!! Report on Summer Botanical Survey of the "Whale Tail" of Yankee Lake, Sullivan County, New York. Robert Naczi 31 Sager Lane Brewster, NY 10509

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1 Report on Summer Botanical Survey of the "Whale Tail" of Yankee Lake, Sullivan County, New York Robert Naczi 31 Sager Lane Brewster, NY Survey Date: 19 July 2014 Report Completion Date: 2 August 2014

2 INTRODCTION At the request of Yankee Lake Preservation Association, I conducted a botanical survey for vascular plants in the "whale tail" of Yankee Lake. This botanical survey occurred on one day, 19 July The purpose of this particular survey was to seek additional species of plants not visible or not identifiable during previous trips at other times of the growing season. The particular foci of this day's field work were the aquatic plants inhabiting the lake. MATERIALS AND METHODS My site visit to the whale tail of Yankee Lake lasted 7 hours. I accessed the lake with kayak, which I supplied. I thoroughly explored the shoreline, shallows, and deeper water. Frequently, I waded in the water to look for aquatic plants. To aid in this search, I used a mask to improve visibility through the water column, and looked underwater, especially at the lake bottom. I recorded my observations on habitats and plant species in a field notebook. In this notebook, I recorded the geographic coordinates of the places where I observed noteworthy species. I determined these coordinates with a hand-held GPS (global positioning system unit, specifically, Garmin GPS 12). In those cases in which field identification would be impossible or time-consuming, I collected and prepared specimens of selected plants for later use in identification. I collected specimens of 14 species for later identification. Preparation of specimens consisted of pressing and drying, which renders permanent preservation. RESLTS I explored aquatic habitats of the Whale Tail of Yankee Lake, including the entire shoreline within the whale tail (Figs. 1 2). I observed 23 plant species in this area, all those observed during the previous field work of 21 September 2013 plus nine additional species (Table 1). Thus, Table 1 is a list of all the species of aquatic plants that I have observed growing in the "whale tail" of Yankee Lake. Table 1. Aquatic plant species observed in the "Whale Tail" section of Yankee Lake. Those species marked with an asterisk are additions to the list of species observed during previous field work in Scientific Name NYS Legal Status (T = Threatened, = nprotected) Brasenia schreberi Callitriche heterophylla* Elatine minima* Elatine triandra* Eleocharis acicularis Eleocharis palustris* Glyceria borealis*

3 Glyceria canadensis* Isoetes echinospora* Myriophyllum humile Najas flexilis Nuphar variegata Potamogeton bicupulatus Potamogeton epihydrus Potamogeton robbinsii Potamogeton spirillus* Sagittaria graminea Sparganium americanum Sparganium emersum Sparganium fluctuans tricularia macrorhiza* tricularia radiata Vallisneria americana T OneofthespeciesobservedislistedbyNewYorkStateasaprotectedplant(NYS DEC2014).Thisspecies,tricularia)radiata(LittleFloatingBladderwort),islistedas ThreatenedbyNewYorkState.IdiscovereditinSeptember2013,andobserveditagainon 19July2014,inthesameplacesasIhadobserveditinthe"whaletail"in2013. SomeofthespeciesIfirstobservedin2014areindicatorsofoligotrophic(lowP nutrient)conditionsandhighwaterquality.thesespeciesareelatine)minima,isoetes) echinospora,andpotamogeton)spirillus.thesespeciesareadditionaltothefourothersi haddiscoveredin2013(myriophyllum)humile,potamogeton)bicupulatus,sparganium) fluctuans,tricularia)radiata)thatalsoindicaterelativelyhighwaterquality. OnlyoneofthespeciesobservedinYankeeLakeisnonPnative,Elatine)triandra (ThreePstamenedWaterwort).Asmallpopulationofthisdiminutive(upto4centimeters tall)plantispresentinthelake.theseplantsrootdirectlyinthelakebottom,growunder waterca.1meterdeep,andgrowinsmall,scatteredclumpsca.2 5centimetersin diameter.thoughitisnonpnative,itissouncommonandsosmallthatitdoesnotappear tobecausinganyproblemsforeitherhumansortheenvironment.iobservedthemost plantsofelatine)triandrainthelakeadjacenttothepopulationoftheinvasiveeurasian CommonReed(Phragmites)australis).Thisjuxtapositionofthesetwospeciesislikelynot coincidental,sinceinthissameareaisthestreamemptyingintoyankeelakethatappears tobecontributingtonutrientpollutionfromadjacentuplandprivateproperty(asi discussedinmy2013report),andthenutrientdemandsofelatine)triandraappeartobe greaterthanthenativespeciesofaquaticplants. REFERENCECITED NewYorkStateDepartmentofEnvironmentalConservation Protectednative plants.

4 Figure 1. Aerial view of Yankee Lake and vicinity. Area outlined in white is the view depicted in Figure 2. Aerial photograph from.s. Geological Survey "Yankee Lake, NY" 1:24,000 topographic map, 2010 version.

5 Figure 2. Area explored during summer 2014 botanical survey. Aerial photograph from.s. Geological Survey "Yankee Lake, NY" 1:24,000 topographic map, 2010 version.