Saxicolous Bryophytes of an Ordovician Dolomite Escarpment in Interlake Manitoba, with New Species Records for the Province
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Saxicolous Bryophytes of an Ordovician Dolomite Escarpment in Interlake Manitoba, with New Species Records for the Province RICHARD T. C ANERS 442 Earth Sciences Building, Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E3 Canada; email: [email protected] Caners, Richard T. 2011. Saxicolous bryophytes of an Ordovician dolomite escarpment in Interlake Manitoba, with new species records for the province. Canadian Field-Naturalist 125(4): 327-337. An assessment of bryophyte species growing on an Ordovician dolomite escarpment in the Interlake region of Manitoba known as Marble Ridge revealed a diverse flora composed mostly of circumboreal floristic elements. Two liverwort families (including three species) and four moss species are reported for Manitoba for the first time: the liverworts Athalamia hyalina (Sommert.) Hatt. (Cleveaceae), Mannia fragrans (Balbis) Frye et Clark (Aytoniaceae), and Mannia sibirica (K. Müll.) Frye et Clark (Aytoniaceae) and the mosses Brachythecium collinum (Schleich. ex C. Müll.) Schimp. in B.S.G., Grimmia teretinervis Limpr., Schistidium frigidum H. H. Blom, and Seligeria donniana (Sm.) C. Müll. An annotated summary of these and other bryophyte species documented at the site is provided. The diversity of encountered bryophytes can mostly be attributed to the moist and shaded microclimatic conditions on the escarpment and the large number of microhabitats the escarpment supports. This study represents one of few accounts of bryophytes in the region and highlights the importance of this particular geologic formation in supporting a number of species that are expected to be regionally uncommon. Key Words: Athalamia hyalina , Brachythecium collinum , bryophyte, circumboreal, floristic affinity, Grimmia teretinervis , Interlake, life form, liverwort, Manitoba, Mannia fragrans , Mannia sibirica , Marble Ridge, moss, phytogeography, Schistidium frigidum , Seligeria donniana. A geologic formation in the Interlake region of suggested before this study that it had the capacity to south-central Manitoba was documented in terms of its harbour a substantial bryophyte flora. Indeed, Marble bryophyte diversity, providing one of the first accounts Ridge has already been shown to host a number of of bryophytes in this part of the province. The formation provincially rare vascular plant species, including is referred to as Marble Ridge on topographic maps and Cypripedium arietinum Ait. f. (Ram’s Head Lady’s- represents an impressive escarpment of Upper Ordovi - slipper), Pellaea gastonyi Windham (Gastony’s Cliff - cian dolomite. The bedrock at the site is part of an out - brake), Pellaea glabella ssp. occidentalis (E. Nels.) crop belt of Paleozoic rocks in southwestern Manitoba Windham (Western Dwarf Cliffbrake), and Selaginella that extends from Winnipeg and Garson through the densa Rydb. (Prairie Spikemoss) (Manitoba Associa - Interlake and Dawson Bay regions to the Precambrian tion of Plant Biologists, personal communication, 6 Shield from Athapapuskow Lake to Ponton (Bannatyne January 2011; Manitoba Conservation, personal com - 1988). Topographic relief in the Interlake is generally munication, 12 October 2011). low (Bannatyne 1988; Land Resource Unit 1999), mak - Objectives of this study were 1) to document the ing Marble Ridge a conspicuous and important habitat occurrence of moss and liverwort species on Marble for a number of bryophytes. Although other inland Ridge, 2) to characterize the flora of the escarpment escarpments of varying sizes are found in the region, in terms of its floristic affinity, and 3) to identify the they are infrequent and are considered to be smaller most important factors likely to affect the persistence than Marble Ridge (Nature Conservancy of Canada, of bryophytes at the site. Manitoba Region, personal communication, 2 Febru - ary 2012). Documenting species diversity at the site is Methods and Study Area regarded as an important first step in understanding Study area bryophyte occurrences in the region and recognizing Marble Ridge is located approximately 150 km north issues related to their conservation. of Winnipeg, Manitoba, in the Rural Municipality of Under the appropriate growing conditions, calcare - Fisher, between the towns of Fisher Branch and Hodg - ous rock formations are known to support a number of son (Figure 1; 51°11'N, 97°37'W). The area lies within characteristic bryophyte species, especially calciphiles the Interlake region of the province in close proximity (Robinson and Wells 1956; Foote 1966; Crum and to both Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg. Marble Anderson 1981; Haig et al. 2000). Several features of Ridge extends for several hundred metres and rises up Marble Ridge, including its large size (in relation