Alley Creek Wetlands: A Floristic Quality Assessment

Friday, August 21, 2020

11 a.m.–12 p.m. | Online

The Alley Creek wetlands are located at the mouth of Little Neck Bay, in northeastern Queens, NY. Consisting of a tidal estuary bordered by marsh, meadows, ponds, wetland, and upland forests, this ecosystem hosts a considerable diversity of plant life. After years of neglect, this area is being slowly restored to its natural diverse habitat through ongoing projects. Inspired by the wealth of data and tools employed by the NYBG’s New York City EcoFlora, John Virzi and collaborators have produced a Floristic Quality Assessment of the Alley Creek Wetlands, quantitatively assessing the health of native plant life in light of the recent restoration efforts, and providing a methodological foundation for evaluating urban habitat conservation.

About the Speaker

John Virzi is a citizen scientist with the New York City EcoFlora Project. He has also conducted floristic field surveys in Central California and the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa.

He holds an AAS degree in Horticulture from Farmingdale State College and is an advocate for the use of native plants in garden design for the benefit of biodiversity. Mr. Virzi brings a data driven sensibility and approach to floristics that stems from his long career as an electronics engineer, during which time he developed a quality metric to guide the procurement and reuse of silicon intellectual property. He also holds BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering.

Support for the Humanities Institute provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

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