Science Saturday: Box Turtles, May 13th

/in , , /by

Image: Courtesy of The Clifton Institute

Saturday, May 13, 2023
1:00 – 4:00 pm
Cost: Free

Registration is REQUIRED.

The Clifton Institue
6712 Blantyre Road
Warrenton, Virginia 20187

In 2022, a research project was started to study what habitats Box Turtles use at different times of year so that participants and other landowners can know what the best time of year is to mow fields and do other land management practices that might disrupt or even kill Box Turtles. On this second installment of Science Saturdays, participants will help get the 2023 season started by looking for turtles that were radio-tagged last year and potentially finding new turtles to tag. This is a special opportunity to tag along with our staff researchers and see how field science is done.

 

Spring Creatures of the Night, May 19th

/in , /by

Image: Courtesy of The Clifton Institute

Friday, May 19, 2023
8:00 – 9:30 pm
Cost: Free

Registration is REQUIRED.

The Clifton Institue
6712 Blantyre Road
Warrenton, Virginia 20187

Join this night-time exploration of The Clifton Institute’s trails and vernal pools while you listen for frog calls, look for insects, and see what animals are swimming on the ponds.

Introduction to Insects, May 27th

/in , /by

Image: Courtesy of The Clifton Institute

Saturday, May 27, 2023
1:00 – 4:00 pm
Cost: $10 ($5 for Friends of the Clifton Institute)

Registration is REQUIRED.

The Clifton Institue
6712 Blantyre Road
Warrenton, Virginia 20187

Spend the afternoon with Education Associate Bridget Bradshaw learning about the bizarre and colorful world of our most diverse animal kin—the insects! The class will begin by covering basic insect biology and taxonomy at the peach house. The rest of the time will be spent catching and identifying insects from a smorgasbord of Clifton’s habitats like lush fields, leaf litter, and beaver ponds. Come ready to dig deep, get a bit dirty, and see eye to eye with the invertebrates who run the world. Please wear long pants and tall boots (like rain boots) and bring a water bottle! Nets, jars, and binoculars will be provided.

 

A Work Group Experience with Fairfax County Early Detection Rapid Response (EDRR) Program

/in , /by

Photo: By Sara Tangren, Participants of March 21st work trip for the Fairfax County Early Detection Rapid Response (EDRR) program

Article by FMN Susan Martel

Photo: Corydalis incisa by Gary Fleming, Virginia Department of Natural Resources(throughBugwood.org)

FMN members and other volunteers took part in a work trip on March 21 as part of the Fairfax County Early Detection Rapid Response (EDRR) program to search for emerging invasive plants.  This trip focused on finding incised fumewort (Corydalis incisa), a member of the poppy family.  Naturalized populations were first reported in New York in 2005 and have slowly made their way through the mid-Atlantic region.  Led by FCPA staff member Jas Darby, the team of 10 found the invader in Difficult Run Trail near Leigh Mill-Ramey Meadows Park and mapped it over an area of 10 acres.  Pink flags and ribbons were used to delineate the extent of the spread, and photos were uploaded to iNaturalist to document its presence.  Control measures will now be directed at the plants the group found.

 



Identifying incised fumewort is tricky when not in flower, because it can be mistaken for a native species, C. flavula, which has a similar appearance.  A careful look at the sub-leaflets is required to discern the invasive species from the native species.  The sub-leaflets of the native plant has about 5-7 teeth or lobe tips whereas the invasive plant has two or three times the number (see line drawing below).  When in bloom, the two are easily distinguished because the flowers of C. incisa are purple and those of C. flavula are yellow.  Incised fumewort reproduces by seed capsules, which open explosively to spray small black seeds up to 10 feet away.  The goal of the EDRR program is to eradicate this and other early detection species by taking rapid action to prevent their spread.  Additional work trips are planned for April 10, 11, 17, and 18 at locations to be determined.  Use this link to sign up:  https://volunteer.fairfaxcounty.gov/custom/1380/opp_details/179794.

 

 

 

 

Line drawing of the two types of leaves by Sara Tangren, National Capital PRISM, CC BY.

