Novel field surveys in Kespukwitk (southern Nova Scotia, Canada) for the Species at Risk Tubercled Spikerush (Eleocharis tuberculosa) and Plymouth Gentian (Sabatia kennedyana)
Burke Korol1, Iain Crowell1, Mannfred Boehm2, Sean Blaney1
1Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre. Sackville, NB.
2Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.
Accurate and current occurrence data is critical in ensuring that management actions for Species at Risk are maximally effective and efficient. Tubercled Spikerush (Eleocharis tuberculosa) is a nationally rare lakeshore species listed as Special Concern federally and Vulnerable provincially. Lakeshore surveys by the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre had increased documented occurrences in Canada from five in 2008 to nine in 2021, demonstrating the value of surveying new areas. In summer 2022 we visited 16 of the many unsurveyed or undersurveyed lakes in southern Shelburne and Yarmouth counties, NS. We documented Tubercled Spikerush on Quinan Lake and more extensive occurrence on Nonias Lake, which had previously been visited only at its southern tip. Our work also produced valuable negative data that helps confirm the species’ rare status in Canada and it compiled extensive new data on other provincially rare species and on the botanical diversity of these lakes.
Plymouth Gentian (Sabatia kennedyana; Endangered provincially and federally) is a lakeshore species found in Canada only in southern Yarmouth County, NS. Potential lakes are well surveyed for the species but a high potential area of the Tusket River between the occupied Lac de l’Ecole and Wilsons Lake had never been systematically searched for Plymouth Gentian. In summer 2022 surveyed this area. No Plymouth Gentian was documented but the work provided negative data further demonstrating the species’ rare status in Canada and generated extensive new data on other vascular plant species of the area, including some provincially rare species.
Keywords: Atlantic Coastal Plain flora; Species at Risk; Tubercled Spikerush – Eleocharis tuberculosa; Plymouth Gentian – Sabatia kennedyana
Presentation type: Oral presentation
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