Lichens of Soldiers Delight Natural Environmental Area , a nature reserve located in Baltimore County, Maryland.
Contents
- The Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area
- Lichenology at Soldiers Delight NEA
- Listings
- See also
- External links
- References
Lichens of Soldiers Delight Natural Environmental Area , a nature reserve located in Baltimore County, Maryland.
The Soldiers Delight Natural Environmental Area (Soldiers Delight NEA) is an environmentally sensitive area consisting of 1,900 acres (770 ha) of land, and a visitor center, that is owned by the state of Maryland and managed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The land consists of both serpentine barren and upland forest habitats.
Chromite was mined at Soldiers Delight NEA until 1860 by Isaac Tyson, and some of the old mine shafts are still present. [1] [2] Four marked trails transverse the area and are a favorite hiking place for both humans and dogs. [3] [4]
The most distinctive feature about Soldiers Delight NEA is the number of rare and endangered plants that occur on the serpentine barrens, including some of the wildflowers of Soldiers Delight. These endangered species include the sandplain gerardia, serpentine aster, flameflower, and fringed gentian. [5]
Lichenology began at the Soldiers Delight NEA in 1976, when Allen C. Skorepa, Arnold Norden , and Donald Windler were awarded a grant from the Power Plant Siting Program of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to survey the lichens of Maryland. They surveyed the lichens from many areas throughout the state; one of which was Soldiers Delight. In 1977, they published their results and reported one location for each species of lichen that they identified. Thus, while they may have collected a particular species from numerous places they documented only one. So while they found numerous species of lichens at Soldiers Delight, only a few got recorded in their publication.
Dr. Elmer G. Worthley of Baltimore County also had an interest in lichens and collected throughout Maryland and New England, but the Soldiers Delight Area was one of his favorite places.
All of the lichens collected by Skorepa, Norden, and Windler were deposited in the herbarium at Towson University, Baltimore, Maryland. And all of the lichens in Elmer Worthley's herbarium were sent to the Lichen Herbarium at the New York Botanical Garden in 2001.
The following list of lichen species found at Soldiers Delight is based upon these three sources, with acronyms used below:
Cladonia rangiferina, also known as reindeer cup lichen, reindeer lichen or grey reindeer lichen, is a light-coloured fruticose, cup lichen species in the family Cladoniaceae. It grows in both hot and cold climates in well-drained, open environments. Found primarily in areas of alpine tundra, it is extremely cold-hardy.
The Cladoniaceae are a family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Lecanorales, comprising about 560 species distributed amongst 18 genera. This family is one of the largest among lichen-forming fungi and is globally distributed, from Arctic tundra to tropical rainforests, favouring humid environments while being intolerant of arid conditions. Molecular phylogenetics has significantly advanced the understanding of their complex taxonomic history, revealing intricate evolutionary relationships and leading to a refined classification. Notable members include reindeer moss and cup lichens of the genus Cladonia, which consist of about 500 species and forms a significant part of the diet for large mammals in taiga and tundra ecosystems.
The ecology of the Sierra Nevada, located in the U.S. states of California and Nevada, is diverse and complex. The combination of climate, topography, moisture, and soils influences the distribution of ecological communities across an elevation gradient from 500 to 14,500 feet. Biotic zones range from scrub and chaparral communities at lower elevations, to subalpine forests and alpine meadows at the higher elevations. Particular ecoregions that follow elevation contours are often described as a series of belts that follow the length of the Sierra Nevada. There are many hiking trails, paved and unpaved roads, and vast public lands in the Sierra Nevada for exploring the many different biomes and ecosystems.
Serpentine soil is an uncommon soil type produced by weathered ultramafic rock such as peridotite and its metamorphic derivatives such as serpentinite. More precisely, serpentine soil contains minerals of the serpentine subgroup, especially antigorite, lizardite, and chrysotile or white asbestos, all of which are commonly found in ultramafic rocks. The term "serpentine" is commonly used to refer to both the soil type and the mineral group which forms its parent materials.
Soldiers Delight Natural Environmental Area is a nature reserve near Owings Mills in western Baltimore County, Maryland, U.S. The site is designated both as a Maryland Wildland and as a Natural Environment Area and is part of the Maryland Wildlands Preservation System. The site's protected status is due to the presence of serpentine soil and over 39 rare, threatened, or endangered plant species along with rare insects, rocks and minerals.