One Hundred Thousand Welcomes

/in , /by

Banner Photo courtesy NoVA Science Center

Adalene Spivy and Katie Jones opening presentation – photo Jerry Nissley

FMN attended a community event at the Kincora complex in Dulles on March 23rd to preview final plans for the Northern Virginia Science Center project. The event was designed to connect like minded organizations in and around NoVA that would have potential interest in the new science center. Attendees were presented with a beautifully done conceptual fly-through of the future facility. After the detailed video introduction, we were invited to the Jameson’s rooftop terrace for coffee, conversation, and unobstructed views of the very active heron rookery.

The Kincora community in Loudon County  is somewhat unique in and of itself. It is planned as an interactive, multi-use, nature-focused community that harmoniously interweaves residential dwellings with the surrounding natural environment. Within Kincora’s 424 acres is a 165 acre conservation area that encompasses a section of the Broad Run watershed. This conservation area includes green space for leisure outdoor activity, meandering trails, and the great blue heron rookery.

Understanding the heritage of the ninth century Irish palace named Kincora and the legacy of its ruler Brian Boru, lends insight into the vision for modern day Kincora. The Gaelic saying: Ceud Mìle Fàilte, means ‘One Hundred Thousand Welcomes’. Whoever you are, wherever you come from, you are welcome. Modern day Kincora has adopted this axiom as their theme for community planning. So it is written that Loudon County Kincora, “aims to create a place of unity where everyone will find their happy and peaceful spot, whether that’s running along one of the community’s many trails, sketching a landscape of Broad Run, or devouring a good book at a local café.”

Partial view of Heron Trail adjacent the rookery. – Photo Jerry Nissley

The Northern Virginia Science Center, which will be located on land donated by Kincora, is being developed through a public-private partnership including the Northern Virginia Science Center Foundation – a Northern Virginia based non-profit, the Science Museum of Virginia – an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Loudoun County. With substantial public and private financial support from partners across the region, this project fulfills the long-held vision for a world-class, interactive, indoor/outdoor science center in NoVA. It is networked with the other Virginia science centers, so resource sharing is an advantage. The Center will feature five main exhibition galleries: Flow (fluid in motion), Helios (our solar system), Human (what makes us human), Habitat (how humans are part of nature), and Wonders (family interactive science).

Those dark spots in the sycamores are Heron nests – Photo Jerry Nissley

The adjacent Great Blue Heron rookery reportedly averages 50+ nests clustered among the mottled sycamore trees along Broad Run. From the rooftop observation deck of the Jameson, herons could be seen bringing in large to medium sized sticks required to repair nests from last season or complete new construction. Adult herons would squabble and squawk over the new lumber and occasionally one heron would purloin a branch from another for its own nest. A raucous construction site indeed. Spotting scopes or 800mm camera lens were not required to watch this atavistic behavior but were indeed helpful. Herons will forever remind me of pterodactyls. No chicks were seen at this time of the year. The eponymously named Blue Heron Trail winds its way through the preserved area near the rookery.

Rooftop gathering – photo courtesy NoVA Science Center

The event was widely attended by representatives from environmental, science, and conservation groups in NoVA. There was palatable anticipation in the air as all organizations look forward to the groundbreaking. The future science center shows so much potential to inspire STEM learning and to provide high-quality interactive experiences to learners of all ages.

Kudos go out as well to the enthusiastic and engaging Science Center management team. They made for a memorable event, with “one hundred thousand welcomes” of their own.

Oh – by the way, Kincora has a secret to reveal that I can neither confirm nor deny (wink) – ha, but fortunately you may read all about.

 

A few attendees brought the right tools – photo Jerry Nissley

List of organizations in attendance:

  • Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship
  • Fells Financial
  • Friends of Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve
  • Fairfax County Park Authority
  • George Mason University
  • Loudoun County Parks, Recreation and Community Services
  • Loudoun County Public Library
  • Loudoun Soil and Water Conservation
  • Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy
  • Loudoun Water
  • MSI Photo
  • National Weather Service
  • Northern Virginia Bird Club
  • Northern Virginia Science Center Foundation
  • Virginia Master Naturalists – Banshee Reeks Chapter
  • Virginia Master Naturalists – Fairfax Chapter

