An afternoon as ecologists in Mundy Park

When you spend time in nature, do you find yourself making observations, asking questions, and wondering how you might go about answering those questions? When you look at a forest, do you notice all of the connections between plants, wildlife, and landscapes? Well then, forest ecology may be right for you!

As part of the Fraser River Discovery Centre’s spring workshop series, I had the opportunity to guide a group of enthusiastic adults through an interactive ecology workshop in Mundy Park. In this workshop, participants learned how ecologists study forest ecosystems. Participants had the chance to use real field tools, like DBH tapes and plant guides, to measure and identify trees, shrubs, and understorey plants, and get a closer look at the structure and diversity of the urban forest.

From the Fraser to the forest

We started our afternoon as ecologists by first learning more about where we were, and importantly, the history of the landscape and its people. As an ecologist, an important part of your job is learning about local Indigenous Nations and their stewardship practices, as well as learning about the history of environmental changes, stressors, and current impacts in your study area. By taking the time to learn this background information, you can better interpret your observations, identify patterns, and assess the implications of your findings in a culturally and ecologically appropriate context.

Mundy Park is situated within the traditional territory of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) First Nation. The name kʷikʷəƛ̓əm in the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language means ‘red fish up the river’, referring to the unique run of sockeye salmon that once thrived in the waters of the territory, including what is now known as the Coquitlam and Fraser Rivers, and Coquitlam Lake. This name emphasizes the connection between people and place, as the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm people stewarded this landscape to maintain healthy ecosystems that supported abundant returns of this unique run of sockeye salmon. This stewardship ethos is central to understanding the interconnectedness of local ecologies and people.

Mundy Park was not always a forest with marked trails in a defined area surrounded by bustling neighbourhoods and busy streets. Historically, what is now Mundy Park would have been a small piece of the extensive Coquitlam River watershed. Prior to settlement and urban development, the area that is now Mundy Park was part of a mosaic of interacting forest habitats that connected to the shores of the nearby Fraser River. The Coquitlam River is also a tributary to the lower arm of the Fraser River. Importantly, this historic watershed would have connected the water cycle of the terrestrial forest to the water cycle of the Fraser River, creating ecological cascades linking terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

After getting acquainted with one another and the study area, we began our afternoon as ecologists.

Stepping into the urban forest. Photo by George Bencze.

What is Ecology?

Now inside the forest, we gathered in a circle and shared our ideas about what ecology is. Observing the forest around us, we discussed how an ecosystem can occur across a landscape scale, but also within that landscape, there can be smaller-scale ecosystems, such as the mini-ecosystems occurring within standing dead trees. Several key ‘c’ words, such as connections, cascades, and communities, arose during our discussion, speaking to the interactive nature of ecology.

Ecology is an interdisciplinary scientific study of processes and relationships between living organisms and the environment. Forest Ecology specifically focuses on the processes and relationships between plants, animals, soil, air, and water in forest ecosystems. Ecologists work to understand relationships within ecosystems by collecting data and conducting research on how species live, feed, and utilize their niches.

Ecology is fundamental for developing an improved understanding of ecosystem function and how to restore and conserve the natural environment. Ecological studies also play a very important role in understanding climate and human-caused impacts on the environment. The results of ecological studies can help to foster ecosystems that are resilient to stress and find solutions for mitigating climate change.

Plant books, measuring tapes, flags, and… hula hoops?!

Before heading out on the trails to trial ecological methods, we acquainted ourselves with a few of the different tools an ecologist may use to collect data, measure the forest, and make observations.

First and foremost, an important tool an ecologist uses is their senses. By engaging our senses, we can become more immersed in our study system, and we can make more detailed observations. Having your senses well-tuned to your environment is also important for your safety while working in the forest or other outdoor habitats.

To practice engaging our senses, we closed our eyes and focused on all of the different sounds and smells we were experiencing. After some time with our eyes closed, we opened our eyes to observe the different colours, shapes, and textures surrounding us. After sharing our observations, we committed to adopting the motto “Always Be Observing” for our afternoon as ecologists.

Next, I shared several examples of tools an ecologist may use when collecting data and making observations in the field. When conducting surveys or collecting samples in the field, it is important to mark your study area, plot centres, or individual plants for sampling with fluorescent stake flags or flagging tape. Once you’ve marked your study area, you can then use tools such as measuring tapes, soil moisture meters, and densiometers to collect data, or pruners, trowels, and swabs to collect samples. These are just a few examples of the many, many tools that will be in an ecologist’s field tool kit. The types of tools an ecologist uses will always change depending on the type of research they are conducting.

