Long Island Botanical Society Vol. 25 No. 2 The Quarterly Newsletter Spring 2015 One Day in the Life of Some Long Island Naturalists Robert T. McGrath Department of Science and Technology Education (Retired) Northport-East Northport Union Free Schools, Northport, New York When the Fall 2014 issue of the LIBS newsletter arrived I never expected it to stir up in me so many passionate memories from the seventies to the present day. After all, the notice on the second page seemed simple enough, In Memoriam This July marks the passing of Paul Stoutenburgh, 92. . . As many members know, Paul was a lifelong resident of Cutchogue, a first- rate photographer, author of a weekly nature column for over forty years, and what my friends and I termed a true conservationist and field naturalist. Paul was a founding member of LIBS and one of the most reliable sources for locations and records of eastern Long Island natural history I ever had the privilege to know. He was an inspiration to me along with a select group of naturalists with names like Latham, Wilcox, Raynor, Puleston, Harper, and Cushman Murphy Figure 1 . Curly-grass fern ( Schizaea pusilla) from the New Jersey pine barrens. [Photo by P. Grima] Ed. Note: This is the plant depicted in the LIBS logo, above. We all know about specialists and what they contribute to society — the dentists, physicists, chemists — but naturalists aren’t considered as part of that group. Instead the naturalist is best defined as a person who studies all the facets of the natural world outdoors. Most are generalists instead of specializing in any one particular science. Many of the most acclaimed naturalists rank among the oldest of scientific learners. Aristotle, Darwin, Linnaeus, Audubon, Thoreau, and even Thomas Jefferson were all naturalists. Yes, even Jefferson, when he wasn’t busy helping to shape our nation politically kept a journal of his findings. It was this local group of naturalists that my friends and I yearned to become part of as we spent countless hours in the field tracking down their lengthy lists of plant and animal records, trying to re-establish the occurrence of a local population of orchid or the breeding location for one of Long Island’s rare species of Am by stoma salamander. Back in the seventies and early eighties, much, if not most of what my friends and I knew about Long Island and its rich and diverse natural history came from the writings of this group of naturalists and the publication of their field notes as articles in magazines, scientific journals, or newsletters. What was astounding to me was that few of them had any formal training in the natural sciences. They were simply everyday people and dedicated naturalists with a penchant for publishing their findings. What is a naturalist? you might ask. This word has nearly disappeared from the scientific community and everyday life. At the top of this seemingly endless list was our discovery that Eastern Long Island was home to one of North America’s rarest species of fern, curly-grass fern {Schizaea pusilla ; Fig. 1 ). Numerous attempts at locating the elusive population always seemed to hit a brick wall when we ventured into the field. After all, we were hunting down a plant that even at maturity was barely an inch tall, nestled somewhere in the Napeague Promised Land, in a swale bog with numerous species of sedges (i Cyperaceae ), orchids like grass pink ( Calopogon tuberosus), rose pogonia ( Pogonia ophioglossoides), club mosses (. Lycopodiaceae ), ( Continued on page 11) Page 10 Long Island Botanical Society Vol. 25 No. 2 Long Island Botanical Society Founded: 1986 • Incorporated: 1989 The Long Island Botanical Society is dedicated to the promotion of field botany and a greater understanding of the plants that grow wild on Long Island, New York. Visit the Society’s Web site www.libotanical.org Executive Board President Eric Lamont 631-722-5542 elamont@optonline. net Vice President Andrew Greller agreller2@optonline.net Treasurer Carol Johnston j ohnfj ohnston2 @optonline. net Recording Secretary Barbara Conolly bconolly@optonline.net Corresponding Secretary Rich Kelly vze2dxmil@verizon.net Committee Chairpersons Flora Eric Lamont elamont@optonline.net Andrew Greller agreller2@optonline.net Field Trips Allan Lindberg ajlindberg@optonline.net Programs Rich Kelly vze2dxmil@verizon.net Membership Lois