| BEN |
| BOTANICAL ELECTRONIC NEWS |
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| ISSN 1188-603X |
| No. 151 December 13, 1996 | aceska@freenet.victoria.bc.ca Victoria, B.C. |
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A membership meeting of the NPSBC Native Plant Society of British Columbia was held in Kamloops on Saturday, November 23, 1996. In spite of weather warnings and road conditions, 140 persons attended the meeting at the University College of the Cariboo. Participants represented a cross section of those interested in Native Plants from amateur botanists to professionals in various aspects of plant endeavours. This year of note was the attendance of students from the University College of the Cariboo, University of Victoria and Institute of Urban Ecology at Douglas College in New Westminster.
Presentations in the morning included: Biodiversity & native grasslands by Don Gayton, Food for Thought by Mary Thomas, Amateur Botanists in BC by Adolf Ceska, Native Plants as Ornamentals by Wilf Nicholls, Revegetation by Tom Wells and Urban Landscaping by Ross Waddell. The program was varied and well received by the audience.
The afternoon break-out sessions were biodiversity and research, ethical use guidelines, communication and education and First Nations perspective. Each group had active participation from the membership and an outline of future objectives and initiatives were presented to the assembled group after coffee.
The group decided that the First Annual General Meeting of NPSBC Native Plant Society of British Columbia would be held in conjunction with the Native Vegetation Symposium in Victoria on Sunday, March 9, 1997.
New members are welcome at any time and follow up committees of the break-out sessions will continue to provide input to the Society. For more information on the NPSBC Native Plant Society of BC please contact: Wilf Nicholls 1-604-822- 4188, Tom Wells 1-604-528-7897, Carolyn Jones 1-604-257-8659 or Adolf Ceska 1-250-356-7855.
Diane Gertzen
Nursery Extension Services
14275-96 Ave.
Surrey, B.C. V3V- 7Z2
Ph. 1-604-930-3309, Fax 1-604-775-1288
Membership (December 5, 1996)
Individual members 126
Associate members 29
Corporate members 8
Abstract. In comparison to countries with a tradition of vegetation studies, a comprehensive, hierarchical classification of plant communities in the province of British Columbis has not yet been developed. Such a classification is needed for systematic ecological studies and coordinated conservation of vegetation. As the culmination of fifty years of detailed surveys, tabular and multivariate analyses of 3779 releves of natural, old-growth, submontane, montane and subalpine forest communities in coastal British Columbia were used to developed a hierarchy of vegetation units according to the Braun-Blanquet approach. At the highest level, we distinguished seven orders: Quercus garryana, Pseudotsuga menziesii-Mahonia nervosa, Tsuga heterophylla-Rhytidiadelphus loreus, Tsuga mertensiana, Tsuga plicata-Tiarella trifoliata, Populus trichocarpa, and Pinus contorta-Sphagnum. Diagnostic table, ordination, and climatic and edaphic regimes were used to show floristic affinities among the orders and to interpret their relationships to regional environmental gradients. Plant communities of each order were briefly characterized by their floristic composition, physiognomy, succession, and environment. The synopsis for all delineated vegetation units (order, suborder, alliance, and association) of coastal British Columbia is included.
[This note was originally published in Transactions of the Japanese Forestry Society, No.105, 417-422,423-428, No.106,389-390 (in Japanese with no English abstract) and kindly submitted to BEN by Dr. Fujii. - AC]
In Japan, the health of tree foliage has been decreasing for more than 20 years. In conifers, major leaf color changes have become even more obvious in last several years.
The foliage decrease (tree-top dieback or leaf loss of the overall foliage) of conifers and others have been observed in lowlands on Cryptomeria japonica (Japanese red cedar), Chamaecyparis obtusa (hinoki cypress), Chamaecyparis pisifera (sawara cypress) and many other species, which are important silvicultural species of Japan. The decline is also observed in the montane and sub-alpine zones on Abies firma, Abies mariesii, Tsuga diversifolia. Deciduous tress, such as Fagus crenata or Betula ermanii, sometimes die due to defoliation.
