Hotwater physa (Physella wrighti) COSEWIC assessment and upate status report: chapter 9
Special Significance of the Species
Physella wrighti is the only known endemic aquatic snail in B.C. It is one of several locally endemic or rare plants and animals that are associated with the consistently warm lotic and lentic habitats afforded by the Liard Hotsprings system in LRHPP, including the Plains Forktail Damselfly (Ischnura damula), mayfly (Caenis youngi), a distinct population of the Lake Chub (Couesius plumbeus), Hudson Bay Sedge (Carex heleonastes), Tender Sedge (Carex tenera), White Adder’s-Mouth Orchid (Malaxis brachypoda), and Yukon Lupine (Lupinis kuschei). In particular, the Hotwater Physa and a physically isolated and thermally adapted population of the Lake Chub share habitat in the hotspring complex (Heron 2007).Physella wrighti is an indicator that this relatively warm northern ecosystem continues to provide appropriate habitat for unique components of the aquatic fauna in spite of development and continued human use. Hot water species are of significant scientific interest because they might have arisen from marginal populations that possess a gene pool more readily able to adapt or acclimate to changing conditions than can congeneric species (Scudder 1989). The species is not known to have any traditional First Nations uses.
Page details
- Date modified: