Textbooks claim that the boreal region is species poor. This is FALSE. There is a tremendous amount of cryptic biodiversity in the moss and lichen species that literally blanket the north. We just need to slow down and respect the fairy forests.
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you said quote
Textbooks claim that the boreal region is species poor. This is FALSE.
unquote
so presumably you have data to back this up ?
or is this just based on anecdotal stuff ?
These statements are based on vascular plant species numbers. The majority of spp biodiversity in boreal ecosystems are nonvascular spp, which are rarely included in scientific studies. They are difficult to ID and the world unfortunately has fewer and fewer bryologists.
Textbooks need a rewrite: the boreal isn’t ‘species poor,’ it’s just hiding its treasures in plain sight. Moss and lichens are biodiversity’s underappreciated overachievers. Fairy forests remind us to look closer—and think smaller.
That is a great question and one I posed to myself as I drafted the OP. Is the boreal still more species poor once we factor in all the cryptic diversity? I don’t know but my guess is that total plant/lichen diversity might be tropical > boreal/subarctic > temperate > arctic. Just a guess.
In the veg surveys I do cryptogams are only really counted as % cover. Within the sandstone areas around here they do make up quite a lot of the groundcover, though for actual diversity I've never really looked (too busy with the higher plants). Next time I'm out I'll have to get some good pics.
Many years ago, some folks in NJ believed that the meadowlands were useless. NJ created a development commission to develop them. However, a band of merry canoists catalogued the wildlife & took reporters on a canoe ride in full view of the Manhattan skyline that proved otherwise & saved them.
Comments
Textbooks claim that the boreal region is species poor. This is FALSE.
unquote
so presumably you have data to back this up ?
or is this just based on anecdotal stuff ?
#Biodiversity
#BorealBeauty
#FairyForests
#PeatlandsMatter