North Shore Naturalist

I made my way up to the Thunder Bay area with my mom this weekend while she was up on vacation. We stopped at quite a few ecologically interesting spots: Mt. McKay; quite a few sections of Superior's shoreline, mostly bays protected by islands; and some cool, moist rivers that run into the big lake. I was mostly just enjoying the landscape and the break from work, but of course my eyes were also on the lichens, plants, and insects.  With very little effort, I surprisingly found quite a few rare species. I have a few ideas as to why it was so easy. Many of the spots we stopped at were quite scenic, long expanses of shoreline, mountains, cliffs... these features are unique, hence they have unique species that are specialized to growing in those conditions. Going up north it was far more mountainous, being deeper into the Canadian Shield. While we definitely have similar habitats in MN, they are often more remote and inaccessible. There were also some unique rock types that I haven...

The McNair site was a pretty cool place. I drove the 40 miles or so in search of the Nabokov's blue (Plebejus idas ssp. nabokovi). This is the subspecies of the northern blue that is found in MN. It uses dwarf bilberry (Vaccinium caespitosum) as its larval host. Like most blueberries, dwarf bilberry is a fire dependent species, it can persist in the understory but really does best in the openings provided by burns, or blowdowns. That is the exact habitat that you'll find Nabokov's blue in. This site is quite special, it is the type location for the subspecies. Although it might seem quite ordinary to the unknowing eye. It's just a forest opening right next to some railroad tracks, some of the spots were open and a little drier with aspens and serviceberries, some more closed with an understory of dogwoods and willows, and some a little moister with bog labrador tea. But pretty much wherever you looked really low was an amazing amount of bilberry! After a few minutes of...

Jelly lichens (family Collemataceae) are one of my favorite lichen families. As their name suggests they have a gelatinous thallus that often swells when wet which makes them quite unique. They have a dark color, usually black, brown, or blue due to their photobiont being a cyanobacteria in the genus Nostoc. So these lichens are able to fix atmospheric nitrogen, another very cool aspect about them. Many of the species in this family are quite rare in Minnesota, a handful of which I have seen, many more I hope to find in habitat at some point. While exploring today a found a couple really amazing specimens. The most exciting of which is shaly jelly lichen (Enchylium polycarpon). John Thayer says that this location is the 3rd one that he knows of in MN. This lichen was growing on a somewhat sheltered, moist rock face right along the shore of Lake Superior. As I said earlier this species has Nostoc as the photobiont; there were many colonies of free-living Nostoc growing amongst a handful...

I just got back from leading the SEAK (Students Excitedly Seeking Knowledge) trip in the BWCA. We spent 5 days and 4 nights camped out on an island on Homer Lake. Every day we canoed around and explored a little, although much of that time was spent sheltering from the rain. At the entry point and while setting up camp on the first day I noticed a lot of white spotted pine sawyer beetles (Monochamus scutellatus). They are quite impressive with their long antenna and strong looking mouth parts. Many of these beetles were hosting some symbiotic mites. It's hard to say what that symbiotic relationship is though, based on this paper there are a lot of potentials of what species(s) of mites these were. They could have been parasitic, mutualistic, or commensalistic. It seems most likely they have a life style know as phoresy, a short-term commensalism where one species is transported by another, a common phenomenon seen amongst mites and beetles. At night as I was trying to fall asleep ...

After just a few days I made my way back out to the Hefflefinger cliff. This was my third time visiting this site. I wanted to see if I could find any more leaf mines on the large leaved sandworts. John Thayer also said to grab a specimen of burred horsehair lichen (Bryoria furcellata) with apothecia for him if I come across it again. I did not find any of these things I was "looking for," but I noticed many other things.  Some type of psylloidea feeding on large leaved sandwort Some type of lepidopteran feeding on large leaved sandwort Some type of geometer moth feeding on large leaved sandwort Some type of sawfly feeding on large leaved sandwort Nesolechia oxyspora and Abrothallus sp. parasitizing a lichen I only noticed a few spiny gray horsehair lichen (Bryoria nadvornikiana) last time, but today I saw many State Watchlist Species: Newly/Rediscovered Erineum mite sp. on Sorbus My first time seeing hanging fringe lichen (Anaptychia crinalis) inland State Special Concern Sp...