Organisms Limited to Extremely Small Areas
From time to time on the TV show Bones, the plot will involve an organism that is only found in one very specific habitat, such as one particular swamp or forest. Conveniently, those habitats are always in the D.C. Metro area.
I’m curious: are there any organisms whose habitats are extremely small? For example, a species of fish that is only found in one particular lake, or a species of moss that grows in only one particular grove?
In the excellent series Planet Earth, namely the Cave episode, there are crabs and fish that can only be found in one particular cave, including one kind of shrimp (I think) that lives in cave waterfalls.
The Venus flytrap is “native only to the coastal plain of southeastern North Carolina and extreme northeastern South Carolina in a roughly 100 mile radius from Wilmington.”
The hot springs at Banff National Park in Canada have spawned their own little ecosystems, and creatures that do not exist anywhere else. The Banff Springs Snail is one such. From the Wiki link:
I’ve been to Banff many times, and have seen the snails. There are signs around their pools telling visitors not to disturb the water–not even touching it–because of the snails. Sadly, not every visitor heeds them.
The Banff longnose dace is another creature (a fish) that had its own little ecosystem at Banff, but it has been declared extinct:
Another CP, the Cobra Lily, Darlingtonia californica, grows only in extreme Northern California and Southern Oregon.
Wow. Living in Central Texas, I thought that every region had a local endangered animal that had an impact on how and where buildings were built.
In Austin, the Barton Springs Salamander is only found in Barton Springs, a swimming hole in a city park, and in a few springs within feet of the main pool. All of the land from Austin to San Antonio sits atop an underground aquifer though, and the endangered status of the salamander has influenced development over hundreds of square miles where groundwater recharges the springs.
The same thing has happened in San Marcos. The San Marcos Salamander is only found in Spring Lake, at the headwaters of the San Marcos River.
There was some controversy a few years back when a Barton Springs Salamander was found in Spring Lake. It appears that the salamanders travel underground in the Edwards Aquifer, but they are only found at the springs.
The Houston Toad is another. It origianlly was found in twelve counties in Texas, and possibly from Bastrop to Houston. It has been in decline since the 1950s and is now found in only nine counties. There is only one area reserved for breeding, a state park in Bastrop County. Construction in Bastrop County is somewhat restricted, and there is a “toad tax”, where landowners have to pay a one time fee to build in the toad’s habitat.
The Comanche Springs Pupfish is only found in Balmoreah Springs, in West Texas, and in the waters immediately downstream.
I’m glad you mentioned the pupfish or else I would have been completely straining my brain for the rest of the night trying to remember the Devil’s Hole pupfish. There’s only about 40 individuals left in a geothermal spring with a surface opening of 6 feet by 18 feet (although 300 feet deep). I remember this species in particular because there was a well documented fiasco where the scientific equipment monitoring the pupfish got washed off a ledge during a storm and completely fucked up the habitat, causing a severe population collapse of the already endangered species.
Heh, Carnivorous Plant, you are actually living up to your name.
There are 40m high trees growing near me called the Wollemi Pine. The total known population is fewer than 100 adult trees in a couple of well shaded sandstone gorges. They were only discovered about 10 years ago.
How about triops? These critters tend to live in seasonal mud-puddles. AFAIK, they aren’t particularly rare in some areas and you can buy kits off the 'net to grow them but in any given place there will probably only be a few spots where they live.
As an OBTW, we found some in Saudi in a mud hole that only gets filled every second or third year. Strange little dinosaur beasties.
Regards
Testy
There is a species of Mammillaria cactus (M luethyi) that occurs on a very small area in Mexico. The actual site is not disclosed in order to protect the habitat and plants. There are species of Lithops (example: Lithops werneri) that are found in areas that don’t exceed 1 acre in size. I have had more in my collection than occurred in the wild.
As far as habitat restriction, consider the mite that only lives in the follicles of your eyelashes and eyebrows.
Bye!
There’s a species of tree that has recently been defined, albeit a hybrid, that grows in the Isle of Arran in Scotland of which there are only two known specimens.