Presentation: “Monitoring Spalding’s catchfly”

Silene spaldingii (Photo by C. Menke)

At 7:00 pm on Thursday, November 14, 2013, the Palouse Prairie Foundation and the White Pine Chapter of the Idaho Native Plant Society will cosponsor a presentation “Monitoring Spalding’s catchfly (Silene spaldingii)” by Tiana Luke, Research Assistant and MS student, School of the Environment, Washington State University.  The presentation will be held in the 1912 Center, Fiske Room, Moscow, ID.

Spalding’s catchfly is a threatened plant occurring in eastern Washington, Oregon, and adjacent parts of northern Idaho as well as western Montana. In the channeled scablands of eastern Washington, the Bureau of Land Management has been monitoring the species since 1995, but the procedure had statistical limitations. In 2012, a new, more statistically valid, monitoring method was implemented, consistent with the protocol recommended by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for the species throughout its range. This would allow comparison between populations, which is not possible now. The impacts of weather on plant characteristics were determined from the original long-term data. Precipitation is an important influence, but not the only one. Initial results from the new monitoring method indicate that the methodology is sufficient and provide a number of new hypotheses about the species.

This talk will include information on the whole phenomenon of prolonged dormancy and its ecological implications as well as the complications it causes in monitoring Silene spaldingii.

For further information, contact Dave Skinner at 208-874-3205.