RI Natural History Survey 2009 Annual Meeting
&
Mark D. Gould Memorial Lecture Series kick-off
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
5:00PM  and 7:00PM

RINHS (now in our 15th year!) will host our 2009 Annual Meeting on Tuesday, September 29th.
Please join us for refreshments & pizza at 5:00pm, followed by a 5:30pm annual meeting during which we will look back at events and discoveries of the past year, and preview several exciting projects which are on the horizon. This is a good opportunity to meet the Survey’s staff and Board of Directors.

The Annual Meeting is free and open to the public, and will be held in room 010 of the new Center for Biotechnology & Life Sciences (CBLS) building on the URI – Kingston Campus. For directions, see below.

Reservations are not required, but if you think you’ll attend, a reply to Kira Stillwell for head count would be helpful.

Mark D. Gould Memorial Lecture Series 2009-10 Kickoff
will follow the Annual Meeting, beginning with a coffee and dessert buffet at 7:00 p.m.

Sharks in New England: A Closer Look
Dr. Gregory Skomal, Massachusetts Shark Research Program

Conservation and management of sharks, often misunderstood creatures, is recognized as an important issue in ocean ecosystems worldwide. This presentation will highlight current research being conducted by the Massachusetts Shark Research Program, and will include new information on the biology and ecology of our local shark species.

Dr. Gregory Skomal, is an accomplished marine biologist, underwater explorer, photographer and author. As the Principal Investigator of the Massachusetts Shark Research Program, he has been studying and diving with sharks for over 25 years. He has written numerous scientific research papers and has appeared in a number of film & television documentaries, including programs for National Geographic, Discovery Channel and PBS. His most recent book, The Shark Handbook, explores the world of sharks, and will be available for purchase and signing following the talk.

This lecture is free and open to the public and will be held in room 100 (auditorium) of the new Center for Biotechnology & Life Sciences (CBLS) building on the URI – Kingston Campus.
Doors open at 7:00pm for fellowship, coffee & dessert buffet. The lecture will begin at 7:30pm.

The 2009-2010 RINHS Mark D. Gould Memorial Lecture Series is sponsored by the US Fish & Wildlife Service.

The meeting and lecture will be in the CBLS building, located on Flagg Road in the Kingston Campus of URI. From the west, take Rt 138 to Plains Road. Follow Plains Road to the first stop sign (in front of the Ryan Center) and turn left. Turn right onto Flagg Road. CBLS is on the right halfway up the hill. From the east, take Rt 138 to Upper College Road (the traffic light in Kingston Village). Follow Upper College Road to the end and turn left onto Flagg Road. CBLS is ahead 200 yards on the left. See the handy dandy map below for more information or call 401-874-5800 for assistance.
View RINHS events at URI, Kingston in a larger map

Audubon Society of Rhode Island
Lecture and Book Signing – September 17th at 7:00pm
Environmental Education Center, Bristol, RI
Basking with Humpbacks

Natural history author Todd McLeish will discuss the rare and threatened marine life found in New England waters, which is the subject of his latest book, Basking With Humpbacks.   He will share entertaining stories of his field trips with biologists who are studying these creatures to better understand their life cycle and the complex threats they face, including basking sharks, leatherback turtles, Atlantic wolfish, bay scallops, horseshoe crabs and harlequin ducks.  Following the lecture, he will be available to sell and sign copies of his books, including his previous title, Golden Wings and Hairy Toes: Encounters With New England’s Most Imperiled Wildlife. Lecture is Free! Registration is required.

Call (401) 245-7500 for more information or to reserve your space!

We’ll never know so much about the world around us that there’s nothing left for naturalists to discover and just to prove that point, scientists recently announced the discovery of a new species (in fact it belongs to a whole new genus) of lungless salamander in the hills of Georgia.  Urspelerpes brucei , as it will be known, is the first new genus of four footed vertebrate found in the U.S. since 1961 (another lungless salamander, in fact). You can READ MORE from the BBC or go to the source, the abstract and paper in Journal of Zoology. So get out there and start scrounging around. You never know if the next creature you encounter might be your ticket to immortality! (Immortality among a select community of naturalists, that is.)

