Gypsum flora of Nova Scotia

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The gypsum flora of Nova Scotia refers to a small group of plants that are restricted to naturally-occurring outcrops of gypsum. Nova Scotia is unique in northeastern North America for the extent of sites having gypsum bedrock at or near the soil surface. The distinctive set of plants associated with these gypsum exposures includes Packera paupercula (Balsam groundsel), Carex eburnea (Ebony sedge), Erigeron hyssopifolius (Hyssop-leaved fleabane), Cypripedium parviflorum (Small yellow lady’s-slipper). [1] Karst landscapes have also formed. Some of these species appear to be associated with sunny clearings created by natural erosion from gypsum cliffs, which provides a distinctive sunny and calcareous habitat within landscapes that are otherwise forested.

Plant multicellular eukaryote of the kingdom Plantae

Plants are mainly multicellular, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, plants were treated as one of two kingdoms including all living things that were not animals, and all algae and fungi were treated as plants. However, all current definitions of Plantae exclude the fungi and some algae, as well as the prokaryotes. By one definition, plants form the clade Viridiplantae, a group that includes the flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns and their allies, hornworts, liverworts, mosses and the green algae, but excludes the red and brown algae.

Gypsum mineral, calcium sulfate with bounded water

Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard/sidewalk chalk, and drywall. A massive fine-grained white or lightly tinted variety of gypsum, called alabaster, has been used for sculpture by many cultures including Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Ancient Rome, the Byzantine Empire, and the Nottingham alabasters of Medieval England. Gypsum also crystallizes as translucent crystals of selenite. It also forms as an evaporite mineral and as a hydration product of anhydrite.

Nova Scotia Province of Canada

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime Provinces, and one of the four provinces that form Atlantic Canada. Its provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the second-smallest of Canada's ten provinces, with an area of 55,284 square kilometres (21,300 sq mi), including Cape Breton and another 3,800 coastal islands. As of 2016, the population was 923,598. Nova Scotia is Canada's second-most-densely populated province, after Prince Edward Island, with 17.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (45/sq mi).

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Distribution and status

Some of the more important gypsum sites occur in the Windsor area of western Hants County along Five Mile River, around the Baddeck area in southern Victoria County, the Ninevah area in Inverness County, and near Antigonish in Antigonish County. [2] Many of these sites are threatened by gypsum mining and logging.

Windsor, Nova Scotia Town in Nova Scotia, Canada

Windsor is a town located in Hants County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a service centre for the western part of the county and is situated on Highway 101.

Hants County, Nova Scotia County in Nova Scotia, Canada

Hants County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.

Five Mile River, Nova Scotia human settlement in Nova Scotia, Canada

Five Mile River is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Municipal District of East Hants in Hants County.

Global significance

Gypsum floras are well-documented in other parts of the world, but are sufficiently rare in eastern North America that they are not even mapped here in a recent world-wide review on the topic. [3]

See also

Alvar Biological environment based on a limestone plain with thin or no soil and, as a result, sparse grassland vegetation

An alvar is a biological environment based on a limestone plain with thin or no soil and, as a result, sparse grassland vegetation. Often flooded in the spring, and affected by drought in midsummer, alvars support a distinctive group of prairie-like plants. Most alvars occur either in northern Europe or around the Great Lakes in North America. This stressed habitat supports a community of rare plants and animals, including species more commonly found on prairie grasslands. Lichen and mosses are common species. Trees and bushes are absent or severely stunted.

Calcareous grassland an ecosystem associated with thin basic soil

Calcareous grassland is an ecosystem associated with thin basic soil, such as that on chalk and limestone downland. Plants on calcareous grassland are typically short and hardy, and include grasses and herbs such as clover. Calcareous grassland is an important habitat for insects, particularly butterflies, and is kept at a plagioclimax by grazing animals, usually sheep and sometimes cattle. Rabbits used to play a part but due to the onset of myxomatosis their numbers decreased so dramatically that they no longer have much of a grazing effect.

Chalk heath is a rare habitat, in the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, formed of a paradoxical mixture of shallow-rooted calcifuge ("calcium-hating") and deeper-rooted calcicole ("calcium-loving") plants, growing on a thin layer of acidic soil over an alkaline substrate. Chalk heath is intermediate between two much more widespread habitats, chalk grassland and heathland.

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References

  1. ↑ Munro, M.C.; Newell, R.E.; Hill, N.M. (2014). Nova Scotia Plants. Halifax: Nova Scotia Museum. ISBN   978-1-55457-634-0.
  2. ↑ Mazerolle, D.; Blaney, S.; Belliveau, A. (2015). Evaluation of the Ecological Significance of Gypsum and Other Calcareous Exposures in Nova Scotia. Sackville, New Brunswick: Atlantic Canada Conservation Centre.
  3. ↑ Escudero, A.; Palacio, S.; Maestre, F.T.; Luzuriaga, A.L. (2015). "Plant life on gypsum: a review of its multiple facets". Biological Reviews. 90: 1–18.
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