Lindberg lalindberg3@optonline.net Conservation Bill Titus btitus@optonline.net John Turner redknot2@verizon.net Education MaryLaura Lamont woodpink59@gmail.com Hospitality Kathleen Gaffney kg73@cornell.edu Dorothy Titus btitus@optonline.net Newsletter Editor Margaret Conover margaret. conover@gmail. com with special thanks to Skip & Jane Blanchard Webmaster Donald House libsweb@yahoo.com Society News LIBS gratefully acknowledges donors. The society would not exist without the support of its members, and LIBS takes this opportunity to express sincere appreciation to the following members who recently gave very generous, year- end donations: Susan Avery, Lillian Ball, Lucille Blum, Vicki Bustamante, Ann Carter, Leslie Clark, Jennifer Clemant, Regina Conlin, Barbara Conolly, Margaret Conover, Tom Fiore, Judith Fitzgerald, Kathy Gaffney, April Gonzales, Marian Hubbard, Jane Jackson, Marilyn Jordan, Matthew Kaelin, Rich Kelly, Joanne & Fred Knapp, Michael Laspia, Anthony Lauro, Larry Liddle, Lois & A1 Lindberg, Carrie Ann Lindstadt-Iurka, Mary Maran, Bob McGrath, Margo Myles, Elizabeth Pessala, Planting Fields Foundation, Prospect Park Alliance, Sabin Family Foundation, Joanne Schlegel, Lenore Swenson, David Taft, Dot & Bill Titus, Jenny Ulsheimer, Ray Welch, Richard Wines & Nancy Gilbert, Steve Young, and Bob Zaremba. Field trip rescheduled. The March 7 th LIBS field trip was cancelled because of deep snow, ice, and frigid temperatures. The trip has been rescheduled for October 24, 2015. LIBS 30-Year Anniversary Field Trip. The 2016 trip to the Sierra Nevada and White Mountains of California is full, although a waiting list is being kept in case of cancellations. In the three months following the trip’s announcement in the Winter 2015 LIBS Newsletter, 1 8 members signed up and paid deposits. Insurance for LIBS. Until recently, LIBS has not had any kind of insurance. We noticed that there are usually sign-in waiver sheets at field trips sponsored by other local outdoor organizations. Since LIBS field trips are open to non-members, and LIBS sometimes takes an advocacy role in property conservation concerns, the board agreed that LIBS should not continue to operate without insurance. A contact at Queens County Bird Club provided the name of an insurance broker used by several local organizations. The pricing was comparable to that of other organizations not using this particular broker. As of March 1, 2015, LIBS has general liability insurance, and we are in the process of obtaining directors and officers insurance. Update on LIBS Adas of Long Island Plants. Adam Negrin recently completed the electronic creation of distribution/dot maps for more than 2000 vascular plant species occurring on Long Island, including native and naturalized non-native species. The maps will now be sent to an outside reviewer and after final corrections the Atlas should be ready for publication. Margaret Conover and Sue Avery will officially represent LIBS at a major botanical research conference June 5-7, 2015, hosted by the New England Botanical Club at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden Herbarium will be arriving at the New York Botanical Garden in early April 2015. A formal announcement about the transfer is pending. The collection will be in the Bronx and available for consultation until Brooklyn is able to provide new housing for the collection. We expect that that BKL will be open for consultation sometime in May. Please contact Barbara Thiers, Director of the Herbarium at NYBG (bthiers@nybg.org) about access to the collection. Long Island Botanical Society Vol. 25 No. 2 Page 11 ( One Day in the Life... continued from cover) large cranberry ( Vaccinium macrocarpon), and sphagnum {Sphagnaceae) . Our records of the population led us to the plant’s discoverer, one of Long Island’s premier naturalists, Roy Latham. Although Latham didn’t actually publish his findings for over thirty years, it seems he first located the species in two areas of Napeague in September, 1927 (Lamont 1998). For years our attempts at locating this “Holy Grail” of ferns proved incredibly frustrating. In fact it wasn’t until the winter of 1980-81, after nearly five years of searching, that my friends and I finally made connections with naturalists who actually knew the precise location. Our connection was made in somewhat of a roundabout way as