to oth - to 5.1 m in elevation above the adjacent landscape er geologic features in the region), variety of microhab - (Fig ure 2), providing a large surface area for bryo - itats, bedrock chemistry, and mesic habitat conditions, phyte colonization. The escarpment is oriented from 327 328 THE CANADIAN FIELD -N ATURALIST Vol. 125 98° 00' 97° 30' 97° 00' 51° 20' 51° 10' 51° 00' 50° 50' FIGURE 1. Location of the study site in Manitoba, with surrounding bedrock stratigraphy (adapted from Bannatyne 1988). The following codes refer to exposed surficial bedrock formations. S: Silurian, Interlake Group; S FB : Silurian, Fisher Branch Formation; O S: Ordovician and Silurian, Stonewall Formation; O SM gw: Ordovician, Stony Mountain Forma - tion, Gunton Member and Williams Member; O SM gp: Ordovician, Stony Mountain Formation, Gunn Member and Penitentiary Member; O RR fg: Ordovician, Red River Formation, Fort Garry Member; O RR s: Ordovician, Red River Formation, Selkirk Member; O RR ch: Ordovician, Red River Formation, Cat Head Member. the north-northwest to the south-southeast with an east- Marble Ridge lies within the Interlake Plain Ecore - to northeast-facing aspect, and it is sheltered to the east gion of the Boreal Plains Ecozone (Ecological Stratifi - by boreal forest of mixed tree species. Populus tremu - cation Working Group 1995). This ecoregion extends loides Michx. (Trembling Aspen) and Betula papyrifera northwest from the southeastern corner of Manitoba to Marsh. (Paper Birch) are found immediately adjacent to the Manitoba–Saskatchewan border north of the Por - the rock face, and Picea glauca (Moench) Voss (White cupine Hills, and it is characterized by a broadleaf- Spruce) becomes more abundant at slightly lower ele - dominated forest that marks the southern limit of the vations in nearby areas to the east. The escarpment closed-crown boreal forest and the northern extent of forms the eastern boundary of an adjacent alvar habitat, arable agriculture (Ecological Stratification Working broadly defined as prairie vegetation over limestone or Group 1995). The climate is sub-humid low-boreal, dolostone plain, with thin to absent soils (Reschke et al. characterized by warm summers and cold winters 1999*). Alvars are considered to be uncommon world - (Ecological Stratification Working Group 1995). In wide and rare in Canada. There are few alvars west of the vicinity of Marble Ridge, the mean annual daily Ontario in North America, the majority being concen - temperature is 1.5°C and the mean total annual precip - trated in the Great Lakes region and in parts of Qué - itation is 511.9 mm, with approximately 80% falling bec (Reschke et al. 1999*). as rain (Table 1; Environment Canada 2011*). 2011 CANERS : S AXICOLOUS BRYOPHYTES OF AN ORDOVICIAN DOLOMITE ESCARPMENT 329 FIGURE 2. Marble Ridge. In both photographs, the escarpment is facing approximately east. Top: portion of the escarpment with a canopy cover of Trembling Aspen and Paper Birch. Bottom: a mesic rock face supporting numerous large colonies of the uncommon moss Grimmia teretinervis . 330 THE CANADIAN FIELD -N ATURALIST Vol. 125 Surficial and bedrock geology 2 4 7 1 4 . r 7 4 7 4 Marble Ridge is situated within the Fisher River a e 0 0 − 4 1 Plain, a level to gently undulating area of shallow lac - Y ustrine materials underlain by glacial till (Groom 1985; r e b 0 9 4 Land Resource Unit 1999). Local relief is generally 1 . m 1 0 9 0 e 1 1 characterized by slopes of 0–2%, except where higher 2 c − − e till, beach ridges, and rock outcrops are 2–5% above D . the plain (Land Resource Unit 1999). Surficial mate - ) r W " e 0 rials are predominantly shallow calcareous till over bed - b 0 1 5 3 3 . m . e 2 2 0 8 7 rock, lacustrine deposits, and organic soils, with glacio- v 4 1 1 − ' o − 1 N fluvial deposits of sand and gravel (Land Resource Unit 3 ° 7 1999). 9 , r e The exposed bedrock at Marble Ridge belongs to the N " b 6 4 3 0 . 3 o t 9 9 6 1 Gunton Member of the Stony Mountain Formation 0 . c 3 − 0 O 1 (Bannatyne 1988; Gaywood Matile, Manitoba Inno - ' 3 0 vation, Energy and Mines, personal communication, ° r 1 e 5 b 28 July 2011). The exposed bedrock maintains a rela - ( 4 1 8 2 . m n 7 5 1 0 e o tively uniform lithology, consisting of pale yellowish- t i 1 6 t p a e brown, faintly mottled, very finely crystalline, dense, t S s l sparsely fossiliferous dolomite and showing a thin nod - a c i ular bedding (Glass 1990). The Gunton Member has a g t o l s 2 1 9 0 o u . maximum thickness of 11 m and is economically the r g 4 0 2 0 o u 2 1 7 e t most important of the Stony Mountain Formation, be - A e m ing the major source of crushed stone aggregate for the h t Winnipeg and southern Interlake region (Bannatyne u y 2 8 9 0 o l . u S 5 1 2 0 1988; Norford et al. 1994). Several quarry leases are J 2 1 6 h c currently held on Crown lands immediately west of n a r Marble Ridge (Government of Manitoba 2011*). B e 6 8 5 0 r .