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Mystery Snail

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Declines in abundance of  Cipangopaludina chinensis   (Chinese Mystery Snail)  Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad (Fragile Inheritance Natural History) and Naomi Langlois-Anderson (South Nation Conservation), background information for poster paper at the 5th Biennial Canadian Freshwater Mollusc Research Meeting, Burlington, Ontario, 15-16 November 2023. The Chinese, or Oriental, Mystery Snails ( Cipangopaludina , or Bellamya, chinensis ) are remarkable because of their huge size (to 60 mm high), and uniform dark greenish coloration. Introduced to the Pacific Coast for food by oriental immigrants in the 19th Century, and to many places throughout eastern North America throughout the 20th century as an aquarium snail, these are now widespread in Ontario. There used to be lots of taxonomic discussion of the species or subspecies represented, but we haven’t tried to distinguish the different kinds (though we’ve never noticed the dimpled shell texture of the C. malleatus ‘kind’).

Poke, An Introduction

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When we were at the Niagara Dufferin Island Nature Area in 2008, we gathered some Poke ( Phytolacca americana ) seeds to see how they would fare with climate change in Bishops Mills. This is a spectacular metres-high perennial broad-leaved herb, which produces spring shoots which used, before they were shown to contain a carcinogen, to be eaten in the spring as a North American analog of Asparagus. By 2011, the one surviving plant of a few initial seedlings was 2.5 m tall, and bearing fruit. The local Birds seemingly didn't need an introduction to the berries of this species, and take them as soon as they turn dark, likely contributing to the purple bird-splats that were on the pavement in front of the houses. In October 2013, something, either the winter or the previous summer's drought, had almost killed the plant, which was only 1 m high, with the first flowers opening. In 2014, though, it was huge, with 10 stems as much as 2.6 m tall. It continued until 2017, when there was

Visits to the Castor River

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Visits to Branches of the Castor River   On 26 June 2020, 10h13, air temperature 24°C, sunny, Beaufort gentle breeze, we set out to check the three branches of the Castor River for Molluscs, and for whatever else.  We'd found a nice variety of Unionid mussels at the Little Castor at Rte 400 last fall, and had a nice variety on the main Castor below Russell in 2000, so the upstream branches were a surprising disappointment – a strange mixture of clay and angular rocks, a long brushy way below their bridges. Beavers were conspicuous by their absence. The main Castor below the Russell weir was totally overwhelmed with the  Viviperus  Mystery Snails which had first showed up there in 2012, but we didn't find them in any of the upstream branches. Kilometrage  for this trip was covered by our Ottawa Field Naturalists Club research grant. Quotes in italics are directly from the database narrative output from which this account is edited down. We were late for an appointment, so our o

Arrival of Juvenile Leopard Frogs

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juvenile Leopard Frog, Canada: Quebec: St-Barthelemy boatlaunch, in backwater of Maskinonge River, at its mouth on the St Lawrence River, 9.88 km SSW Maskinonge. (107m btwn wpts), 31I/3, 46.14849° N 73.07223° W Arrival and abundance of Juvenile Leopard Frogs in Bishops Mills citation of truncated version: Frederick Schueler. 2019.  Arrival and abundance of Juvenile Leopard Frogs in Bishops Mills. CHORUS: Newsletter of the Ottawa Amphibian and Reptile Association 35(7):4-6 There’s a verse in the Leopard Frog song that goes –  Let us live here in Bishops Mills On the first of every August When the metamorphs from the South Branch marsh Come and fill the fields and the gardens. - but this year the first juvenile  Lithobates pipiens  didn’t show up until the 17 th  of August, which has inspired me to see how variable the date of arrival has been by filtering our database with - RTOD(ACOS(COS(DTOR(LATITUDE-44.87246))*COS(DTOR(LONGITUDE--75.70096)*COS(DTOR(44.8

Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills

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....the only place in Canada where you can wade among giant salamanders every Friday night through the winter!   ...every Friday evening from the firstFriday after Thanksgiving until spring high water. The best Mudpuppy viewing in Ontario! Flat bedrock and clear shallow water provide safe footing for researchers and spectators of giant aquatic Salamanders pursuing their winter activities.  The rocky clear-water Kemptville Creek from the dam at Oxford Mills to the Prescott Street Bridge in Kemptville is the best place to see Mudpuppies in eastern Ontario.  On a cold winter night we have seen up to 180 Mud-puppies prowling the creek bottom - and afterwards, retire to the Brigadoon Restaurant to drink coffee, eat desserts, and talk about Mudpuppies and everything else! We begin each Friday evening at 8:00, assembling on the County Rd. 18 bridge below the dam. Wear gumboots and put new batteries in your flashlights! Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills has been bringing people face to

Are Daylilies Invasive?

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This summer we've been mapping Orange Day Lilies (Hemerocallis fulva) along eastern Ontario roads to see what kinds of places they're growing in. This was inspired by the good season this species has had, the thought that we had neglected them in comparison to other alien roadside plants, and comparing them to Lupines (Lupinus cf polyphyllus) in New Brunswick, which are a wildly popular invasive species which spreads along roadsides from plantings at homesites.  With the spraying that municipalities are doing against 'poison parsnip,'  killing off all the broad-leaved Dicot herbs, there's the real possibility that Day Lilies will be favoured and become even more widespread along roadsides. We saw the first bloom on 19 June, and were are still a few coming out on 10 August. Wikipedia  says: "Triploid... Hemerocallis fulva var. fulva ... native to Asia from the Caucasus east through the Himalaya to China, Japan, and Korea... has escaped from cultivation acro