Robert Giffen, head ranger at Hoyt Farm Park and Preserve in Commack and our boss at the time (and another person I place in the category of naturalist) had learned of a reliable lead from a close friend, Carl Helms, Director of the Quogue Wildlife Refuge. Carl had been informed that a group of local naturalists would be taking botanists from the University of Michigan out for a day in the field to locate various hybrid Dryopteris ferns, as well as species from the genus Botrychium, and yes, the elusive population of Schizaea. After asking Bob to speak to Carl, he was gracious enough to make a few phone calls and get us on the “guest list” with this most prestigious group. The date of the field trip was February 1, 1981. We were scheduled to rendezvous with the members of the group in Riverhead, adjacent to Sweezey’s Pond at Cranberry Bog Nature Preserve. The group included our leader Joe Beitel (Fig. 2), his close associates from the University of Michigan where he studied, Drs. Warren H. (“Herb”) and Florence Wagner, Joe’s longtime mentor while growing up, Arthur Cooley (along with a couple of his high school students), and... Paul and Barbara Stoutenburgh. I remember vividly thinking not only were we going to finally track down this elusive species, but we were going to do it in the company of some of Long Island’s most talented naturalists. At the time I was twenty-one years old and my close friends, John Cryan and John Turner were in their later twenties. I had heard so much about our leader Joe Beitel, and while I had never heard of the Wagners before, I could sense we were in the presence of two professors who were on the cutting edge of their respective fields in botany. I had made acquaintance with Paul and Barbara years before when I needed guest lecturers for residential environmental programs I ran on Shelter Island. As was always the case with Paul and Barbara, when they met us along the shoulder of County Route 51 it was with broad smiles and firm handshakes that reflected their genuine sincerity at seeing old friends again. Figure 2. Joe Beitel in the field, in 1988. [Photo by B. Conolly] After Joe gave the Wagners an overview of the Ronkonkama terminal moraine and Long Island’s glacial origins we moved on to the Long Island Dwarf Pine Plains in West Hampton, proceeding down the old asphalt road leading into the southwest quadrant. Once there, John Cryan gave us a crash course in the life history of the buck moth {Hemileuca maia). Although they were primarily botanists, the Wagners were glued to John’s concise and detailed overview of the unique life cycle of this Pine Barrens endemic. In preparation for this article it is only in the last eight weeks that I have come to understand the depth to which the Wagners have defined what we now know about fern hybridization, the life history of gametophytes of Botrychium, the flora of limestone outcrops, chemical polymorphism in Monarda and the natural hybridization in Cypripedium. And as if that weren’t enough, that Dr. Herb Wagner also had an immense fondness for the species of oak ( Quercus ) and native giant silk moths ( Saturniidae ; Walter 2014 pers. comm.). The skills, enthusiasm, passion, commitment, work ethic, and sheer love of the natural world that Joe and the Wagners so clearly displayed were awe-inspiring to me. They were clearly natural mentors and I could sense that this day was rapidly developing into one of the most special experiences my friends and I would ever spend in the field. I almost didn’t feel I belonged with people of this caliber and yet Herb Wagner treated me as one of the “big boys” asking me question after question about scrub oak ( Quercus ilicifolia) fire frequencies in the Dwarf Pine Plains and predators of the buck moth. Herb actually asked me if I could assist him in collecting a buck moth egg mass before we moved on further east as he had never seen one before!! I must admit I felt honored to be treated with such professionalism. From the Dwarf Pine Plains we moved quickly to Napeague and the population of Schizaea located in a low-lying bog adjacent to the Long Island Railroad track (Fig. 3). As we approached ( Continued on page 12) Page 12 Long Island Botanical Society Vol. 25 No. 2 ( One Day in the Life... continued from page 11) the site, my sense of anticipation was overwhelming, and I actually felt as though I