Arctic/alpine pollination workshop in Kluane National Park, Yukon - Part 2

During the workshop we had various presentations from researchers currently working in the Canadian Pollinator Initiative (CANPOLIN) and members from the Yukon government and local First Nations group.  We also discussed tasks that need to be done as the NSERC funded initiative is coming to an end, and also brainstormed topics/projects that will be of relevance to people living in northern communities and scientists in the future.

Thank you to the AINA for hosting us.

Arctic/alpine pollination workshop in Kluane National Park, Yukon - Part 1

Hello all, my lengthy summer travels concluded on Friday when we drove about 2,000 km from New Orleans to Peterborough, Ontario in 36 hours.  I am slowly sorting through all of my photos from my trips, starting with the workshop titled "Pollination, Climate Change and Invasive Species in Arctic and Alpine Ecosystems" in Kluane Research Station in Yukon.  There will be at least one official document reporting on the outcomes of the workshop, so I will not comment on the specifics. The general conclusion is that researchers (from both Canada and US), the Yukon government, local First Nations groups, and independent scientists all agree about the importance of climate change and pollination and the limited information currently present about Arctic and alpine regions.  Therefore, we will try to incorporate scientific communities and citizens in northern communities to start documenting zoological and botanical changes in various spatiotemporal scales.

Below are photos from the first two days of my Yukon trip (21st to 22nd).

Arriving in Whitehorse on July 21st.  The weather was miserable and rainy.

Soapberry (Shepherdia canadensis) pollen grains

This is what I am working on nowadays - counting soapberry (Shepherdia canadensis) pollen grains from the female stigmas that I collected over the summer.  We used the staining technique as described in Beattie 1971.

Here are some images of the crushed stigmas and the pollen grains on it.  Searching for literature, the only images of S. canadensis pollen grains was presented in Pellatt et al 2002 (see Figure 4).

Female stigma with pollen grains.

Image of pollen grains enlarged.  The length of one pollen grain is about 37 micrometers.  Photo taken with Nikon Coolpix S4100 through the light microscope.

Reference:

Beattie, A.J. 1971. A technique for the study of insect-borne pollen. Pan-Pacific Entomologist. 47:82.

Pellatt, M.G., Mathewes, R.W., and Clague, J.J. 2002. Implications of a late-glacial pollen record for the glacial and climatic history of the Fraser Lowland, British Columbia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 180: 147-157. Link.

UBC Botanical Garden & Greenheart Canopy Walkway

The past few days has been quite rewarding - volunteering at two different sessions, listening to different researches, and not stressing over the presentations like most of the presenters.  I saw presentations discussing from lizard diversity in Chile to genetically identifying shark species all over the world to the threats to Japanese Giant Salamanders.  Today was the last day of the conference (to be followed by the huge bird conference - NAOC), and I was assigned to help out with the registration table.  A few days ago, I saw a special discount for going to the UBC Botanical Garden plus walking the Greenheart Canopy Walkway for only $11.  I bought the ticket right away and thought this afternoon would be a good time to use it.

A Barn Swallow nest right outside the gift store at the botanical garden.  The parent(s) were flying in and out feeding the young chicks.

Update from Inuvik, NWT

Hi all, I am currently in Inuvik, NWT.  I left Ontario on the 15th and then left BC on the 22nd.  Nothing much was done while in BC - mostly just relaxing and enjoying family time with my parents.  My trip up north started on the 23rd from Edmonton to Inuvik, via Yellowknife and Norman Wells.  Here in Inuvik, we were suppose to fly out to Ivvavik National Park on the morning of 26th.  However, once we were in the air and near Sheep Creek, we found that it was covered by thick clouds and snow, and so we had to turn back to Inuvik.  We tried again on the 27th, but due to pilot unavailability (in the morning) and poor weather again (in the afternoon), we were grounded for one more day.

Today is the 28th and I really really hope that we can take off today and get my field season started.

Here are some photos that I took for the past few days.  No time for description for the photos, but they are pretty self explanatory.

Flowers of Ivvavik National Park

I am back in Richmond now! The twelve-hour layover at Edmonton was extremely exhausting, especially when it only takes about 1.5 hours to fly to Vancouver. Anyways, I am home now and would like to relax for a bit for the next few days. Still, I would like to share some photos of the beautiful plants of Ivvavik National Park because flower identification (of the region) is a skill that I really improved this past summer.

Soapberry (Shepherdia canadensis) male flowers

Soapberry searching

To familiar myself with identifying soapberry (or buffaloberry or Shepherdia canadensis) in the field as well as collecting flower samples to count the pollen grains, my supervisors and another student and I drove north of Peterborough to look for this particular plant. My supervisors had a particular place in mind, I don't, so I just tagged along and do my best when we arrived and started searching for this plant.


The creek you saw on the left drains into Stoney River, that's all I know. And the middle photo is a beaver-formed lake. Anyways, in the end, we found the plant (actually I did) and it is the only one in the area and not in flower. So we collected flowers of other plants and took them back to the lab for some staining.

Life is very very busy at the moment, but in a good way, I think. Tomorrow's Friday, and I am leaving Peterborough on Sunday morning to go to Edmonton, and then to Inuvik on the following day. So right now, I am just in the process of sorting out all the equipments that I am going to need to bring and hammering out all the details as to what do I do when I get there.

Wish me luck.