Flags and flagging tape help ecologists distinguish study area dimensions, samples, and more. Always remember to collect your flags when you’re done with your survey/sample. Photo by George Bencze.

A staple item that a forest ecologist will have with them while conducting fieldwork is a plant identification guidebook. Plant identification guidebooks are comprehensive books containing a detailed overview of all the plant species in a region, as well as dichotomous keys, indices, and glossaries. Sometimes, an ecologist will create a short-hand guide specific to the species in their study system.

Thanks to the generous donations made recently by local bookstores, I was able to introduce workshop participants to my favourite guide, Plants of Coastal British Columbia, other field guides to learn how to identify plants in the forest, and how these guides could be used to create a short-hand guide.

We also explored some of the unexpected items that might be in an ecologist’s toolkit. For example, I’ve had ground mustard, old iPhones, and kitchen knives in my field kits for past projects. During our afternoon as ecologists, hula hoops were our unexpected item. For our needs, the hula hoops created the perfect vegetation plot for us to practice identifying and collecting data about understorey plants.

Now, with a better understanding of the variety of tools a forest ecologist may use, we were ready to start making observations and collecting data from the forest ecosystem. The last – and arguably most important – tool we needed to study our ecosystem was a clipboard with a prepared data sheet to record our observations. Participants were provided with example datasheets to help them record their observations and learn how ecological data can be interpreted.

Plant ID guides, such as Pojar and MacKinnon’s Plants of Coastal BC, are quintessential tools for the field. Being able to key out a plant can help to identify rare species. Pro-tip: pre-mark your guidebook with sticky tabs on the species you’re most likely to encounter. Photo by George Bencze.

A forest ecologist's toolkit might have some unexpected items, like hula hoops! Small, defined study areas are often needed when observing understorey vegetation, so circular plots created by hula hoops or square quadrats made of PVC pipe do the trick. — A forest ecologist’s toolkit might have some unexpected items, like hula hoops! Small, defined study areas are often needed when observing understorey vegetation, so circular plots created by hula hoops or square quadrats made of PVC pipe do the trick. Photo by George Bencze.

Discovering the plant life of the Coastal Western-Hemlock Zone

Mundy Park is situated within the Coastal Western Hemlock Biogeoclimatic Zone of British Columbia. To learn more about the plants that comprise the ecological community of this zone, workshop participants worked together to complete a native plant scavenger hunt. Equipped with their plant ID guidebooks and a list of coniferous and deciduous trees, shrubs, ferns, and groundcover species to find, participants worked in teams to identify and check native plants off their lists. As the group became more familiar with how to utilize the plant ID guidebook, they were also able to successfully identify plant species they encountered that were not on their scavenger hunt list.

As we moved along the trail, participants were also finding plants that were not in their plant ID guidebooks. What could these plants be? As our guidebooks were specifically for native plant species, we determined that these other plants were invasive plant species. Invasive plants are plant species that have been introduced to an environment where they do not naturally grow from somewhere else in the world.

Invasive plants are quite common in urban parks, as high-traffic trails facilitate spread and create disturbed sites that invasive plant species thrive in. For example, in Mundy Park, we encountered understorey species introduced from Europe, such as English holly, English ivy, and daphne/spurge laurel. Invasive species can sometimes easily be mistaken for native species, such as in the case of native trailing blackberry and invasive Himalayan blackberry. Using our improved plant identification skills, we learned a key difference between the two types of blackberry: native trailing blackberry has groups of three leaves, while invasive Himalayan blackberry has groups of five leaves.

Sword fern (Polystichum munitum) is often identified by its sword-like fronds. Photo by George Bencze.

Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) are aptly named due to the salmon-like colour of its flowers. Photo by George Bencze.

Skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus) with its distinct yellow flower is commonly found in wet forest areas and riparian habitats. Photo by George Bencze.

Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) bark has deep furrows and epiphytic communities that arise with age. Photo by George Bencze.

What’s in the hula hoop?

Next, we put our plant identification skills to the test by collecting data from vegetation plots. Walking along the trail, we randomly dropped our hula hoops (plots) on forest floor patches just to the side of the trail, being careful not to damage plants or cause disturbances in the process.

