Plant collecting by canoe:botanical explorations of

Tuktut Nogait National Parkand vicinity, Northwest Territories

Lynn J. Gillespie, Jeffery M. Saarela, Laurie L. Consaul, Roger D. Bull

Cr

Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Licence

Flora of the Canadian

Arctic• all vascular plants above treeline• Nunavut, NWT, Yukon Quebec, Labrador• book & web

interactiveidentification

guide

Aiken et al. 2007

Tuktut NogaitNational Park

• park established in 1996• calving ground of Bluenose

caribou herd• one of the least accessible

parks, no services & few visitors

• backpacking and canoeing

NunavutNWT

Tuktut Nogait National Park and vicinityMelville Hills Region

• area identified as under-explored botanically• plant collecting by Scotter & Zoltai as part of resource inventory 1990

Cody, W., G. Scotter, and S. Zoltai. 1992. Vascular plant flora of the Melville Hills Region, Northwest Territories. Canadian field-naturalist 106: 87-99.

• very few collections before, some by Park staff after, none at CAN

teamed up with Parks Canada plant inventory and vegetation plots for monitoring

Fieldwork in Tuktut Nogait National Park

• how to travel?• community concern re flights

disturbing caribou• Parks suggested traveling by

canoe – joint Parks canoe patrol & botanical expedition

• a first for us! and a logistical challenge

Botanical Explorations of Tuktut Nogait National Park and vicinity

Hornaday Rivercanoe trip

Lower Brock River

base camp helicopter

access

1. the trip

2. habitat and plant diversity

3. discoveries

4. species of conservation concern

5. research

Paulatuk

Paulatuk

Paulatuk to upper Hornaday River

Cache Lake

900 collections

mesic sedge-low shrub tundra

upland dry tundra

mesic dwarf birch-heath meadow

esker

Riparian willow thicket

Sandy habitats

a giant Arctic Oxytrope! Oxytropis arctica

Lower Brock River camp

Lower Brock River Valley

Lower Brock Riversand cobble beach

Brock River canyon

coastal habitats

DiscoveriesTuktut Nogait National Park and vicinity

stands of Populus balsamiferafar above the treeline

Populusbalsamifera

Lower Brock River

Populus balsamifera

upper Hornaday River

Juniperus communis

sheltered valleys and

canyons

Discoveries21 species newly recorded

for the Melville Hills -Tuktut Nogait region

Mertensia maritima

Dryopteris fragilis

Cerastium alpinum

Dryopterisfragilis

KoenigiaKoenigia islandica

annual plant

first recordfor region

range extensions north of treeline

Victoria I

Banks I

Great Bear L

Yellowknife

McKenzieDelta

Draba oligosperma

North range extension

Victoria I

Banks I

Great Bear L

Yellowknife

Kugluktuk

Botrychium lunaria

filling in gapin distribution

Victoria I

Banks I

Great Bear L

Yellowknife

McKenzieDelta

Plantago canescens

Kugluktuk

Bathurst Inlet

Discoveries10 species newly recorded for Tuktut Nogait NP

Taraxacumholmenianum

Astragalusrichardsonii

Artemesiahyperborealis

Species of conservation concernin Tuktut Nogait National Park and vicinity

• none assessed or listed at the federal level (COSEWIC, SARA)

• no plant species yet listed under the NWT Species at Risk Act

• general status rankings of NWT species (2006)

16 species considered of potential conservation concern in NWT4 species “May be at Risk”

1 globally rare species

Mertensia drummondii

new localities for rare Pygmy AsterSymphiotrichon pygmaeum

*

NWT“May be at Risk”

NWT status “Sensitive”

Draba oligosperma

11 “Sensitive” species6 spp in TNNP

Pedicularis flammea

NWT status “Sensitive”

Carex glareosa

5 spp in coastal areas

Koenigia islandica

Puccinelliaandersonii

Pedicularis arctoeuropaea

Puccinellia tenellasubsp. langeana

Artemisia hyperborea

Poa ammophila

• recommend an additional four species be considered for ranking as “Sensitive”

Species of conservation concernin Tuktut Nogait National Park and vicinity

Arctic plant research at CMN

• Flora of the Canadian Arctic• DNA barcoding• systematics of arctic grasses and sedges• baseline floristic data for climate change

studies• data for assessing species of conservation

concern

Universal DNA-based identification system

Arctic PlantDNA Barcoding

cpDNA

6x

nrDNA

Short bluegrassPoa abbreviata

an intersectionalpolyploid hybrid

Bluegrasses Poa

Origin and Evolution of Arctic grasses

• complete floristic inventories of multiple localities• accurate information on species distributions

Baseline data for climate change studies

migration of plant species northwards as global

temperatures increase

Acknowledgements

Chris HunterLinh NguyenJanet Boxwell

Frances Ruben

Community of PaulatukPaulatuk Hunters and Trappers Committee

Aurora Research Institute Inuvialuit Land Administration

Roger Bull