New to E-Fauna BC: Big-headed Flies and...

Thanks to fly (Diptera) specialist Jeff Skevington, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, we have been able to add two more checklists to the E-Fauna checklist page:

Big-headed Flies (Pipunculidae):   http://www.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/efauna/documents/BCPipunculidae2013.pdf
Thick-headed Flies (Conopidae):  http://www.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/efauna/documents/BCConopids2013.pdf

This brings our Diptera (True Flies) checklists to six, covering the following groups:

 Big-headed Flies (Pipunculidae) (Jeffrey H. Skevington) [PDF]

 Black Flies (Simuliidae) (Rob Cannings) [PDF]

 Horse Flies and Deer Flies (Tabanidae) (Rob Cannings) [PDF]

 Mosquitoes (Culicidae) (Peter Belton) [PDF]    

 Robber Flies (Asilidae) (Robert Cannings) [PDF]    

 Thick-headed Flies (Conopidae) (Jeffrey H. Skevington) [PDF]  

New Articles on E-Fauna BC: Birds of British Columbia

The Nature Notes section on E-Fauna BC has been changed recently to a Notes and Articles section which includes two categories: 1) Nature Notes and 2) Articles. The Articles section is new and allows us to bring in interesting and comprehensive articles on BC species prepared by experts.  As a start we are adding a series of articles on the Birds of British Columbia prepared by Rick Toochin.  Ten articles are now posted:

Blackburnian Warbler
Ferruginous Hawk
Least Auklet
King Eider
Long-billed Murrelet
Philadelphia Vireo
Pine Warbler 
Prairie Warbler
Red-Necked Stint
Scarlet Tanager

Rick's articles provide comprehensive detailed information on bird species in BC covering topics such as first confirmed records for BC, status and occurrence in BC, and identification. These are easy to read articles that provide great overviews of the species as well as nuggets of information.  For example, read Rick's article on the first confirmed record of Pine Warbler in BC. 

To view all of the new bird articles, go to the E-Fauna home page and use the 'general information' menu on the left side of the page. Select for 'Notes and Articles'.

Contributions to the Notes and Articles section of E-Fauna BC are welcome.  We are particularly interested in articles on new species occurrences in the province and documentation of range expansions--information that can complement or add to our atlas pages would be very welcome.

Profile: Tom Carefoot, Marine Biologist

 Tom Carefoot, diving at Turneffe Island, Belize

Adding new material to the marine invertebrate sections on E-Fauna BC gained momentum last year when Tom Carefoot lent his expertise to E-Fauna and began to send in species introductions. He started with an introduction to the Zebra Sea Hare (Phyllaplysia taylori)--a lightly striped, mostly green, sea snail that grazes on common eelgrass Zostera marina. Since that introduction, Tom has contributed dozens of introductions to marine invertebrates on E-Fauna, ranging from the Dog Whelk  (Nucella ostrina) to the Southern Sea Slater (Ligia occidentalis).

Tom is a retired zoology professor from the University of British Columbia where he spent 35 years teaching the biology of invertebrates as well as researching sea hares and the physiological ecology of oniscid isopods (woodlice or sowbugs). Tom is well-versed on invertebrate marine life both on the Pacific Coast and also in the Caribbean, and has written 2 books on marine ecology and is the author of more than 90 research papers.

Of his teaching career, Tom says: "My teaching involved two courses on the biology of invertebrates, one given several times a week to a class of 300 students. The courses required many field trips to the west coast over the years, and in total I did over a thousand SCUBA dives at local sites. In lectures, I used photographs, videos, and other projection material, complemented during later years with extensive computer-based teaching aids that we developed with financial aid from a series of “Teaching, Learning, and Enhancement” awards from the University. Later in my career the University honoured me with a Master Teaching Award, which always seemed humorous to me because most of the time I joked that the administration would instead be better off giving out scads of  'Master Learning Awards'."

Recently, Tom has produced an interesting and comprehensive educational website on west coast marine invertebrates called A Snail's Odyssey.  This is a detail-rich web site that summarizes research findings on west-coast marine invertebrate species, and covers just about everything.   He says this "will keep me busy essentially forever".  Tom is also preparing a second web site on Caribbean coral reefs, called the Biology of Caribbean Coral Reefs.  For this he is assembling his large collection of underwater tropical photos and videos--it is a work-in-progress.

Tom's level of expertise and exceptional knowledge of marine species ecology have resulted in some great introduction notes for BC species.  They are well worth a read.  To find Tom's notes, go to our comprehensive search feature at the bottom of the E-Fauna BC home page and search for his name.

