groundwater in addition to rainwater, while bogs are fed only from rainwater). We also found two carnivorous plant species in the fen – Drosera rotundifolia (Round-leaf Sundew) and Sarracenia purpurea (Pitcher Plant) – which use the nutrients they obtain from insects to make up for the nutrient poor conditions of their environment.
Chamaedaphne calyculata – Leatherleaf; one of the ericaceous species we keyed out
Drosera rotundifolia – Round-leaf sundew
Sarracenia purpurea – Pitcher Plant
Another highlight of the workshop was learning about “disjunct” plant species found on the island – species whose major distributions are distinctly separated from areas close to the island. There are both western and arctic/alpine disjunct species found on the island, which make it a particularly exciting area to botanize.
Primula mistassinica – Birdseye Primrose; an arctic/alpine disjunct species
Saxifraga tricuspidata – three toothed saxifrage, another arcitc/alpine disjunct only found on Isle Royale in the continental US
Empetrum nigrum – black crowberry, another arctic/alpine disjunct
Other things I will take away from this workshop are increasing familiarity with and comfort using more botanical terms to describe plants, as we talked a lot about specific parts of plants that are useful in distinguishing similar species. It was helpful to cement these terms over a week of seeing these plants in the field and observing the variety of forms plants can take. Our instructor showed us several botanical resources – field guides and manuals, online websites, and various books – that I can use in the future. I also learned a great deal from my fellow workshop participants by talking to them about their careers, sharing plant ID tips, and creating a network of people with a variety of skills and experience. All in all, the workshop strengthened my field botany skills and my desire to keep working in this field to protect places like the beautiful Isle Royale National Park.
Calypso bulbosa – Fairy slipper Orchid
Cypripedium arietinum – Ram’s Head Lady-slipper