While surveying Robson Valley, Dr. Curtis Bjork and team had initially selected a small area that they thought was known. There has been multiple researches done on the flora of this valley in the past. They chose this area knowing this – the intention was to add to the research already done. “One should always keep an open mind when looking at the flora in a region”, says Dr. Curtis Bjork. If they had a narrow mindset, I think all the plants that they would have looked for would have been familiar ones, or would have been made to fit into familiar categories.

Keeping an open mind, they chose unusual and hard-to access habitats, which helped them find unusual flora. Exploring a puddle forest, they found specialist vegetation, that included new species of flora. Near waterfalls, numerous bryophytes and lichens were found – that have not been found anywhere else. They found a unique structure where the cottonwood exuded nutrients from its leaves, and because of the placement of conifers below, it helped in the growth of different species of mosses and fungus on these plants. (A structure I didn’t know exists before) Although finding this flora in these places makes sense in retrospect, I would not have expected to find so many new species in habitats such as a waterfall – a habitat I have worked in. They found a total of 2343 flora species. They also looked for flora in unsuspecting areas – such as on the trail, while they were walking to their intended destination. This was impressive to me, because people usually have one area in mind and forget that other areas can also give them results.

Among the species found are new, threatened and endangered ones. Some species that have been seen only in tropical countries were found, such as Trentepholoid. Cyanolichens are sensitive to pH and don’t survive air pollution. What I found interesting was that these species can help compare the abiotic factors of the environment to that in other spaces. These species wouldn’t grow in a lot of places in Europe, so it shows that the air in this area is cleaner.

To answer the question about how so many species are found in such a location, he spoke about how species survive under ice for much longer.

This research tells me that an area thought of as “well known” has a lot more to offer than documented.  This questions the  notion that biodiversity is found in tropical countries and not so much in temperate ones. I connect this aspect to my research on green buildings – and how something obvious such as the definition of green buildings should not be assumed as “well known” but the varying definitions in different areas should be documented. I would ask a question about the next most important research that the speaker thinks can be done, now that this data has been found, and whether this area can be protected to a greater extent, with this data available.