Flora finding mission comes to Arviat
Team from Canadian Museum of Nature documenting plant diversity as part of an international project
Cody Punter
Northern News Services
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
ARVIAT
A team of botanists from the Canadian Museum of Nature will be spending the month of July documenting Arctic plant diversity in the community of Arviat.
Canadian Museum of Nature botanist Dr. Lynn Gillespie collects samples from the tundra outside Arviat earlier this month. - photo courtesy of Paul Solkoff |
The expedition is part of the onging Arctic Flora Project, an international initiative to catalogue the diverse plant species of Northern Canada and Alaska.
Project leader Dr. Lynn Gillespie said the project selected to study Arviat's plant life this year because of the unique coastal tundra that characterizes the region just north of the treeline.
"Few scientific collections of plants are known from the Arviat area, and its proximity to the treeline makes it even more interesting as a place for scientific study," said Gillespie before setting of on the trip.
Gillespie and her team arrived in Arviat at the end of June. Although they have only been in town a short time, they have already made some interesting discoveries. Among them were several different kinds of buttercups, one of which Gillespie had never seen before. The team also come across 10 different kinds of willows.
"I thought there was going to be a lot of diversity and that turns out to be true," she said.
Perhaps the best find so far has been a coralroot orchid, a small plant that doesn't have any green tissue and lives off dead and decaying matter.
"The plant is only about two inches so most people wouldn't see it but was very common in this area we were," she said. "Further south we get them ... but this particular one is much smaller "
The Arctic Flora Project has been going on since 2008 and so far has taken researchers to the Hornaday River and Tuktut Nogait National Park in western Northwest Territories, Victoria Island (one of the larger islands in the Arctic Archipelago), the Coppermine River region in mainland Nunavut, and the Soper River on Baffin Island.
The researchers plan to collect, map and identify more than 800 species of vascular plants - as well as mosses and lichens - that are believed to exist in the North American Arctic.
In order to help with their work in Arviat the team will be seeking out local knowledge through various workshops and open houses with elders and the community at large.
They are also sharing their findings with Nunavut Parks, which will use the information to help plan a possible territorial park near Arviat.
Last week the scientists even took part in a youth leadership camp workshop where they took microscopes out onto the land to examine some of the species they had collected.
"It was very well received," Gillespie said. "They particularly liked looking through microscopes at some of these lichens and flowers that really look much more amazing when they are seen up close."
In addition to the southern scientists, the team has also hired Ruth Kaviok as a research assistant to help in the field, as well as polar bear watchers to ensure they are safe while on the land.
As the study progresses, the Canadian Museum of Nature will be uploading their findings to an online database where they can be accessed.
