The David Suzuki Foundation is calling for a ban of “Neonic” Pesticides. Read more about it and add your voice to this initiative at http://action2.davidsuzuki.org/neonics

Check out Heart FM’s great story on our Smith Pond Park project which takes place on Wednesday, June 24.

Smith’s Pond Park in Ingersoll will soon have a Butterfly/Pollination Garden thanks to some local students.

http://www.1047.ca/news/local-news/butterfly-garden/

Description:

The Round Pigtoe is one of Canada’s 54 freshwater mussel species, it is a medium to large-sized freshwater mussel that may reach 13 centimetres in length. Adults have a thick, solid, mahogany-coloured shell with dark bands. Juvenile shells are tan with green lines. This species develops growth rings as it ages, which resemble those of a tree stump.

Status: Endangered Provincially and Nationally

Important Dates:

June 30, 2008: Species listed at Risk

June 30, 2013: Species granted Habitat Protection

Range:

• In Ontario, it is found in the Grand, Thames and Sydenham rivers, found around Walpole Island in Lake St. Clair, and shallow areas along the shorelines of Lake Erie.

Habitat:

• Lives in a wide range of habitats, from small rivers in area of moderate flow with gravel, cobble and boulder bottoms, to larger rivers in mud, sand and gravel at varying depths;
• Its breeding season lasts from early May to late July and the larvae are released before winter;
• Like all freshwater mussels, this species feeds on algae and bacteria that it filters out of the water;
• Mussel larvae are parasitic (an animal or plant that lives in or on another (the host) from which it obtains nourishment) and must attach to a fish host – some known hosts are Bluegill, Spotfin Shiner and Bluntnose Minnow

Threats:

• Introduction and spread of the Zebra Mussel throughout the Great Lakes severely reduced or eliminated the Round Pigtoe in Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie and the Detroit and Niagara rivers;
• Decreased water quality from pollution continue to threaten the round pigtoe

Protection:

• Under the Ontario Endangered Species Act, the Round Pigtoe is protected against threat of being killed, collected, possessed, sold or traded;
• Under SARA (Species at Risk Act), a recovery strategy and an action plan have been developed to prevent the loss and maintain/return healthy self-sustaining populations of the Round Pigtoe

What You Can Do To Help:

• Help improve mussel habitat by maintaining natural vegetation next to creeks and rivers. The roots of the plants reduce erosion and can stop soil from washing into the river;
• Fence off streamside areas to keep cattle (and their manure) out of the water;
• Volunteer with your local nature club or provincial park to participate in surveys or stewardship work focused on species at risk

FUN FACTS:

• Round Pigtoe eggs hatch inside a special pouch in the mother’s gills called a marsupium, where the larvae are supported before being ejected into the water;
• Mussel larvae have a very low survival rate, so mussels will produce a lot of larvae – often over a million;
• Mussels rely on a lot of good luck in order to reproduce. Males release sperm into the water, and if there happens to be a female nearby, she will capture the sperm as she filters water for food;
• Mussels are indicators of environmental health. Since they have a complex life cycle, are long-lived species (some can live up to 100 years!), and eat by filtering water and its pollutants, mussels can provide a snapshot of how healthy our waterways are.

Don’t forget, you can do your part for your community this Saturday (June 7) from 9:00 am-12:00 noon by joining us at the Lawson Nature Reserve at 363685 McBeth Road, Salford, Ontario.

Ingersoll District Nature Club members will continue their stewardship at the Lawson Nature Reserve with trail maintenance. All ages are welcome to join us and remember – a day spent helping nature is so worthwhile.

For more information, contact Sheila at 519-485-2645.

This Week’s Endangered Species In Focus: Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee (Bombus afinis)

Description:

The Rusty-patched bumble bee is a medium to large bee, ranging from about one to two centimetres long with queens being at the higher end of this range. Like most bumble bees, it is yellow and black, but males and workers have a distinctive rusty-coloured patch on their abdomen.

Important Dates:

Sept. 28, 2010: listed as endangered

Jan. 1, 2014: granted habitat protection

Range:

• Once widespread and common in eastern North America, found from southern Ontario south to Georgia and west to the Dakotas;
• Suffering rapid decline since 1970’s, only a handful have been collected in Ontario in recent years. The only sightings of this bee in Canada since 2002 have been at the Pinery Provincial Park on Lake Huron.

