Environmental Science students in Deborah Finley's class identified
over 80 species of vascular plants and vertebrate animals during a
biodiversity study in May. The area studied covered the east campus (the
woods behind Binney, the edge of Hugh Harrell Field, and the woods from
the Lower Reservoir to Mountain Road. This portion of the Academy
property includes a successional forest, an ecotone (field/forest
interface), and a climax forest.
Students noted the abundance of invasive plant
species, such
as Japanese barberry, Russian olive, garlic mustard, and multiflora rose
in our study area. These plants compete with native species, and often
dominate large patches of the forest edge.
Despite the number of invasives, the ecosystems studied appear to be healthy and ecologically balanced. Although we did not discover any rare or endangered species, we found a wide representation of plants and animals that live in eastern deciduous forests. Represented are the red fox, white-tailed deer, and wood frog; the red-tailed hawk, great blue heron, northern oriole, and pileated woodpecker; ground ivy, Jack-in-the-pulpit, wild geranium, and a variety of ferns; the American chestnut, the American elm, black cherry, and black walnut, and several types of oak.
Biodiversity
studies can be used as a baseline to document ecological change, and to
provide information for land use management and stewardship. Future
surveys of this nature will provide us with a better understanding of
the plants and animals that inhabit the Academy’s natural areas.
Reptiles, Amphibians,
and Mammals
Common garter snake
Eastern chipmunk
Gray squirrel
Red-backed salamander
Red fox
White-tailed deer
Wood frog
Birds
American robin
Black-capped chickadee
Cardinal
Catbird
Eastern phoebe
European starling
Goldfinch
Great blue heron
Hermit thrush
House sparrow
Killdeer
Mallard duck
Northern flicker
Northern oriole
Northern yellowthroat
Pileated woodpecker
Red-bellied woodpecker
Red-eyed vireo
Red-tailed hawk
Tufted titmouse
Wood pewee
Wildflowers, Ferns,
and Vines
Bedstraw
Blackberry
Bloodroot
Burdock
Buttercup
Canada mayflower
Celandine
Christmas fern
Club moss
Common blue violet
Common milkweed
Dame’s rocket
Early meadow parsnip
False Solomon’s seal
Garlic mustard
Ground ivy
Jack-in-the-pulpit
Jewelweed
Multiflora rose
One-flowered cancer root
Oriental bittersweet
Poison ivy
Queen Anne’s lace
Red clover
Rock polypody fern
Round-leaved greenbrier
Sensitive fern
Skunk cabbage
Spotted wintergreen
Sweet cicely
Toothwort
Virginia creeper
White wood aster
Wild geranium
Wood fern
Trees and Shrubs
American chestnut
American elm
American hornbeam
Basswood
Black birch
Black cherry
Black oak
Black walnut
Bladdernut
Chinese chestnut
Cottonwood
European buckthorn
Flowering dogwood
Japanese barberry
Northern red oak
Norway maple
Red maple
Red-osier dogwood
Russian olive
Sassafeas
Scarlet oak
Shagbark hickory
Spicebush
Staghorn sumac
Sugar maple
White ash
White oak
White pine
Wild grape
Winged euonymus
Witch hazel