Vegetation plots provide forest ecologists with information about plant community structure in relation to disturbances, landscape characteristics, and much more. For example, surveying vegetation in plots with increasing distances from trails can provide information about the patterns of native and invasive species presence in relation to the presence of trails. The data collected from vegetation surveys can be useful to determine what conservation management practices need to be employed to protect or restore plant communities.

Working in groups, the participants identified the different plants contained within the boundaries of the plot. The participants also discovered that within their plots, there could be more than just plants. They found tree cones and fruits, mosses, lichens, plant litter, fungi, wood decay, and rock cover – all components of the forest floor that are a part of understorey plant species’ habitat.
After identifying the plants in their plots, the participants worked together to collect data on species richness, abundance, and percent cover. Species richness is the number of different plant species within the plot, whereas abundance (or evenness) is the number of individual plants of each different plant species within the plot. Both of these measures can be used to determine various types of plant diversity indices, which account for both the number of plant species and their relative abundance in a given sample area. Complementary to these measures, percent cover is the proportion of area within a plot occupied by a specific plant species, or other attribute, such as moss. All together, these measures are used by ecologists to determine ecological patterns, and what is causing these patterns.¹²

In their plots, participants were working to first ID the plants, then count how many different species (richness), how many individuals of each species (abundance) there were, and what percent of the plot each species covered. Photo by George Bencze.

Repeating plots in a sample area helps forest ecologists collect enough data so that they can meaningfully elucidate local ecological patterns and what it is that is causing these patterns. Photo by George Bencze.

The participants observed that closer to the trail, plant communities were less diverse, and there were often more invasive species present. While we did not venture off the trail, we could observe from the trail that plant community diversity seemingly increased in the understorey and invasive species were less present with increased distance from the trail.

As a group, we discussed how humans shape ecology in urban forests, like Mundy Park, and how the ecological data we collected can inform people about the impacts on plants in forests with high urban traffic. If land use changes are made in urban parks, the type of vegetation data we collected also serves as an important baseline to measure and monitor the resulting changes in plant communities.

On the lookout for big trees

After spending a good amount of time looking at the forest floor, we next directed our attention upward to the canopy, looking for big trees in the urban forest. Mundy Park was logged in the early 1900s, and evidence of this logging is seen in massive stumps with springboard markings left behind. Despite logging activity removing a significant amount of the big trees in Mundy Park, some giants remain.

I introduced ‘diameter at breast height’ (DBH) as a commonly used and standardized measure in forest ecology and various other forestry-related fields of study. Tree diameter is closely related to tree age, as trees grow outward and expand their rings with age. As such, tree diameter is a good indicator of approximate tree age, given that older, bigger trees will likely have larger diameters.

Using our DBH tapes, which are specially calibrated to read diameter when wrapping the tape around the tree’s circumference, we set out to search for large Douglas-firs and western redcedars. While searching for these large trees, we also discussed the significance of measuring and documenting big trees, and the ecological importance of maintaining old-growth forest structure across coastal forest landscapes. Finding our way back to our earlier discussions of the afternoon, we explored ideas about how big trees (alive or dead) are mini-ecosystems themselves, but also play a vital role in shaping the ecological cascades connected to the niche they occupy.

Once again working together, with DBH tapes and data sheets in hand, the workshop participants scouted out the biggest trees they could find along the trail and fine-tuned their measuring skills, while also practicing their tree ID and observation skills. The biggest tree measured was a western redcedar with a DBH of over 1.5 metres!

DBH tapes are double-sided: one side is a regular measuring tape, and the other side is specially calibrated to read diameter when wrapped around a tree’s circumference. Photo by George Bencze.

Measuring trees accurately is a team effort, as is a lot of the fieldwork of a forest ecologist.

POV: you’re an ecologist

Wrapping up our afternoon as ecologists, we made our way back along the trail where we started our afternoon just two short hours earlier. As the group walked along the trail, they found themselves noticing parts of the forest they hadn’t previously seen when they first started. They discussed questions they had about the ecosystem and how they might go about answering these questions, from the tools they would use to the data they would collect. It was a great moment to remind ourselves of our motto of the day, “Always Be Observing”.

By the end of the workshop, participants had gained a deeper understanding of forest ecology and the methods ecologists use to monitor and study natural environments. They left with a new sense of perspective about the forests around them, and new connections to not only the forest, but each other as well. Thank you to the Fraser River Discovery Centre for your support in delivering this workshop. The biggest shoutout goes to all of the workshop participants for your enthusiasm to learn, your energy throughout all of the activities, and your heartfelt interest in ecology.