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NYMF Scientists Get Wet Again
October 2000
In summer 2000, BBG scientists completed their second season of fieldwork in the wetland and aquatic plant phase of the New York Metropolitan Flora project. With the help of some brand new equipment, they managed to perfect their research techniques, especially when it came to the tricky job of observing and collecting fully immersed aquatic plants.
Steve Glenn and Gerry Moore examining flora along the Delaware River, Sussex County, NJ. (9/15/00)
During their first season of plant collecting last summer, our intrepid researchers slogged around swamps, lakes, and streams in sneakers, rubber boots, or hip-waders. Not surprisingly, they found that many aquatic plants were just too hard to get to. They also found that they were putting themselves at considerable risk trying to get to these plants. A sudden drenching was commonplace. While attempting to negotiate the unstable terrain, our brave botanists would regularly step into invisible holes, lose their balance, and fall headlong into the water. And then there was an ever-present danger of becoming trapped in quicksand-like mud. On one occasion, research assistant Steve Glenn was sucked in right up to his chest.
This year, however, with the purchase of an inflatable Achilles watercraft, full-body wetsuits, and snorkeling gear, NYMF scientists hit the water as if it were their second home. Their first trip was to two New Jersey highland lakes—Fairview Lake and Crater Lake, both in Sussex County. Floating gently and safely on the surface of the lakes, they were able to observe and collect aquatic plants without disturbing root systems or obscuring the view by stirring up the muddy bottom.
Kathy Gould, Steve Glenn, and Angela Steward get ready to take the plunge at Crater Lake, Sussex County, NJ. (9/14/00)
"We could trace the petioles of floating yellow pond-lily leaves (Nuphar variegata) three to five feet down to the bottom, where their rarely seen, lettuce-like rosette of immersed leaves is borne," says NYMF botanist Dr. Kathy Gould. "We were also excited to find—in both lakes at a depth of two to three feet—dozens of specimens of a fully immersed Isoetes (quillwort) species, an unusual aquatic plant related to ferns. We would never have detected these plants using last year's wade-and-sink methods." Other interesting plant-finds on the trip were white waterlily (Nymphaea odorata), mermaid weed (Najas flexilis), and two species of water milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum, which is non-native and sometimes invasive, and Myriophyllum humile, which is native and non-invasive).
Another expedition took the NYMF staff to the eastern end of Long Island to explore Big Reed Pond in the Theodore Roosevelt County Park. The waters of this pond are remarkably fresh (as opposed to saline or salty). Most low-level wet areas in this part of Long Island are saline marsh systems that support hearty marsh grasses (Spartina spp.) and succulent saltwort plants (Salicornia spp.). However, our scientists found a habitat in Big Reed Pond that was similar to the ones they'd found in the lakes of Sussex County. But there were a few surprises!
Angela Steward, ankle-high in algae at Big Reed Pond, Suffolk County, NY. (9/21/00)
"From a distance Big Reed Pond appears sparklingly clear," says Angela Steward, research assistant for the NYMF project. "But we were fooled. Seconds after placing our faces in the water, we noticed small clumps of a brown jelly-like matter. Our first thought was: 'Lots of fish eggs here!' Pretty soon, though, we concluded that the material was really a type of brown algae suspended in the water column. For the rest of our underwater exploration, algae bounced off our masks and stuck to our wet suits like thick glue."
The research team spotted partially submerged wetland plants like buttonbush (Cepahalanthus occidentalis), marsh St. John's wort (Triadeum virginicum), hardhack (Spiraea tomentosa) and different rush species, including Scripus cyperinus. The fully immersed plants were a bit harder to identify-because they were all covered in brown algae. But our botanists pinpointed large waving stands of water milfoil (Myriophyllum spp.) and clumps of bladderwort (Utricularia spp.) emerging from the murky depths. They also found white waterlily (Nyphaea odorata) floating at one end of the pond.