were on a treasure hunt of sorts. After having been to this region dozens of times over the previous five years with my two colleagues and having crawled around on our hands and knees getting soaked and bitten by countless deer ticks and mosquitoes, could it finally be that we would get a chance to see and photograph this small botanical gem? Upon arriving in Napeague we left our cars directly on the shoulder of Montauk Highway. Joe led us up and over the railroad tracks at a strategic location that was largely open and approximately one hundred feet in length. Asking the group to remain on the railroad gravel bed Joe quickly ventured into the opening and, moving almost like a guide dog on a crowded sidewalk, he went directly to the eastern end where he narrowed his search, homing in on a small island of pitch pine (. Pinus rigida), large cranberry ( Vaccinium macrocarpon) and leatherleaf ( Chamaedaphne calyculata). After a minute or so he called for us to join him in small groups of three as he searched intently (Fig. 4), having used the small island as an landmark to move exactly four steps west and out slightly to the right, away from the small island. No sooner was the first group making its way to him when he called out excitedly, got it!! As they approached he motioned for everyone to get down on their knees and join him. I must admit I was overwhelmed with pleasure as it seemed I had, after so many unsuccessful journeys to this bog-laced tombolo called Promised Land, finally visited one of the locations of this elusive species. As I approached in the second group, Joe shared with us that on his last visit to this particular population he counted thirteen plants. On this visit, though, he was clearly overjoyed, for on this day the population was much larger, reaching perhaps as many as twenty plants. This was indeed wonderful news as this species is known from only a handful of other locations globally, including the New Jersey Pinelands and the Canadian Maritimes. How fortunate, I thought to myself, that I was being afforded this rare opportunity. And to be out with people who are, in essence, the leaders in their respective areas of field botany. To this day I can vividly recall lying flat in the bog with my face in the matted sphagnum and cranberry plants and my camera sitting right on the ground as I snapped photo after photo. I learned weeks later that my camera shutter was damaged and none of the photographs I took that day had come out. In the years since Joe took us to this population many botanists including Eric Lamont, Ann Johnson, and Barbara Conolly (Lamont, pers. comm. 2015) have searched unsuccessfully for the population we visited on February 1, 1981. In preparation for this article I visited the site for the first time in over thirty Figure 3. The bog location of the curly-grass fern population. The small “island” is visible to the right. [Photo by B. McGrath] years this past fall with my wife, Denise, and was unable to locate any plants. Eric Lamont has noted that in years shortly after 1981, the population seemed to have died out and has never recovered (Lamont 1998). That day, after everyone had ample opportunity to observe the population, we moved on to Montauk Point. While we were there, Paul and Art ventured out to the point, where they observed a razorbill (Alca torda). I remember thinking that since both of these naturalists had more of an avian passion it was appropriate that they were rewarded with a species not normally seen so close to shore back in the early 1980s. After warming ourselves by the glowing fire in the snack bar we moved on to our last stop for the day, Montauk County Park and the low-lying woodlands around Big Reed Pond. Since the early 1970s during his employment as a park interpreter with the Suffolk County Parks Department, Joe had amassed numerous records of colonies of hybrid Dryopteris fern species, as well as small but stable populations of cut-leaved grape fern {Botrychium dissectum). Venturing into the woodlands west of the Big Reed Pond (Fig. 5), Joe and the Wagners were hopeful that the hybrid ferns derived from crosses that included (. Dryopteris celsa) could be located in an effort to solve the mystery of how these hybrids could be established when D. celsa had never been recorded in the region. Once again we found ourselves down on our hands and