Fairfax County is expanding the Early Detection, Rapid Response (EDRR) Program

/in , /by

Photo: Courtesy of Fairfax County Park Authority, Wavyleaf Basket Grass

In an effort to combat newly arriving and not yet established invasive species, Fairfax is hoping to find
people willing to survey parks and map certain invasive species (and when practical remove them).
Surveyors would begin by joining workdays led by FCPA staff and experienced EDRR volunteers before
having the opportunity to go out on their own or in small groups to their local parks. Some of the species
currently being actively hunted are Wavyleaf Basket Grass, Incised Fumewort, Two horned water
chestnut and Leatherleaf Mahonia to name a few. The whole list is here:
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/invasive-management-area/early-detection

You don’t need to be able to recognize all of them, generally a park survey just involves looking for 1 or
2 species that have been reported in an area and recording their presence on EDDMaps or iNaturalist.
Several work dates have been scheduled: From 1:00 to 3:00 on April 10, 11, 17 & 18 at locations to be
determined.

Contact: Jas Darby: [email protected] for more information.

To sign up for one of the dates use this link:
https://volunteer.fairfaxcounty.gov/custom/1380/opp_details/179794

FMN’s can log hours under Citizen Science programs for FCPA [C109] if your time is spent mapping or under Invasive Plant Management [S108] for time spent removing invasive plants.

Five Myths about Trees

/in , /by

Article and photo (Sara Holtz) by Plant NOVA Natives

It’s no myth that trees hold a special place in our collective psyche. Trees play a prominent role in myths, often symbolizing life and rebirth. Unfortunately, some of the stories about them are just plain wrong.

1. Trees need big piles of mulch. Or perhaps we should call this The Myth of the Angry Volcano Gods, who are appeased by stuffing trees down their maws. It’s hard to know how this harmful practice got started, but we are seeing it everywhere. Trees should be planted with the top of their roots level to the ground, just as in nature. Mulch should never be allowed to touch the trunk, as it causes bark rot. Shredded mulch can form a barrier to water when it mats down, so arborist wood chips are preferred – assuming mulch is needed at all – and no more than 2-4 inches deep. The Fairfax County Tree Basics booklet, which you can download for free, shows proper tree planting and care practices and is available in multiple languages.

2. Tree wounds need dressing. Trees cannot heal the way we do after they are cut, which is one reason why topping a tree is such a bad idea. A broken limb should be trimmed back to just beyond the branch cuff then left alone to try to close over, which with luck it may accomplish before fungi set in. Painting tar on the surface just encourages rot.

3. All leaning trees are dangerous. It is normal for trees to grow toward the light. They reinforce their wood to make themselves stable. If you are worried that a tree may become hazardous, you can get an opinion from a consulting arborist who is certified by the International Society of Arborists (ISA) and who has no financial interest in cutting it down.

4. Trees litter. Well, trees do create leaf “litter”, but that’s an unfriendly word to use to describe feeding the soil and providing habitat for fireflies and wintering grounds for butterflies. The best thing you can do for a tree and the ecosystem is leave the leaves underneath where they fall. If you are afraid they will smother the grass, you can chop them up with a lawn mower so they at least add organic matter to the soil, a practice that is good for the trees and the grass (but hard on the critters).

5. One tree is as good as another. Not so! All trees can provide shade and capture stormwater, but only native trees support biodiversity. In fact, native trees are the very backbone of our local ecosystem, providing the majority of the leaves upon which our native caterpillars feed, which in turn provide the diet required by baby songbirds. In fact, not only do some non-native trees do nothing to feed the birds, they are actually invasive, taking over and destroying what is left of our remnant woods and starting to threaten our bigger forests as well. With few exceptions, there are native trees to serve any landscaping need. Find out all about them on the Plant NOVA Trees website.

Review of Teaming with Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis

/in , /by
Article by FMN Marilyn Schroeder
Dan Schwartz, Soil Science and FMN Instructor extraordinaire, knew what he was talking about when he recommended Teaming with Microbes.  With a conversational style and lots of pictures, Teaming is the perfect naturalist guide to soil structure and the organisms living in it.  I couldn’t wait to read each succeeding chapter – Bacteria, Archaea, Fungi, Algae, Protozoa, Nematodes….  There’s so much I didn’t know about what’s happening under our feet – even after taking the wonderful Master Naturalist soils class and field trip.
But wait, there’s more!  The book’s subtitle is The Organic Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web.  The first half of the book lays the groundwork (ha,ha!) covering the science  – soil structure, chemistry, biology, microbiology…the whole ecosystem.  Then, for gardeners, the second half describes how to foster a healthy, active food web to nourish a bountiful garden.
Teaming with Microbes (Timber Press, 2010, 220 pages) is available in the Fairfax County Library.