Here are a few of Tom's photos:

Zebra Sea Hare (Phyllaplysia taylori)

 California Beach Hopper (Megalorchestia californiana)

 Opalascent Nudibranch (Hermissenda crassicornis)

Focus on Fungi

From morels to coral fungi to bird's nest fungi, the fungi section on E-Flora BC is developing nicely thanks to the volunteer efforts of a group of dedicated mycologists--Ian Gibson, Terry Taylor, Michael Beug and Jim Ginns--and several fungi photographers whose submissions really make the fungi come to life.

Ian Gibson has contributed substantially to the E-Flora fungi section.  He is developing our fungi species list (macrofungi only), which includes only species with published verified records for BC.  So far the list includes 1737 species, but it is expected to be updated soon.  (The overall number of fungi species in BC is expected to grow substantially--the actual number of fungi in BC may well be many thousands of species, many not yet documented or vouchered).  Ian has also provided a list of fungi to watch for in BC, species that are likely to be added to his BC list.   In addition to his work on the fungi species list for BC, Ian has also provided E-Flora with species' descriptions for the fungi atlas pages. These are extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest, a major non-profit project he has also developed.

Michael Beug has provided a fabulous Introduction to the Fungi for E-Flora. It is well-written and  provides an interesting overview of major fungi groups. He says, "You will discover that fungi rival plants in species diversity and occupy many more ecological roles than any other group of organisms. You will learn how some fungi cause plant disease, others cause human infections, while others like yeast make our bread rise or our alcoholic beverages ferment and still others are the sources of our most important antibiotics and the drugs that help prevent tissue rejection, thus making transplants possible." 

Michael, Terry Taylor and Jim Ginns volunteer their time on E-Flora to identify photo submissions, an ongoing process and one that is growing substantially.  We now have more than 2800 fungi photos in the fungi gallery.  Major fungi photo contributions have been submitted to E-Flora by Jim Riley, Adolf Ceska and Michael Beug--Michael has contributed more than 1200 fungi photos.

Visit our fungi photo gallery. 

 Astraeus hygrometricus (barometer earthstar), photo by Adolf Ceska

 Tricholomopsis decora (queen's coat), photo by Rosemary Taylor

 Oligoporus caesius (blue cheese polypore), photo by Michael Beug

Visit the North American Mycological Association's poisonings web page. 

Profile: Aaron Baldwin, Marine Biologist

 Aaron Baldwin with Bathynomus specimen.

Flatworms, ribbon worms, chitons, crabs, lampshells, acorn worms, jellyfish, isopods, copepods and pseudscorpions--what do these faunal groups have in common?   They are all invertebrate faunal groups we cover on E-Fauna BC, and they all have BC checklists prepared by Alaskan marine biologist, Aaron Baldwin.

Aaron is a Seattle native who is currently a fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He has completed a master's in crustacean reproductive biology (University of Louisiana) and has started a PhD in shrimp ecology (University of Alaska Fairbanks). He says "I have worked as a professor, a K12 science teacher, a NMFS observer, and am currently a fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Juneau, Alaska." 

Over the last few years, Aaron has done quite a bit for E-Fauna BC and uses his taxonomic skills extensively. He has compiled species lists for many of BC's marine invertebrate groups, has written introductions to groups (see, for example, his introduction the crabs, shrimps and crayfish of BC), and has submitted more than 1000 photos to E-Fauna's photo gallery.  His photos cover everything, including limpets, crabs, jellyfish, marine fish, dovesnails, and sea stars, often representing his time on ocean-going vessels way up north. Now and then, he also submits photos of terrestrial species. 

Here are a few of examples of Aaron's crab photos, and group that have a special interest for him:

  Deep Sea Giant Spider Crab (Macroregonia macrocheira)

Wide-handed Hermit Crab (Elassochirus gillii)

Pacific Red Hermit Crab (Elassochirus tenuimanus)

Take a peek at more of Aaron's photo gallery contributions here.

Citizen Science: Water Fleas on E-Fauna BC

 Ian Gardiner with a Bull Trout Salvelinus confluentus in the East Kootenays

E-Fauna BC covers the faunal groups of British Columbia, including vertebrates (mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and ampibians), insects, and many other invertebrate groups that include arachnids (spiders and ticks), crustaceans (crabs, crayfish, cladocera, copepods etc.), cnidarians (jellyfish, sea anemones etc.), annelids (earthworms, leeches etc.), echinoderms, molluscs, porifera (sponges) and more. In addressing these groups in BC, we first work with group specialists to post species lists for the province, then begin to set up atlas pages and add photos. When photos come in, there are sometimes surprises, including new species for BC, and sometimes our photographers become specialists in groups and do much more.

One example of this is the work of Ian Gardiner, a photographer from Calgary, Alberta and retired statistician and IT analyst.  Ian has taken an interest in freshwater crustaceans and has been sampling lakes in BC near the Alberta border. First up for him were water fleas (Cladocerans), and his work has resulted in several new species for the province. As a citizen scientist, he has been working with Gordon Green (retired curator with the Royal BC Museum) to update the species checklist for BC, confirm identifcations and generally fill in photos for this group on E-Fauna.

