Isoetes ×blondeaui hyb. nov. (Isoetaceae), a new hybrid quillwort from eastern Quebec, Canada

Botany ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (10) ◽  
pp. 555-562
Author(s):  
D.F. Brunton ◽  
P.C. Sokoloff

The hybrid between diploid Isoetes echinospora and tetraploid I. laurentiana is reported from six sites along the St. Lawrence River near Quebec City. Morphological characteristics and distinguishing features are identified, and the binomial I. ×blondeaui, hyb. nov. is proposed. All occurrences are in biogeographically significant freshwater tidal marsh habitat. The hybrid is expected to occur in small numbers within most large I. laurentiana populations.

Botany ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (11) ◽  
pp. 571-583 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.F. Brunton ◽  
P.C. Sokoloff ◽  
J.F. Bolin ◽  
D.F. Fraser

Morphological, phytogeographic, ecological, preliminary genetic, and C-value evidence indicates that populations of Isoetes confined to freshwater tidal marsh habitats along the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, represent an undescribed endemic species, proposed here as Isoetes laurentiana sp. nov. The combination of short velum coverage (ca. 10%) over a plain (unstreaked) sporangium, broad (ca. 1.0 mm) erect leaves, small megaspores (ca. 459 μm) with more densely convoluted-reticulate, almost echinate ornamentation, and its occurrence within an exceptional habitat, readily distinguish I. laurentiana from I. tuckermanii A.Braun with which it was formerly combined. Isoetes laurentiana is one of a series of endemic taxa of the floristically extraordinary St. Lawrence River estuary. Some populations of I. laurentiana are immense; in cultivation it demonstrates the capacity for prolific production of new individuals, which is presumably necessary to sustain such local abundance. Isoetes laurentiana is of national and global phytogeographic significance, but is not considered to represent a species at risk according to standards from the International Union for Conservation of Nature.


2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 757-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Houle ◽  
Jean-David Moore ◽  
Jean Provencher

Abstract Temperature reconstruction of the last thousand years suggests that an unprecedented warming (+0.6°C) occurred over the globe in the last century. However, regional variations in climate are not resolved by Northern Hemisphere reconstructions. In northeastern North America, past climate and, particularly, past winter variations are poorly known. Here, the authors report on the variation of a winter temperature index during the 1620–1910 period, based on the ice bridge formation (IBF) rate on the Saint Lawrence River at Québec City (Canada), combined with instrumental data (1876–2000). During this 300-yr period, the IBF rate shows that winters in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were warmer than those in the nineteenth century. In particular, the IBF rate suggests that winter severity culminated in the 1850–1900 period, while very few ice bridges were reported between 1620 and 1740, presumably because of warmer temperatures and the relative scarcity of historical documents for the 1680–1740 period. These data suggest that winter temperature, particularly between ∼1800 and 1910, was 2.4° to 4.0°C colder than the last 30-yr average. Major volcanic eruptions had a significant positive impact on IBF rates, which is consistent with their role as important climate-forcing events.


1993 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 415-432
Author(s):  
C. Barbeau ◽  
J.-B. Sérodes ◽  
M. Paquet

Abstract The St. Lawrence River exports important loads of contaminants to the estuary, but good estimates of annual loadings are presently not available. During two years (1989–91), discrete and composite samples were taken on a daily basis at the water intake of the drinking water treatment plant of Lévis in front of Québec City. Our data indicate that discrete samples are representative of the bulk of the water and that magnesium or calcium measurements provide valuable information on the species transported to the estuary in the dissolved phase. Any decrease in magnesium concentrations at Lévis is the result of relative flow increases from the tributaries of the river. Using high flow episodes in tributaries and daily magnesium measurements at Lévis, the time of transport of the dissolved phase from many sources along the river has been evaluated. At high flow, the time of transport from the Carillon Dam (on the Ottawa River) to Lévis is 11 days, while it is 8 days from Beauharnois. With these data, a predictive model using magnesium (or calcium) as the chemical parameter characterizing the dissolved phase of the St. Lawrence River at the mouth of the estuary was developed. Loadings to the estuary of any dissolved contaminant can now be estimated by combining daily calculated flow values with daily measured water composition at Levis.


2009 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Van Damme ◽  
Dehairs Frank ◽  
Tackx Micky ◽  
Beauchard Olivier ◽  
Struyf Eric ◽  
...  

