November 5, 2010 — Woody Plant Identification and Natural History in Winter
- Learn how to use keys to identify trees, shrubs, and woody vines in winter condition
- Acquire identification skills that are useful for, e.g., wetland boundary delineation, surveys for rare species, habitat identification, reviews of land use proposals, and landscape design
- Examine the identification characters of many species in the field
- Browse a collection of books about the identification and ecology of northeastern woody plants
- Learn how herbarium specimens can be used as reference for identification of new material
- Discover facts about the natural history and human use of various species
- Learn where some of the rare woody species occur, which woody plants are useful indicators of environmental conditions, and how certain invasive nonnative species are troublesome in our region.
This workshop is designed for biologists, environmental professionals, horticulturists, and students who already have some field experience with woody plants and want to develop their abilities to identify woody species in winter using twigs, buds, leaf scars, pith, bark, and other winter identification characters. The workshop emphasizes hands-on observation and practice with plants in the field, specimens, hand lens, keys, and field guides.
Course instructors Erik Kiviat PhD and Gretchen Stevens have 40 and 30 years of experience, respectively, with the northeastern woody flora in winter condition.
Lunch and snacks will be provided. Tentative location: Bard College Field Station, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Course materials (books, 10x hand lens) will be for sale at the site. We expect to use Muenscher’s Keys to Woody Plants revised by Cope (2001), and G. Petrides, A Field Guide to Trees and Shrubs 2nd ed. Several binocular dissecting microscopes will be available.
Course fee $275 payable to Hudsonia Ltd by check or credit card (full fee due 15 October, early registration fee $250 by 1 September). Call Linda Spiciarich 845-758-0600 or email spiciari@bard.edu to register.