Water fleas are an interesting group of freshwater crustaceans. Gordon writes about them on E-Fauna BC in his Introduction to the Cladocerans of British Columbia. He says: "Cladocerans are small crustaceans belonging to the orders, Anomopoda, Ctenopoda, Onychopoda or Haplopoda.  Commonly called water fleas, due to their small size and jerky swimming motion, cladocerans are extremely abundant in most freshwater habitats.  There are a few estuarine species but this group has not been successful in the oceans.  Some species are planktonic living in the open water of lakes, while others live on or near the bottom or on aquatic vegetation.  Some species are found primarily in small ponds or saline lakes which lack fish predators."

Water fleas are important in the ecosystem. Gordon also adds: "An important link in food chains of virtually every inland body of water, cladocerans convert phytoplankton, benthic plants and decaying organic matter into animal tissue that can be used by larger animals. In large lakes they are a major food source for many kinds of fish such as sticklebacks, minnows and young Sockeye salmon. Many aquatic insect larvae and other invertebrates also feed on cladocerans"

Water fleas are interesting biologically. They reproduce by parthenogensis, and eggs develop without fertilization under stable environmental conditions.  In unfavourable conditions, males will be produced. 

Between them, Gordon and Ian have now confirmed about 75 species of water fleas for BC and Ian continues to collect and photograph specimens.  You can view his photos here. They provide excellent technical illustrations for this group.

Ian is also working on other groups, including copepods. View his copepod photos here.

This sort of meticulous, well documented work begins to blur the lines between scientist and citizen scientist, and really adds to the significance of E-Fauna BC when we can present current research on a faunal group.

  Dunhevedia crassa, photo by Ian Gardiner

View the atlas page for this species and read Ian's introduction

Holopedium gibberum, photo by Ian Gardiner

View the atlas page for this species

'Image of Distinction' in Nikon's 2012 Small World Photomicrography competition 

Featured Species: The Phantom Orchid

The Phantom Orchid (Cephalanthera austinae) is one of BC's rare orchid species, red-listed in the province and listed as threatened at the federal level under SARA (Canada's species at risk act).  But it's a fun species to search for and is occasionally stumbled upon in the southwestern corner of the province.  You can find it in the Chilliwack area in the Fraser Valley, on Saltspring Island, and around Victoria on Vancouver Island. It is primarily an inhabitant of old-growth forests, but sometimes can persist where old growth once grew. The underground rhizomes and ability to go dormant let it ride out unfavourable conditions and wait for the right ones before sending up new flowering stems.  This ability to persist in unfavourable conditions means that even if you don't find flowering stems, the orchid could still be present.

In British Columbia, we have seen it growing in big-leaf maple stands and beneath western red cedar, primarily shaded habitats that can range from heavily vegetated to sparsely vegetated. It likes limestone and calcareous conditions and has been found on heavily limed compost piles, around limestone quarries, and even on old shell middens.  You wouldn't have known the midden was there until trees were toppled in a storm and the shells exposed.  We have also read about the phantom occurring in the limestone gravel bed of a road in California.

We have even seen the phantom orchid growing inside a horse paddock and a cow pasture, where somehow it survived the trampling and persisted, perhaps benefiting from the nutrient load and lack of competitors. We have encountered other wild orchid species persisting in horse pastures back east so there must be some benefit to the orchids in these situations. Persistence in the face of some disturbances probably depends on the intactness of the underground stems and of the upper soil layers where they occur.

One of the most interesting sites where we found this species was in the midst of a deer bed (black-tailed deer) near Chilliwack.  We flushed two deer that were resting and in the midst of the bed and amongst the deer pellets were scattered flowering stems of phantom orchid.  We frequently encounter it along deer trails, although sometimes the stems have been browsed. 

Although it is a shade-loving plant, there are reports of it growing in sunlight, a population perhaps persisting long after a disturbance or one still struggling to produce flowering stems following changes to its habitat. 

The phantom orchid is an interesting species because it is mycoheterotrophic.  It grows in partnership with a fungus and a tree species.  This means that protecting and managing for this orchid requires protecting and managing the trees and fungus it is dependent upon.

It is also interesting because of the particularly long flowering period here in BC (which is at the northern limits of its range).  We have found it flowering in mid-May, and also found new and emerging flowering stems in mid-July at the same site. As old stems die back, new ones continue to emerge,  probably tied to local microclimate. 

Species like this, occurring at the northern limits of their range in southern BC, contribute to BC's high biodiversity. Our northern populations are the vanguard of the species, ready to spread northward should conditions become favourable.

Phantom orchids in deep shade at Teapot Hill

 Phantom orchid habitat, roadside, Cultus Lake