1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Euan D Reavie ◽  
John P Smol

Epilithic diatoms were sampled at 48 sites along the St. Lawrence River, from Salaberry de Valleyfield to Québec City, in an attempt to determine how diatom assemblages were related to measured water quality variables. Canonical correspondence analysis was used to explore the relationships between environmental variables and patterns in the epilithic diatom assemblages. "Distance downstream from Cornwall" was determined to be the strongest variable influencing the structure of epilithic diatom assemblages, likely due to the effect of tides (favouring aerophilic species) closer to the river outlet. Variables related to pollution (suspended solids, fecal coliforms, chlorophyll a) also explained significant (P < 0.05) amounts of variance in the diatom assemblages. The optima of common diatom species to suspended solids were explored further. Reconstructive models using weighted-averaging calibration and regression illustrated that "distance from Cornwall" and concentrations of suspended solids, fecal coliforms, and chlorophyll a, the most influential variables, could be inferred from the diatom assemblages. When compared with the inference models developed for pollution variables using epiphytic diatom assemblages (attached to macrophytes or Cladophora), the epilithon model appears to perform better.Key words: diatoms, rocks, epilithic, St. Lawrence River, water quality, calibration.


1973 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1380-1396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno F. d'Anglejan ◽  
Eric C. Smith

The distribution of total suspended matter in the estuary of the St. Lawrence River was studied by quantitative filtration through membrane filters. Tidal fluctuations in the vertical gradients of suspensoids were followed at fixed stations along the estuary. The concentrations varied from nearly 40 mg/1 below near Ile d'Orléans, to values less than 1 mg/1 at the downstream end of the upper estuary near the Saguenay River entrance. The tidal mean concentrations for the fixed stations ranged from 20 mg/1 to 2 mg/1. A turbidity maximum, which develops because of entrapments of particles by the tidal circulation, extends for 100 km below Quebec City. In this zone large vertical gradients changing in intensity with the tide by resuspension of settled material exist above the bottom. The total suspended matter is 60% to more than 90% inorganic by weight, and has a mean particle size between 5 and 7 μ. The annual rate of transport of suspended material out of the upper estuary at a section near the Saguenay River is estimated at less than 1 × 106 metric tons.Chemical and mineralogical analyses were performed on 23 suspensoid samples collected by centrifuging large volumes of water. The clay mineral composition of the less than 2 μ fraction is on the average 1.5% montmorillonite, 8% kaolinite, 31% chlorite, and 60% illite. However, large time and space variations are found both in the chemistry and mineralogy of the suspended matter.


2011 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Fradet ◽  
Martin Pleau ◽  
Christiane Marcoux

After the construction of its wastewater treatment plants, the City of Quebec began to implement overflow control in wet weather to ultimately meet the effluent discharge objectives, i.e. no more than two overflows per summer season in the St. Lawrence River and no more than four in the St-Charles River. After several years of studies to determine which management strategies would best suit the purpose, and to propose optimum solutions, a first project to implement optimal and predictive management in real time, called « Pilot », came to life in 1999. Construction in phases soon followed and the work was completed in the fall of 2009. As a result, requirements with regard to environmental rejects were met in two sectors, namely the St-Charles River and the Jacques-Cartier Beach, and aquatic recreational activities could resume. Meanwhile, the City also worked at giving back access to the water courses to the public by developing sites at the Jacques-Cartier Beach and in the Bay of Beauport, and by rehabilitating the banks of the St-Charles River.


1948 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. S. Borkhsenius

The determination of mealybugs closely related to Pseudococcus comstocki (Kuw.) has presented considerable difficulty in the past. Green (1921, p. 189) and Hough (1925, p. 52 and 1925a, p. 13) have given details of the distinguishing features for P. comstocki (Kuw.) and P. maritimus (Ehrh.) but the grounds given for the separation of the former from other closely related species are not fully satisfactory. The representatives of this group of mealybugs are becoming more and more widely spread throughout the world and of greater economic importance yearly. A correct designation of these insects is, therefore, of particular importance not only from the point of view of quarantine legislation but also of control measures. Research work on the morphological characteristics of species closely related to Pseudococcus comstocki (Kuw.) has been carried out on very large quantities of material from different parts of the world.


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