knees crawling about the woodland in search of both our target species. After a short time one specimen of Botrychium was Long Island Botanical Society Vol. 25 No. 2 Page 13 Figure 4. This substrate shot shows the ground cover where curly-grass fern grows. [Photo by B. McGrath] found growing prostrate on the ground and completely covered by leaf litter. I must confess that the discussion that ensued about the relationships between the various Dryopteris species was just a little too in-depth for my one year of botany at SUNY Morrisville. Still, I felt privileged to be just a spectator as Joe and the Wagners talked on about the entire Dryopteris complex. As they talked Art and Paul were onto a hawk that came winding through the trees and out over Big Reed Pond. Red-shouldered ( Buteo lineatus), they confirmed. Along the shores of Big Reed Pond Art came upon a dead specimen of mad-dog skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) for Joe to identify. Art playfully teased Joe that the hawk was far more exciting than the skull-cap he had found. As I watched them joke with one another I was moved by the friendship between these two naturalists as it was clearly evident all throughout day. Anyone watching them could clearly see the respect and admiration that they had for each other. Art was proud of his young protege and rightfully so. So too were the Wagners, as I had learned in 2014 through correspondence with Dr. Kerry S. Walter of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Scotland. Kerry and Joe were roommates during Joe’s time at Michigan in the early 70s and both were students of the Wagners. Throughout this time together Kerry recalls Joe’s innate ability to comprehend any topic or observation as awe-inspiring. Whether in the classroom, herbarium, or field, Joe’s unsurpassed knowledge, work ethic, and sheer love of life were overshadowed only by the love and support he lavished on his “family” of mentors, fellow students, and friends. Joe was a rare and precious individual and Kerry considers himself truly blessed to have shared part of his life with him, Herb and Flo. As our day drew to a close we made one last avian pit stop along Dune Road in South Hampton in an attempt to get a glimpse of a snowy owl ( Bubo scandiacus) that had been frequenting the salt marsh across from Triton Lane. We struck out but were fortunate enough to see a short-eared owl (Asio flammeus) on a fence post waiting for the sun to go down. What a fitting end to such an awe-inspiring day, I thought to myself. Less than a week later Paul published an account of the day in his column Focus on Nature for the Suffolk Times. An excerpt is as follows: Our next visit was to the Montauk area to find a rare and little-known fern for our visiting professors from Michigan. This fern has only been found in one spot in the whole of New York State, and that was right here in Montauk. The remarkable part about this fern is that Roy Latham found it way back in the 1920’s and reported it to the museum in Albany. Through much research by one of the students with us working on his doctorate degree, the general location was established. Then just as Roy Latham has done a thousand times before, he got down on his hands and knees to search the area. Finally, after many attempts, it was located. Now it was our turn. But we had the advantage to know where to look. All of us down on our hands and knees and meticulously worked the area. “Here it is”, someone shouted; and we gathered around to see. True to its name of curly grass, we saw this rare and little known species of fern barely an inch to two inches tall. We marveled how thorough Roy Latham must have been to locate this “needle in a haystack”. He has become an inspiration to many young scientists because through his field work and writings they are able to continue this work in our natural world. On our way back in the car, we spoke about this man of all seasons - for that is literally what he was. He worked in all seasons and in all places in the natural world. He was something special to all of us and the more we seem to find out about him the more amazing he becomes. On November 12, 2008 I interviewed Paul and Barbara Stoutenburgh at their home on Skunk Lane in Cutchogue. ( Continued on page 14) Page 14 Long Island Botanical Society Vol. 25 No. 2 ( One Day in the Life... continued