Biodiversity, whee!

[luzula]

It is probably obvious from recent posts that I have been indulging in biology nerdery recently! Even before I moved in, I was looking forward to making a species list for my 10 hectares. I have various biotopes on my land: garden, pastureland with oaks, open field with grass, spruce plantation, clearcut, running water and a pond, and a small patch of deciduous forest. The wild trees and bushes I have are: oak, elm, lime, ash, hazel, maple, cherry, wild apple, birch, alder, aspen, rowan, alder buckthorn, bird cherry, red and black elderberry, spruce, and one tiny pine. : D This is obviously good for biodiversity!

I could of course have gotten much further on the list if I had been more active early in the fall, but I had just moved then and was, um, quite busy. But after Christmas, when I was at about 220 species, I thought, well, I'm going to reach 250 species by New Year! Which I did quite easily by focusing on mosses, which are a specialty of mine that I hadn't looked at much here so far. And then I thought, I'm going to get 300 species before my housemate is back from England! Which I have now managed, as he comes home tomorrow. Species number 300 was a roe deer that just wandered past. : D

It became more of a challenge after it snowed, but I managed: yesterday I got seven species by a combination of searching for specific ones I knew ought to be here somewhere, and by getting creative and, for example, seeing what insects might lurk in the cellar underneath the small cabin (answer: the mosquito Culex pipiens). I love digging where I stand, because it means that I also see new species I've never seen before. I mean, otherwise I would never have bothered with that mosquito! Yesterday I also identified two wood-living fungi I'd never seen before.

Here's a breakdown of what I have so far:
vascular plants: 89 (I'm bound to get more in the spring and summer)
mosses: 75 (I wonder how many more there are? perhaps 100-120 in total?)
fungi: 45 (I've barely scratched the surface, I know...)
lichens: 31 (there are so many crust lichens I can't identify!)
invertebrates: 30 (this can grow vastly in the spring/summer, if I only have time!)
birds: 26 (I'll be relying on previously mentioned housemate here; he's a serious birdwatcher)
mammals: 4 (roe deer, fallow deer, red squirrel, and a yellow-necked mouse which we caught in a trap and gave to the cat to eat--I ought also to be able to see wild pig and European hare which are certainly around here)
reptiles and amphibians: 1 (common toad)

Of course, I can also increase biodiversity with my own efforts: I'd like to have a pile of sand for hymenoptera and other insects to make nests in, and make sure to have flowering plants to attract insects, etc.

Comments

[luzula]

Yes! And very cool to see how much you can see even in winter.

[james]

That was one of the fun things about moving to Tucson, Arizona when I was in my 20s. I'd grown up with the media image of the desert being just empty sand with occasional cactus and rocks. It was so awesome to go hiking in the desert and see all the wildlife that thrives there!

[luzula]

Oh, that does sound fun! I have the idea in my head of the desert blooming after rain, but not really of it being full of life in between, though of course it must be.