| Abstract Detail
Systematics Section Consaul, Laurie L. [1], Saarela, Jeffery M. [2], Gillespie, Lynn J. [2], Bull, Roger D. [2]. Vascular plant diversity in Canada’s southern Arctic: new baseline data and significant floristic discoveries in Tuktut Nogait National Park and vicinity, Northwest Territories. Study of the flora of the Canadian Arctic has been ongoing for almost two centuries, yet many regions remain under-explored. In 2009 we surveyed the flora of Tuktut Nogait National Park (TNNP) and vicinity in the northeastern Northwest Territories, about two degrees north of the treeline zone. Our plant inventories near the southern edge of the Arctic ecozone provide comprehensive baseline data that should facilitate detection of new species arrivals associated with climate change. Of our almost 1000 collections representing over 240 vascular plant taxa, at least one fifth are noteworthy. We found extralimital stands of balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera) growing fully in the tundra, well beyond the ‘normal’ range of the species in Canada, which is generally reported as extending to the treeline. Several of the species that we found in this arctic ecozone are typically of boreal affinity. We report many species range extensions within Canada and the NWT (e.g., Botrychium lunaria, Equisetum palustre, Carex concinna, C. garberi, Draba oligosperma, Lomatogonium rotatum, and Myriophyllum sibiricum). Many of our collections are the first records for TNNP and vicinity. Broader Impacts:
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1 - Canadian Museum of Nature, PO Box 3443, Station D, Ottawa, ON, K1P 6P4, Canada
2 - Canadian Museum of Nature, P.O. Box 3443, Station D, Ottawa, ON, K1P 6P4, Canada
Keywords:
Arctic
Floristics
Canada
Flora
Populus
Northwest Territories
National Parks.
Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Sections
Session: P
Location: Hall A/Convention Center
Date: Monday, August 2nd, 2010
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PSY052
Abstract ID:603 |
