I woke up Tuesday morning ready for more moss- I even had a dream about moss, that I was tiny and lived in one of those Pleuridium capsules I talked about yesterday. After a hearty (and free) breakfast, I walked out to the car raring to go- the air was crisp, the sky was rain-free, and the smell of motor oil wafted across my nose. Um, what? There was a large, iridescent puddle beneath my car. Taking a peak underneath, it was clear what happened: somewhere on one of those dirt roads in East Penn, I had punctured my oil pan.
This was my payback for not renting an SUV for this trip, which probably would have cost about $400; oddly also the estimate for repairs. I was lucky that we were in Scranton, which has a VW dealership, though. They were able to squeeze me in during midday, but in the meantime I was trapped in Scranton. We did make the best of the situation, finding two populations of Funaria on opposite sides of town. After lunch at a disappointing pizza place (Donio's: home of chewy, greasy pizza), we headed back to the dealership. The estimate was actually high, which set up the rest of the day nicely.
On Day 2, we realized what kind of habitat we really needed to look for: railroad tracks. On our TOPO map, we identified the train tracks between Scranton and Ithaca, and we followed them dutifully, with amazing success. We followed the Susquahanna River north towards the New York border, and found moderately sized populations in all three counties between Scranton and the NY border. Piers and I were getting especially good at recognizing whether a particular railroad track would be promising, based on the kinds of rocks used as filler. As we entered New York, we found the tracks again north of Waverly, and driving along it, we could actually pick out where it was, based on the habitat and the bright red seta.
After Waverly, we were two counties away from Ithaca, and my advisor had given me some areas to check out near Cornell. Still, after a successful pickup in Chemung County, Piers suggested we stop just over the Tompkins County border (still about 15 miles south of Ithaca). We pulled up to the railroad tracks and Piers went left down the tracks towards a small stream, and found a few small patches. I went to the right, and... let's just say that I need to keep redefining what I mean by Mother Lode. The population was spread out over the same area as the one from Auburn, PA that I collected in the rain, about 500 feet along the tracks. This population was different- Funaria was in very large patches for this kind of moss- up to 3 feet across!
It also occured on both sides of the tracks, in an interesting habitat. On the far side of the tracks, Funaria was in smaller patches, further from the tracks than on the near side. There was also a lot of other types of moss: typical ones that occur on disturbed soil, and also a fern ally called Equisetem. A good ecologist would be able to make better hypotheses, but my guess is that Funaria is being out-competed on these soils by the other plants, and is forced further up the bank. I will be very interested to learn if the genetics of the patches with respect to their habitat. I actually collected from a third type of habitat at this location, down by the stream. Funaria doesn't usually occur in wet places, so this was an interesting find. We spent about 2 and a half hours (or, three beers in Piers Time) here, so we didn't have time to explore Ithaca that night.
We did, however, eat at an excellent Thai/Asian restaurant called Tamarind. I had the coconut soup with chicken, which I really want to learn how to make. We ended up in Ludlowville, NY, 10 miles north of Ithaca, in a really neat house. The room I stayed in was a hexagon with windows covering five of the
six walls. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much past dawn...
Miles Traveled: 150
Funaria populations: 6
Tomorrow: The southern Adirondack Mountains, ending in Maltaville, NY.
This was my payback for not renting an SUV for this trip, which probably would have cost about $400; oddly also the estimate for repairs. I was lucky that we were in Scranton, which has a VW dealership, though. They were able to squeeze me in during midday, but in the meantime I was trapped in Scranton. We did make the best of the situation, finding two populations of Funaria on opposite sides of town. After lunch at a disappointing pizza place (Donio's: home of chewy, greasy pizza), we headed back to the dealership. The estimate was actually high, which set up the rest of the day nicely.
On Day 2, we realized what kind of habitat we really needed to look for: railroad tracks. On our TOPO map, we identified the train tracks between Scranton and Ithaca, and we followed them dutifully, with amazing success. We followed the Susquahanna River north towards the New York border, and found moderately sized populations in all three counties between Scranton and the NY border. Piers and I were getting especially good at recognizing whether a particular railroad track would be promising, based on the kinds of rocks used as filler. As we entered New York, we found the tracks again north of Waverly, and driving along it, we could actually pick out where it was, based on the habitat and the bright red seta.
After Waverly, we were two counties away from Ithaca, and my advisor had given me some areas to check out near Cornell. Still, after a successful pickup in Chemung County, Piers suggested we stop just over the Tompkins County border (still about 15 miles south of Ithaca). We pulled up to the railroad tracks and Piers went left down the tracks towards a small stream, and found a few small patches. I went to the right, and... let's just say that I need to keep redefining what I mean by Mother Lode. The population was spread out over the same area as the one from Auburn, PA that I collected in the rain, about 500 feet along the tracks. This population was different- Funaria was in very large patches for this kind of moss- up to 3 feet across!
It also occured on both sides of the tracks, in an interesting habitat. On the far side of the tracks, Funaria was in smaller patches, further from the tracks than on the near side. There was also a lot of other types of moss: typical ones that occur on disturbed soil, and also a fern ally called Equisetem. A good ecologist would be able to make better hypotheses, but my guess is that Funaria is being out-competed on these soils by the other plants, and is forced further up the bank. I will be very interested to learn if the genetics of the patches with respect to their habitat. I actually collected from a third type of habitat at this location, down by the stream. Funaria doesn't usually occur in wet places, so this was an interesting find. We spent about 2 and a half hours (or, three beers in Piers Time) here, so we didn't have time to explore Ithaca that night.
We did, however, eat at an excellent Thai/Asian restaurant called Tamarind. I had the coconut soup with chicken, which I really want to learn how to make. We ended up in Ludlowville, NY, 10 miles north of Ithaca, in a really neat house. The room I stayed in was a hexagon with windows covering five of the
six walls. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much past dawn...
Miles Traveled: 150
Funaria populations: 6
Tomorrow: The southern Adirondack Mountains, ending in Maltaville, NY.
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