from page 13) Figure 5. Habitat where we searched for Dryopteris and Botrychium, southwest side of Big Reed Pond in Montauk. [Photo by B. McGrath] Paul had suffered a stroke a year or so before and Barbara did much of the interpreting as we discussed fondly many of their exploits with Gil Raynor, Dennis Puleston, LeRoy Wilcox, and Art Cooley. They both remembered our day together in the field in 1981 and felt much as I do that we were in the presence of some truly gifted and passionate botanists. As Kerry shared with me in one of his e-mails, when you consider all that Joe and the Wagners accomplished and contributed to our understanding of field botany during their lifetime(s), he considers himself blessed to have known these gifted individuals and to have shared part of his life with them. I too consider myself blessed and honored to have known all of them, even if I only shared one beautiful day in the field with all of them together. Acknowledgements I thank Dr. Kerry S. Walter, Director, BG-BASE (UK), Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, for graciously taking the time share his thoughts on the special friendship he had with Joe Beitel and Herb and Flo Wagner; Dr. John Mickel, New York Botanical Garden for his assistance with the status of the Dryopteris complex studied by Joe and Herb Wagner; Eric Lamont for his confirmation of the status of the curly-grass fern at Napeague. Finally, I wish a sincere and heartfelt thank you to all field naturalists both past and present for your contributions to our working knowledge of the natural world around us. Literature Cited Lamont, E.E. 1998. Status of Schizaea pusilla in New York, with notes on some early collections. Amer. Fern J. 88(4): 158-164. Stoutenburgh, P. 1981. Roy Latham’s footsteps. Focus on Nature. The Suffolk Times, February 5, 1981. http:// focusonnature.laserfiche.eom/WebLink8/0/doc/1785/Pagel. aspx (Accessed 3/14/15). Letter from Zu Proly Dear friends, 1/16/15 There are no words to express my appreciation for your reviving memories of the fabulous times spent with you atMuttontown or on trips. Just don’t try to predict your future \ cause in one year I went from “SPEEDY” to less than a “ SNAILS PACE”. There’s no accounting for it except with aging comes weakness, weakness. I truly got a kick out of LIBS’ honoring me and I’m thankful for the tales you remembered. There’s nothing better in old age, to sustain us, than stories that friends recall. I wish to thank you all for your deep dedication to the natural world. I think of you all with cherished memories. Very fondly, Zu Long Island Botanical Society Vol. 25 No. 2 Page 15 Field Trips Please Note: NEW FIELD TRIP POLICY is now in effect. As required by our insurance company, all field trip/outdoor activity participants must now sign a waiver of liability. Participating in a field trip or outdoor activity carries with it certain risks, and this agreement is necessary for the benefit of LIBS and participants. We appreciate your understanding. MAY 16, 2015 (SATURDAY) 9:30 AM Spring Ephemerals at Charles T. Church (Shu Swamp) Nature Preserve, Mill Neck, Nassau County, NY Trip leaders: Lois Lindberg & Tom Hornosky Email: lalindberg3@optonline.net SOME UPCOMING FIELD TRIPS Details to Be Published in July Saturday, Aug. 1 —North Fork Preserves, starting in Moore’s Woods The Charles T. Church Nature Preserve is more familiarly known as Shu Swamp. It is the jewel of several properties owned by the North Shore Wildlife Sanctuary, Inc., tracing its origins back to 1929. The small but beautiful Shu Swamp Preserve features freshwater wetlands fed by springs and seeps, as well as an upland oak/beech/tulip forest. Spring ephemeral wildflowers and ferns, as well as migrating birds, are plentiful on the wooded trails along Beaver Brook. The entrance is on Frost Mill Road south of the LIRR overpass. Directions: From Route 25A, take Route 106 north to Oyster Bay. Turn left onto Lexington Ave, then another left onto West Main St. Directly after Mill Pond (on your left), bear left to go uphill on Mill Hill Road. Turn right on Beaver Brook Road, which becomes Frost Mill Road. Shu Swamp is on the left, just before the railroad trestle. For GPS maps, “28 Frost Mill Rd.” will get you there. Otherwise you will be directed to the opposite side of the preserve. JUNE 20, 2015 (SATURDAY) 10:00 AM Novel Ecosystems