Volunteers are needed to pull Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) at Burlingame State Campground, in Charlestown, RI, Thursday, August 13th, 2009, at 10:00 a.m.

RI Department of Environmental Management Park Naturalist Neil Anthes will lead the charge against this big-time bad guy of the plant world.

Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum), is an annual grass, native to Southeast Asia. The grass is believed to have arrived in the US in a packing crate of china delivered from Asia, and was first noted in Tennessee in 1919. Since then it has spread north and east.

Japanese stiltgrass can be most readily identified by the iridescent, silvery mid-vein on the upper leaf surface, and the “stilt-like” nature of the roots as they extend down from each leaf node.

In Rhode Island, the grass is considered an “early detection” species, of which there are five known locations throughout the state. The Burlingame site is largest of these, and includes locations within the adjacent Audubon Society of RI’s Kimball Refuge. It is found at camp sites and trail sides throughout the campground.

Japanese stiltgrass is of particular concern in forest environments, as it is well adapted to growing in low light conditions. The grass grows rapidly from July to September, forming dense mats, which cover existing native vegetation. Over the course of two seasons, dense stands of Japanese stiltgrass can out compete, and replace native herbaceous species. The grass is tolerant of moist conditions and so has the potential to spread throughout the wetland habitats surrounding the campground and along the Watchaug Pond shoreline. The seeds are buoyant and are easily carried through drainage ditches and streams. The seeds are also equipped with awns at the tip, which facilitate dispersal. The awns attach to bicycle tires, boots treads, animal fur etc. and then are carried further into the surrounding woodland habitat.

Because it is an annual, pulling before seed-set is an effective eradication technique. Removal of the grass by hand is easy, as it has short fibrous roots. August is the ideal time to pull the grass, as most of the seeds have germinated but most plants are only beginning to flower.

Please bring gloves and plenty of water, insect repellent and a lunch.

For more information and to sign up please contact either Neil Anthes via email at the following address: undefinedrecords@yahoo.com or Hope Leeson at the Rhode Island Natural History Survey (401) 874-5800, or hleeson@rinhs.org

Rhode Island Tree Council Announces Dates for Asian Longhorned Beetle Survey Trainings

Rhode Island’s trees need your help!  Last August, the Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) was found in Worcester, Massachusetts, less than thirty miles from Rhode Island. This invasive pest is responsible for the devastation of over 25,000 of Worcester’s city and residential trees. Through a cooperative effort with USDA and Animal Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS), the RI Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) is coordinating a comprehensive outreach & detection program for the Asian Longhorned Beetle and the Emerald Ash Borer, both highly detrimental invasive pests. RIDEM has partnered with the Rhode Island Tree Council to implement this program. Both RIDEM and the RI Tree Council will be conducting outreach and surveillance activities in August, during the peak time of the adult emergence of the Asian Longhorned Beetle, and need your help in the effort to keep Rhode Island ALB free!

The Asian Longhorned Beetle came to the United States in wood shipping crates from China and Korea over ten years ago and has wreaked havoc in New York, New Jersey, and Chicago. This beetle has the potential to wipe out millions of Rhode Island trees if it goes undetected. History has shown that public education is key to detection of this destructive pest.

RIDEM and the RI Tree Council are hosting sessions to provide information on the signs and symptoms of injury of these insects to increase awareness to you and the general public. In addition, we are also seeking volunteers to assist us in the survey activities planned during the month of August.

The upcoming dates of the training sessions are as follows:
9:30am-12pm, Thursday, July 16th at George Washington Management Area in Chepachet
9:30am-12pm, Friday, July 17th at The Warwick Public Library, small conference room
9:30am-12pm, Saturday, July 18th at Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, 399 Fruit Hill Ave., N. Providence
6pm-8:30pm, Monday, July 20th at The Warwick Public Library, large conference room

Surveys for beetles will be held in Warwick and Cranston in August, dates to be announced.