Research and Monitoring of Macroinvertebrates

/in , /by

Feature photo: The Darrin Fresh Water Institute display. See https://dfwi.rpi.edu/ for more information.

Article and photos by FMN Stephen Tzikas

On October 7, 2022, I had the opportunity to attend the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Research Showcase in Troy, NY at the Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS). It was an opportunity for RPI alumni and guests to experience first-hand the research that shapes and leads innovation on a global scale. I was particularly attracted to the display for the Jefferson Project of the Darrin Fresh Water Institute. The Jefferson Project at Lake George, a collaboration between RPI, IBM Research, and The FUND for Lake George, studies fresh water ecological systems to understand impacts of human activities and how to mitigate those effects. Research being conducted can be found here: https://dfwi.rpi.edu/research/projects

My career has been in environmental engineering and the modeling of resources.

Macroinvertebrate types at the Darrin display being reviewed by the author.

I also volunteer for Fairfax County macroinvertebrate monitoring. Hence, the display was a fascinating convergence of the three topics. While there, an alumna started discussing macroinvertebrate modeling to water parameters. I had not realized the enormous amount of research that was being conducted over the years on macroinvertebrates as it related to their importance for environmental monitoring.

Lake George is a source of clean drinking water, food, and recreation. It has an eco-system of macroinvertebrates. Thus, I had a new context for macroinvertebrate monitoring in Fairfax County. Tiny macroinvertebrates are

Darrin Fresh Water Institute table close-up.

essential for the complex food chain in Lake George. Clams, mussels, snails and some insect larvae consume algae and control its overgrowth. Amphipods and isopods, through their shredding activity (called detritus processing), are essential for recycling nutrients in the lake, and are a source of food for fish. Macroinvertebrates are generally sensitive to pollution, warming of the lake due to climate change, and disturbances from shoreline development. Researchers want to understand what environmental factors determine the spatial distribution of macroinvertebrates, the population dynamics of important species, and how human activity is affecting this ecosystem. This is important given that these species are indicators of water quality.

Researchers use a variety of tools to collect the macroinvertebrates and understand the complex food chain at Lake George. Researchers survey the physics, chemistry, and biology of Lake George and also conduct experiments to investigate how some invasive species of Lake George interact, and how they may be affecting the water quality of the lake.

Those who might be interested in the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District’s Volunteer Stream Monitoring should review this link:

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/soil-water-conservation/volunteer-stream-monitoring

Those interested in reading some recent macroinvertebrate research papers should review these references found on the Internet:

• Sci. Technol. 2019, 53, 10, 6025–6034, Modeling the Sensitivity of Aquatic Macroinvertebrates to Chemicals Using Traits, Van den Berg et al.

• Water, 16 September 2021, Sec. Water and Human Systems, Volume 3 – 2021, https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2021.662765 , Benthic Macroinvertebrates as Ecological Indicators: Their Sensitivity to the Water Quality and Human Disturbances in a Tropical River, Tampo et al.

• Journal of Freshwater Ecology, Volume 36, 2021, Development of a predictive model for benthic macroinvertebrates by using environmental variables for the biological assessment of Korean streams, Min and Kong.

Landscaping With A Conscience

/in , /by

Photos courtesy of Steph Johnson

I do not recall ever writing a success story about an FMN volunteer before their training class even graduates but there always seems to be a first time for everything.

VMN trainee (Fairfax Chapter) Stephanie Johnson was recently featured in a newsletter article published by the Northern Virginia Conservation Trust. Steph is in the current Spring 2023 FMN class and is also a Master Gardener, a member of the Native Plant Society, a small business owner, conservationist, and landscape designer.

I know from speaking with her that she has a positive conviction for native landscaping and life in general, so her journey makes for a compelling story. I asked Steph if FMN could publish the link to her story and she replied, “I dont mind. It’s nice when the community unites to support the fight against invasives and the promotion of native habitat. It’s a tough fight solo.”