at Froehlich Farms County Preserve, Huntington, Suffolk County, NY Trip leader: Marilyn Jordan The Froehlich Farm Preserve encompasses portions of what were once the Froehlich and Wicks Farms. Since the mid- 19th century, Wicks/Froehlich Farms were the site of potato fields. Now the abandoned land has grown up in a mix of mostly invasive plant species with some scattered native species - a novel ecosystem. We will walk trails cut through the thicket of shrubs and trees, and visit the organic gardens maintained by volunteers who donate produce to food banks. Can we find some of the native species identified in a LIBS survey of several years ago? What is the value of this novel ecosystem for nature and for people? Directions: We will meet at Wicks/Froehlich Farms County Park on the north side of West Rogues Path in Huntington, just west of Oakwood Rd. Park at the west end of the parking lot beyond the soccer fields and next to the playground. Saturday, August 1 5 —Alley Park, Queens October 24, 20 1 5 - Blydenburgh County Park, Smithtown Saturday, August 1 5 —Alley Pond Park, Queens Torrey Botanical Society Lectures: Once Upon a Time: Wily Nightshades and the Rebranding of Botany Tuesday, April 7, 2015 // 6:30 PM The Central Park Arsenal Speaker: Dr. Chris Martine, Bucknell University Ferns! Tuesday, May 5, 2015 // 6:30 PM The Central Park Arsenal Speaker: Dr. Eric Schuettpelz, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution If possible, please RSVP to rmcmackin@bbpnyc.org ♦> (Upcoming Programs cont. from back cover) June 9, 2015 Tuesday, 5:30 PM (please note early start time for the barbecue) Annual Barbecue: The annual barbecue, featuring Andy Greller’s made-to-order hot dogs and hamburgers. Salads, deviled eggs, desserts, etc. gladly accepted. The traditional location - on the green behind the Muttontown Preserve meeting house. Location: Bill Paterson Nature Center, Muttontown Preserve, East Norwich * Refreshments and informal talk begin at 7:30 p.m. Formal meeting starts at 8:00 p.m. Directions to Muttontown or Stony Brook: 516-354-6506 Long Island Botanical Society PO Box 507 Aquebogue, NY 11931 Page 16 Long Island Botanical Society Vol. 25 No. 2 Upcoming Programs April 14, 2015* Tuesday, 7:30 PM Maria Brown and Shreeya Panigrahi: “Bat Pol- lination Studies in Costa Rica.” (MB) and “Mul- tivariate Analysis of Soil pH, Forest Structure, and Human Disturbance in the Glacial Outwash Plain, Long Island, New York.” (SP) There will be a short presentation on Maria’s ongoing studies of pollination by bats in Costa Rica. Shreeya per- formed a study on the outwash plain at Sans Souci County Park in Sayville, to follow studies by Wherry (1923) and Greller et al (1990), regarding potential decreasing plant diversity resulting from increased soil acidity. Factors considered included the rela- tionship between canopy type (open vs. closed) and tree type (coniferous vs. deciduous) on soil pH, im- pacts of understory density, and effects of leaf lit- ter type (coniferous vs. deciduous). Maria Brown was a Professional Wetland Scientist for 12 years, and has taught at Sayville High School for the past 16 years. Shreeya Panigrahi is a senior at Sayville High School and will be graduating as the valedicto- rian of her class in June, 2015. Location: Earth and Space Science Building, Gil Hanson Room (Room 123), Stony Brook University, Stony Brook May 12, 2015* Tuesday, 7:30 PM Chris Kreussling: “The Flatbush Gardener.” He has gardened in NYC for over three decades and al- ways included native plants in his gardens. The talk will touch on the inspirations for the current garden, in- cluding the connection of the word “Flatbush” with the rest of Long Island, and the insect-plant associations that have been observed with increasing frequency. Also, his latest thinking about gardening, and ideas for the future. Chris specializes in urban gardening with native plants, starting with his first garden in NYC in 1981. His blog, Flatbush Gardener [http://flatbush- aardener.bloaspot.com/] . documents his gardening process. He received a Certificate in Horticulture from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and his garden has twice been on tour for NYC Wildflower Week. In his day job, Chris is a software engineer. Location: Bill Paterson Nature Center, Muttontown Preserve, East Norwich (continued inside on page 15 )