Setting off at 8:30 am to drive from Ottawa to Elgin Ontario is definitely a better way to start off your day than say, an analytical chem lecture... But that's just me.
We were shown around the premises by a man both as talented at handyman work as he is knowledgable on the local species.
QUBS was opened in 1945 on Lake Opinicon as a place for WW2 veterans to work. It maintains the wild corridor between two protected areas and is home to 32 "at risk" species.
Blue stain fungus in the woodpecker holes of a birch tree.
What you get when you poke around under decaying logs.
Birch polypore.
After a short walk in the woods we were taken to Cow Island Marsh.
The wetland wildlife is naturally diverse with many species of frogs, turtles, fish and birds; we even saw a muskrat.
Wetland: increased biodiversity, transitional zone from aquatic to terrestrial, needs increased water levels.
Green frogs.
Safety first!
Lake Opinicon:
- centrachid (sunfish) majority
- zebra mussels introduced in the mid-90's
- painted, snapping, stinkpot and map turtles are most common
- 50% of catch to anglers, 50% commercial
Commercial fishery:
- 80 passive nets at a time
- can only catch non-game fish (bluegill, pumpkinseed...)
- bycatch includes turtles
If turtles are bimodal (2 way) breathers they may survive by obtaining oxygen through their cloacal gland. If non-bimodal the turtles drown.
Ideas to prevent turtle bycatch:
- excluders in nets
- nets kept away from turtle habitat (shoreline)
- leave more space for breathing
- check more often in warmer weather (cold weather, slows metabolic processes, slows breathing)
- create escape chute for turtles to climb out
Our ship captain. All business.
Loons wondering what we're up to.
It was supposed to rain.
In the name of science and the collection of aquatic vegetation, the bravest of the bunch throw on waders and slide into the lake.
Guess who's waders leaked?
Dock Study
1. Log structure back-filled with large rocks
- non-natural shoreline
- rocks ro prevent erosion
2. QUBS dock
- concrete structure
- permanent, terrible for spawning
- non-natural
3. Floating removable dock
- keeps all lake space free
- small footprint
4. Raised wooden dock held up by thin poles (as seen in picture above)
- fish refugia, protected
- keeps most lake space free
- small footprint
Dock 1 & 2 ruin fish habitat and create fragmentation.
Take home lesson: The Precautionary Principle - with insufficient information, err on the side of caution for the maintenance of ecological integrity.
Class outdoors :)