Habitat:

• Like other bumble bees, they can be found in open habitat such as mixed farmland, urban setting, savannah, open woods and sand dunes;
• Found in variety of flowering plants in bloom from April to October, with the peak population in July – September;
• During winter hibernation the bumble bee will be found in underground rodent burrows or fallen deadwood;

Threats:

• Suspected causes include pesticide use and the spread of disease from bumble bees used to pollinate greenhouse vegetable crops;

What You Can Do to Help:

• Pollinators, such as bees, are in steep decline across the globe and they play a key role in the survival of many of Ontario’s rare plants. For more information on how you can help scientists track pollinator pollinations visit: www.seeds.ca/proj/poll
• To provide nectar and pollen for bumble bees, plant a variety of native flowering plants in your garden. Bees tend to prefer pink, purple and yellow flowers;
• Visit the Rusty-patched Bumble Bee Project on Facebook here ;
• Attend our free community event titled “Decline of the Honey Bee” scheduled for June 10, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. at the UNIFOR Hall on Victoria Street (further details here)

Fun Facts:

• Only 3 specimens of the Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee have been found in Southern Ontario over the last 6 years;
• This type of bumble bee gets it nectar from “nectar-robbing” (biting a hole in the outside of flowers and sucking the nectar up through its tongue), this technique leaves marks in the flower allowing experts to detect their presence;
• Bumble bees perform “buzz pollination”, in which the bee grabs the pollen-producing plant in its jaws and vibrates its wings causing vibrations that dislodge pollen that would have been trapped otherwise. Some plants, including tomatoes, peppers, cranberries and onion seed require “buzz pollination”;
• Bumble bees carry ‘pollen baskets’ on their hind legs;
• The female bumble bee is naturally docile and will only sting when its colony is disturbed or they are concerned;
• Check out the Guide to Distinguishing a Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee here

WEEK 12 Species:

Rapids Clubtail (Gomphus quadricolor)

Description:

The Rapids Clubtail is a small (42 to 45 millimeter-long), brightly coloured dragonfly. Its eyes are bluish-green, with a light yellowish-green face that is striped with two dark lines, a brownish-black and yellowish-green striped body and transparent wings.

• Like all dragonflies, it begins as an aquatic larva and transforms into winged adult in the summer
• Rapids fly from late spring through early summer and adults feed on small flying insects

Important Dates:

Sept. 10, 2009: Listed as Endangered

July 1, 2012: Granted Habitat Protection

Range:

The Rapids Clubtail is found throughout eastern North America. Within this range the species and its habitat are locally distributed and there are large areas where the species does not occur.

• Mostly located in the U.S. Midwest, but range extends from northern Alabama and Georgia to southern Ontario, and from Maine to eastern Minnesota.
• In Ontario, the Rapids Clubtail has only been found in four rivers in southern Ontario: the Thames, Humber, Credit and Mississippi

Habitat:

• Typically found in clear, cool medium-to-large rivers with gravel shallows and muddy pools.
• Larvae occupy quiet muddy pools
• Adult males perch on exposed rocks and other projections in the rapids – males are quite territorial and make short flights over the water, repeatedly returning to the same perch.
• Adult females typically inhabit forests along riverbanks, and only visit shallows and pools when they are ready to mate and lay eggs.

Threats:

• The primary threat to the Rapids Clubtail is the degradation of river habitats;
• Activities which impede or alter the quantity and quality of water in the rivers, such as dams and pollution pose threats

Protection:

• A recovery strategy and a species-specific habitat regulation are being developed

o   Recovery strategy: a recovery strategy provides the best available scientific knowledge on what is required to achieve recovery of a species.

• Rapids Clubtail has also been assessed nationally as endangered by the federal Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC)

What You Can Do to Help the Rapids Clubtail:

• Soil erosion and runoff is a source of pollutants such as fertilizers and pesticides to watercourses in Ontario;

Fun Facts:

• Adult Rapids Clubtails only live for three to four weeks, between early June and mid-July;
• Larvae ‘breathe’ through the exposed tip of their abdomen when buried under a fine layer of sediment;
• The most significant predator of Rapids larvae are fish, larger dragonflies and spiders