If you are interested in the trainings or surveys or you have any questions or need additional information visit www.ritree.org or contact the RI Tree Council’s ALB coordinator, Kate Sayles, at 401-764-5885 or albfreeri[at]gmail.com (make the usual substitution of [at] for @).

RINHS received the following text from the Massachusetts Introduced Pests Outreach Project, a collaboration between the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and the UMass Extension Agriculture and Landscape Program, aimed at preventing the establishment of new pathogens and pests in Massachusetts. Visit their website for more information (http://www.massnrc.org/pests).

PATHOGEN ALERT: Late Blight of Potatoes and Potatoes

Late blight, a destructive disease caused by Phytophthora infestans, is a pathogen of tomato and potato plants that has recently been found in several states in the Northeast, including Maine, New York and Pennsylvania. The late blight has been identified on tomato transplants sold in big box stores and other garden centers under the brand name Bonnie Plants, and has also been found in a potato field in Pennsylvania. Because a few instances of late blight have now been detected on tomato plants in our state, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) is asking anyone growing tomatoes or potatoes to monitor them for signs of the disease, in order to prevent its further spread.

Late blight, the disease that was responsible for the Irish potato famine in the mid-19th century, is caused by a fungus-like pathogen that spreads through splashing rain or wind currents. Spores can disperse from one to several miles from the point of origin, with the infection spreading most efficiently in conditions of high moisture and temperatures ranging from 60° to 80°F.

Symptoms of late blight include small olive green or brown lesions on the upper surface of the foliage or the stems. Under moist conditions, there is a white, fuzzy growth on the underside of the leaves where the lesions occur, but the absence of this growth does not rule out late blight. Eventually the lesions turn black, leaves start to die, and then the entire plant dies.

This is a serious, destructive disease that can spread quite rapidly when conditions are right, infecting an entire field within days. Any gardeners who suspect they have tomato or potato plants infected with late blight should dig them up, place them in plastic bags, and dispose of them in the trash. Commercial growers wishing to control late blight should begin spraying fungicide immediately, even before symptoms are spotted. Spraying must continue regularly, using a product containing chlorothalonil, a state restricted fungicide which requires certification to use. Growers should be prepared to destroy the plants if the late blight starts to become severe.

For more information about late blight of potato and tomato, including diagnostic images, see the following websites:

Breaking Info from UMass Extension: http://www.umassvegetable.org/LateBlightAlertforTomatoandPotato.html
Fact sheet from Cornell University: http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/factsheets/Potato_LateBlt.htm
Photos: http://www.hort.cornell.edu/department/Facilities/lihrec/vegpath/photos/lateblight_tomato.htm
Info about systemic fungicides: http://www.nevegetable.org/index.php/crops/tomato-outdoor?start=4

If you think you have seen late blight of potato and tomato in Rhode Island, contact the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Agriculture, 235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908-5767, (401) 222-2781, http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/bnatres/agricult/index.htm.

If you like the Rhode Island BioBlitz (and who doesn’t?), why not try out the a Massachusetts BioBlitz (which FYI they call ‘Biodiversity Day’). Naturalist Peter Alden is organizing the BioDiversity Day event in Walden Woods in Concord, Mass., on July 4 and he’s looking for a few good naturalists. The event is being held on the anniversary of the first Biodiversity Day, in 1998, and also on the 164th anniversary of Thoreau settling at Walden Pond. The event is also a celebration of naturalist E.O. Wilson’s 80th birthday and he’ll be participating (what out ants!). It’s a great chance to meet this great man. The event is hosted by the Walden Woods Project and has around 100 biologists and helpers signed up so far. If you would like to participate you must contact Peter Alden and talk to him about what you would do, when, and where. They are particularly interested in photographers.

There will be gatherings for meals and forming parties Fri eve (the 3rd), and breakfast, lunch and dinner on the 4th. They still have room for more experts in most fields esp. fungi, lichens, mosses, grasses, sedges and most invertebrates. There are folk coming in from Connecticut, NY, Maine and all over Massachusetts.

Please see waldenbiodiversity.com for details and call Peter Alden at 978 369-5768.
The event is sponsored by the Walden Woods Project along with the Minute Man National Historical Park.