The Mount Washington Wilderness is a wilderness area located on and around Mount Washington in the central Cascade Range of Oregon in the United States. The wilderness was established in 1964 and comprises 54,278 acres (219.66 km2) of the Willamette National Forest and Deschutes National Forest. It is administered by the U.S. Forest Service.
Minnekhada Regional Park is a natural park situated in northeast Coquitlam, British Columbia, alongside Pitt-Addington Marsh and the Pitt River. It is over 200 hectares in size and features trails, rock knolls, abundant trees, birds, and other wildlife. At the centre of the park is the main marsh area, divided into upper and lower sections, divided by a dike and a small footbridge.
Cladonia asahinae, the pixie cup lichen or Asahina's cup lichen, is a species of cup lichen in the family Cladoniaceae. C. asahinae occurs in Europe, North America, southern South America, and the Antarctic. It typically grows in high moisture environments in soil rich in humus or on dead wood.
Cladonia perforata is a rare species of lichen known as Florida perforate cladonia and Florida perforate reindeer lichen. It is endemic to the state of Florida in the United States, where it is known from 16 populations in four widely separated areas of the state. It is native to a very specific type of Florida scrub habitat which is increasingly rare and patchy due to habitat destruction, degradation, and fragmentation. In 1993 this was the first species of lichen to be federally listed as an endangered species of the United States.
Vermilacinia ceruchoides is a fruticose lichen found on rock faces of cliffs or boulders, sometimes growing among mosses, usually near the ocean, ranging in distribution from Marin County, California to San Vicente on the northern peninsula of Baja California, and in the Channel Islands.
Niebla brachyura is a rare fruticose lichen that grows along the Pacific Coast of North America in the fog regions of the northern peninsula of Baja California in the Northern Vizcaíno Desert. The epithet, brachyura, is in regard to the species resembling a crab lying on its back with its leg appendages pointing up.
Dubakella soil series is the name given to a reddish-brown stony loam soil which has developed on ultramafic rock containing magnesium minerals such as serpentine or asbestos. This soil occurs from southwestern Oregon south to the Coast Ranges of California near Healdsburg, and it also is found in the Sierra Nevada mountains and foothills.
Niebla podetiaforma is a fruticose lichen that grows frequently on small stones in fog regions along the Pacific Coast of Baja California from San Vicente Canyon to Morro Santo Domingo. The epithet, podetiaforma is in reference to a primary inflated branch of the thallus that resembles a podetium, a common feature in the lichen genus Cladonia.
Cladonia rei, commonly known as the wand lichen, is a species of ground-dwelling, fruticose lichen in the family Cladoniaceae. It is a widely distributed species, having been reported from Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, and North America. It is identified by its slightly dirty-colored, rough-surfaced, slender podetia that grow up to 9 cm (3.5 in) tall. Diagnostic characters of the lichen include the continuously sorediate, green-and-brown-mottled, podetia that taper upward to a point, while chemically, it contains homosekikaic and sekikaic acids. Its reduced capacity to bioaccumulate toxic heavy metals from its surroundings, as well as its ability to switch photobiont partners, allows the lichen to colonize and survive highly polluted habitats. There are several other Cladonia species that are somewhat similar in appearance, but can be distinguished either by subtle differences in morphology, or by the secondary chemicals they contain.
Cladonia krogiana is a species of fruticose lichen in the family Cladoniaceae, described to science in 2002. This lichen is characterised by its greyish-green to medium-brown squamulose (scaly) primary thallus, forming cushions up to 10 cm (4 in) wide, with distinctive chemical components including barbatic acid and the rare xanthone compound chlorovinetorin. Originally discovered in southeastern Norway, C. krogiana has since been found in the Czech Republic and New Brunswick, Canada, typically growing on sun-exposed siliceous rock in periodically wet, open areas near forests and water bodies.
Cladonia appalachensis is a species of lichen-forming fungus in the family Cladoniaceae, native to the southern Appalachians region in the United States. Described as a new species in 2013, its distribution is limited to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where it grows exclusively on Anakeesta rock outcrops along the ridge separating North Carolina and Tennessee. Due to its limited distribution and shrinking population, C. appalachensis is classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List.