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

[ysilme]

This is so awesome on so many levels! ♥♥♥ I'm totally envious in the best possible way, and so happy for you for you! ♥

[sanguinity]

I suppose it is very much not the season for reptiles and toads! But I do very much look forward to seeing what you find when the weather warms.

And yes! Do invite hymenoptera to come to stay!


I've never tried compiling any such list for our own property, although no doubt it'd be interesting. While a small city lot, it's also heavily wooded, with a good number of native plant species, and we don't spray or clean up leaf litter. I am exceedingly proud that we have crickets in our yard come the fall. Most of the lots around us don't, but as you approach ours on a late-summer night, you can hear the crickets becoming louder, and as you walk away, the sound dying away behind you. I figure we're doing something right, if we're a refuge for crickets.

This fall Grrlpup found a wasp nest the hard way, and we debated what to do about it -- on principle we don't spray, we understand wasps are good pollinators and a vital part of the ecosystem, it was on a section of the property that could be avoided (it was after all only in October that we discovered it!). We decided to let it go dormant for the winter and then make up our minds. Well, what should happen, but...! It went dormant, and then a raccoon dug it out of the ground and ate it! (We have raccoons on our lot; there's a new litter of kits every spring.) Which was a very exciting bit of wild kingdom for us. ;-)

[trobadora]

This is so awesome! :D

[james]

That's very exciting! It'll be fun to see how the species visibility changes over the seasons.

[oracne]

This is SO EXCITING.

[sovay]

Species number 300 was a roe deer that just wandered past.

Mazel tov!

The mosses/lichens/fungi sound great.

[chestnut_pod]

I am green, chlorophillic green, with envy! This is so amazing, and to think it's deep winter, and presumably one of the less-active parts of the living year. Much more to come!

(Obviously no need to answer, but does your housemate keep eBird lists or does anyone do iNaturalist? I'm just so curious what it must all look like!)

[mergatrude]

♥

[regshoe]

This is amazing :D I am impressed by both the species list and your wide-ranging ID skills.

Which species of elm have you got? And I did not know there was a red-berried species of elder—hmm, looking it up it seems it's only found further east than here. We only have the black-berried one.

I like the concept of 'digging where you stand' when finding and identifying wildlife.

What a delightful intersection

[jesse_the_k]

between your humanity and your landscape.

(It's kinda terrifying that there's a mosquito that survives in the winter, or was it hibernating?)