Transcript Sphagnum Moss - Unforgettable

Welcome to the world of
wetlands…...
Prepare to be amazed!
Canadian
Prairie Potholes
• Canada possesses more than 25% of the
world’s wetlands.
• Scientists estimate that more than 50% of
all the ducks in North America rely on the
prairie potholes for survival
• An estimated 60% of the wetlands in the
Parkland region alone have disappeared
Marsh
Swamp
Bog
Fen
Boreal Sedge Fen
Marsh
non-peat wetland
 emergent reeds, rushes or
cattails
 highly productive
• deep open water zones
• provide spawning grounds
for fish
• feeding and gathering
areas for migrating
waterfowl
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Swamp
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non-peat wetland
dominated by trees or tall
shrub thickets
soft maples, cedar, alder,
willow
provide habitat for cavity
nesting birds - mergansers,
wood ducks
Bog
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northern, peat wetland
primarily from runoff and
rainfall, very acidic
low productivity
sphagnum moss, black
spruce, tamarack
Bogs are the oldest
wetlands
Fen
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peat wetland
formed from groundwater
& runoff
slightly acidic or alkaline
slightly higher productivity
then a bog
dominated by sedges
contains rare wildflowers
and orchids
Sphagnum Moss
• Cells are filled with gas
• Holds 200 times its own
weight in water
• Sinks with age forming
peat
• Layer grows 3-7 cm in a
century!
Things you might find in a fen or
a bog….
Sedges
Hooded Lady’s-tresses
Orchid
Bog Rosemary
Labrador Tea
Sundew
Pitcher Plant
In a marsh you will find three varieties of
aquatic plants:
1) Emergent
2) Submergent
3) Floating
Other fabulous floaters include:
Common Bladderwort
•Free-floating, non-rooting
•Bladders serve as reservoirs
•Bladders trap tiny invertebrates
Common Duck Weed
•Rapid reproduction
•Used to treat sewage and wastewater
•Used to feed fish and other livestock
Other entertaining emergents:
Common Butterwort
•Resembles violet
•Found in calcium rich soil
•Insect-eating perennial
Yellow Marsh-Marigold
•All parts contain poisons
•Poultice of leaves to treat warts
•Leaves can cause skin to blister
Another super submergent:
Clasping-leaf Pondweed
• Perennial
• Flowers in dense
staked spike
• An important food
source
• Provides shelter for
aquatic invertebrates
Purple Loosestrife
• European invasive
species
• No nutritional value
for native wildlife
• 190 000 hectares
affected each year
• Biological controls are
being researched
Wood Frog
Northern Leopard Frog
Boreal Chorus Frog
Canadian Toad
Canadian Toad
Boreal Toad
I know I look tasty, but you wouldn’t want to eat me.
My wart glands produce a mild venom!
Tiger Salamander
I grow to be quite big (144 mm-180mm) and my
appetite is large. I eat small fish, frogs, young
mice and even other salamanders!
What can I find under
the water?
Beautiful Backswimmer
• Swims upside-down
• Row of hair fringes
collect air
• Piercing and sucking
mouth parts
• Often confused with
Water Boatman
Water Boatman
• Slender and black
with fine yellow
lines
• Paddles its long,
skinny, oar-like legs
• Eats algae, dead
plants and animals
Giant Water Bug
• The largest true
bugs
• Stab and suck prey
juices
• In some species
males carry eggs on
back
• Use breathing tubes
to get air
Great Diving Beetle
• Breaths through
spiracles
• Stores air bubbles
under wings
• Adults tear up food
and eat small pieces
• Strong fliers
Water Strider.
• Also known as “Pond
Skater”
• Legs feathery tips hold
air bubbles
• Piercing, sucking
mouth parts
• Locates prey though
water vibrations
Whirligig Beetle
• Eyes divided into two
parts (can see above
and below water).
• Antennae detect
wavelets on water
• Traps bubble of air
under abdomen for
breathing
• Eats insects from
waters surface
What about our feathery friends?
Yeah, what about the
duckshs?!
Green-winged Teal (male)
Canvasback
male
Redhead
male
• Can you see how we
are different in
appearance?
Ring-necked Duck (male)
Common Merganser’s
male
female
Looking at our bills,
what to you think we eat?
American Widgeon (male)
Blue-winged Teal (male)
Ruddy Duck (male)
American Coot
• Check out my feet,
their lobed!
• My feet are adapted to
help me to glide and
push through the
water.
Horned Grebe
• My yellow tufts make
me look like I have
horns.
Osprey
• I love to eat fish!
• I dive at fish from the
sky, snatching them up
with my large talons.
• In flight my wings are
bent.
Piping Plover
• I am endangered.
• Be careful of my nests
along the shores of
lakes and sloughs in
east central Alberta.
• In 1996, there were
only 276 of us left!
It is incumbent on us to take special pains……
that all people or as many as possible,
shall have contact with the earth and that the
earth’s righteousness shall be abundantly taught.
-Liberty Hyde Bailey
The End
Northern Bog
Dangling Mosquito Larvae.