One thing that RINHS is here for is to encourage the practice of taxonomy: connect those with taxonomic expertise with those interested in learning and otherwise to facilitate by preserving systematic collections, maintaining a reference library, and organizing and publishing the results.

All this is useful (necessary, in fact) if you want to know what’s going on in Rhode Island’s environment, but it is also our small contribution to improving the prospects for taxonomy generally. Hopefully, as she picks up her nobel prize in biology, the next great taxnomist will cite the encouragement she received at BioBlitz! Here’s a very interesting assessment of the field of taxonomy, its importance and prospects, that was brought to my attention by Lisa Gould (my predecessor as Director for the newbies in the audience).

Link to taxonomy article in The Scientist.

Here’s an interesting news item from Maryland. They are experimenting with goats to mow highway verge in a wetland inhabited by bog turtles. Mowers would be tough on the little fellas, you see (the turtles, not the goats, well they’d be tough on goats too but they’re fast enough to get out of the way). Link to news article at TerraDaily

I’ve always thought there’s something not quite right about using mowers to restore grasslands created by colonial era animal husbandry. If we’re managing grasslands for rare plants and animals that found homes there in the colonial past, we should use authentic management techniques or risk failure…not all lands of grass are grasslands. The only problem (not the ONLY problem, of course but one main problem) with using “authentic” grassland restoration methods is the recent advent of coyotes throughout our area. In the old days, sheep were choice mowers and once southern New England was predator free they could be loosely managed on land with poor soils, lots of rocks, or that were too steep for other agricultural pursuits. Coyotes have forced a profound change sheep husbandry making them not the idea land clearence agent they once were. They have to be tightly fenced, brought in at night, actively guarded, etc, all of which increases the cost and decreases the likelihood that a land owner will be able to sustain the effort long enough to have the desired result. Hopefully we will learn more about making and maintaining grasslands that work like the grasslands of yore with livestock that is coyote resistant—cows, goats, llamas, and donkeys. A friend of mine once suggested buffalo and elk as a good mix of grazers and browsers for maintaining coyote infested grasslands. He might have been right but I think he also was biased as he was an old big game hunter. Each non-sheep alternative has ups and downs and characteristics of its activity or care that may effect the resultant grassland ecosystem in subtle ways. We have quite a lot to learn before we can be successful Colonial era farmers.

Someone recently asked me why some plants are considered invasive while others, that arrived here earlier (after all they all arrived here from somewhere else because RI was once all glaciated), are considered native. You can give ‘em the usual cliche about how it’s invasive if it is reproducing outside its normal range to the detriment of native species, but even the least astute could pretty quickly respond that every organism reproduces to the detriment of something.  Hopefully, you’re not making assumptions about a pristine time zero before Europeans came because of course Native Americans modified the environment, too, so you end up thinking about time-depth and speed of change. Since my training is as an archaeologist, this is pretty much my natural state, but in this case it seems generally appropriate.

Once your brain is in “deep time depth” mode, you start to ask all sorts of new questions. There have been a couple of very interesting research projects recently that take that perspective in looking at the state of fish stocks and the degree of degradation in the marine environment and I recommend them. The first, which was in the news quite a bit when if first came out, is by Scripps Oceanography graduate student researcher Loren McClenachan and appeared in Conservation Biology. She looked at the fish in photos of Key West charter boat catches back through time and was able to show just how great has been the change in species and size into the present.  Here’s a link to the Scripps press release about the paper, or look it up in CB if you have access to it: Scripps Release

A whole raft of research on deeply historical fishing trends was recently announced by the Census of Marine Life. By using a wide variety of ancient sources, a number of researchers were able to reconstruct marine life trends back to classical times. Here’s a link to a news story about the research: Historic Fishing Reconstructed

In the interests of full disclosure (and in a self-serving bit of marketing),  you might be interested to know that RINHS helps to facilitate the Census of Marine Life by administering grants for some of its activities. Just another example of the good work made possible by your membership dollars! (If you’re not already an RINHS member, click HERE for information on how you can help make great research possible!)