In the lowlands, the leaf color changes have been also observed, mainly in conifers such as Cryptomeria japonica, Chamaecyparis obtusa, Chamaecyparis pisifera, etc. In Cryptomeria japonica, it is the stomatal zone of old leaves and its adjacent zone that is usually damaged, and turns brown. In Chamaecyparis, a yellowing of the old leaves is observed, and in some cases, a grey fungus colonizes old leaves. Some parts of new leaves are also partially damaged. Mites and scales can also accelerate the damage. In 1993, about 60% of Cryptomeria's previous year's leaf area, on the average (max almost 100%), was damaged in the Kanto area. Old needles and some new needles of pines (Pinus densiflora and P. thunbergii) are also damaged. Some evergreen broadleaved species such as Pieris japonica show symptoms similar to the conifers in some years.
I conducted a survey of the regional distribution of foliage decrease in Cryptomeria japonica, and Chamaecyparis, mainly in the lowland Kanto area (Tokyo and adjacent prefectures). About 30% of the foliage in these conifers was lost, on the average, in stand-alone trees, and trees in the stands have also declined. The decline occurred is areas with high concentration of secondary pollutants (acid deposits), though the site-to-site dispersion was very large and the correlation coefficients were small. Shallow rooted species (such as Chamaecyparis) tend to decline more and this may indicate that the main cause of the decline is the accumulation of acid deposits in the soil.
My research on the regional distribution of the leaf damage, mainly in the Kanto area, showed that the damage is correlated with both primary pollutants (SO2, NO2, SPM) and secondary pollutants (oxidants or acid substances of SO4, NO3). The leaf damage also becomes heavier near the roads, and is less pronounced in sheltered areas. From these observations I conclude that the damage is caused by air pollutants and acid deposits.
I suppose the main cause of the foliage damage in lowland Japan is the acidification of soils with the consequent release of phytotoxic aluminium and I have started to study the fate of mobile toxic aluminium in soils.
Hisao Fujii (fujiihi@ffpri.affrc.go.jp)
Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute
Ibaraki, Japan TEL 0298-73-3211(ext475)[Dr. Josef Rusek reported his observations of a dramatic drop in pH of soils in the High Tatra Mountains, Slovakia: Rusek, J. 1993. Air-pollution-mediated changes in alpine ecosystems and ecotones. Ecological Applications, 3(3): 409-416. - AC]
Potential graduate student support for aquatic vegetation research and management is available at Portland State University. Students interested in the biology and management of aquatic plants may contact Dr. Mark Sytsma (systmam@pdx.edu). For information on graduate programs at PSU see the following homepages:
http://www.clas.pdx.edu/biology/index.html
http://www.esr.pdx.edu/environ/index.html
Dr. Mark Sytsma
Portland State University
PO Box 751
Portland, OR 97207
503-725-3833; 503-725-3888 (fax)
The North American branch of the Koeltz Scientific Books has been closed because of disagreement between their main office in Germany and the North American partner, Dr. Pamela Burns-Balogh. In October 1996 the Koeltz Scientific Books, Koenigstein, Germany established their own web site at the following address:
All the book data are available on line and on-line ordering has been made quite easy. Any catalogue can be selected and downloaded to the customer's own computer. Customers may pay with credit cards (VISA, American Express, Access, Mastercard, Eurocard, but not Diners).
The Koeltz Scientific Books have an agreement with
Lubrecht & Cramer, Booksellers & Publishers
P.O.Box 3110, Port Jervis, NY 12771/USA
Fax 914-856- 5990
to sell books published by the Koeltz Scientific Books. The Lubrecht & Cramer Booksellers stock all recent IAPT (International Association for Plant Taxonomy) publications, and they will also allow the IAPT discount to IAPT-members, which is 20% for private members.
The address of the Koeltz Scientifc Books in Germany is
Koeltz Scientific Books
P.O.Box 1360
D - 61453 Koenigstein / Germany
Fax: (+49) 6174 937240 / Phone: (+49) 6174 93720
E-mail: koeltz@ibm.net WWW: http://www.koeltz.com/
P.S. The former partner of the Koeltz Scientific Books in North America, Dr. Pamela Burns-Balogh is continuing her own bookseller business, Balogh Scientific Books. Their address is:
Dr. Pamela Burns-Balogh (email: balogh@balogh.com)
Balogh Scientific Books http://www.balogh.com/
phone: +1 217 355 9331 fax: +1 217 355 9413
Submissions, subscriptions, etc.: aceska@freenet.victoria.bc.ca.
BEN is archived on gopher freenet.victoria.bc.ca. The URL is:
gopher://freenet.victoria.bc.ca:70/11/environment/Botany/ben. Also archived at http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/