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My independent project will be about the breeding systems of three plant species: H. helianthoides, C. palmata, and E. pallida. I will do pollen crosses to see whether the styles of these species’ florets shrivel when successfully pollinated (the way styles do in E. angustifolia florets). I will also try to determine whether these species are self-incompatible. Here’s a draft of my proposal:
Project Proposal Draft.doc
The new website proposal can be found on a google doc page.
Proposal for Facebook section of New Media Initiative.docx
Here is a proposal for a Facebook page by Callin and Amber. I think we need a logo for the Echinacea Project.
It would also be cool to put a “like box” on the website and on the flog, so people can automatically become fans of The Echinacea Project without finding it on Facebook.
I found an idea for how to do this at this site:
http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like-box/
We went out to Hegg Lake for a plant-seeing adventure on Wednesday. Click the pictures to embiggen.
First of is some Onosmodium, a marbleseed.
A garter snake. Stuart knew the latin name but my memory isn’t that good.
Thistles can be pretty!
Penstemon grandiflorus, what are you doing here? You’re not native to this area!
Spiderwort, a Tradescantia. A nice find.
Dichanthelium is in flower! There’s quite a bit of it this year.
Polygala senega was on top of a hill.
Death camas (Zigadenus). Watch out.
Sisyrinchium. These are blue, unlike the white ones I’ve seen at Staffanson
Deer flies. These suckers hurt when they bite.
Stipa is in flower! You can see the parts pretty clearly here.
Interestingly, the diaspore is pretty much fully formed by the time pollination is happening. This makes sense, as it’s all maternal tissues apart from the seed itself. You can see it on Greg’s hand.
Hi everyone!
Another aspect of the New Media Initiative for Summer 2011 involves thinking about how the Flog fits in with the other forms of media we’ll be using (Facebook, Twitter, the website), and whether there are changes that would make the Flog more useful to readers. Here is our proposal (Written by Maria, Greg, and I):
New Media Initiative – Flog.doc
*We would like to give credit to Nicholas for some of the formatting and headings, which we copied 🙂
I was nervous when I entered the idyllic enclave of Kensington, MN. Here I was, after five days of driving from San Francisco, launching myself into a new place with new people, without knowing what to expect. I’m pleased to say that I am happy with my decision to join team Echinacea. On Monday, June 12th we began planting seedlings in Staffanson prairie reserve. This was part of a study on how burning plots affects the next generation of plants. Amazingly, we managed to finish the entire plot on Tuesday, thanks to the efficient cooperation of eleven people. Wednesday was too rainy for field work, so we spent the morning cleaning up and organizing our materials. After lunch we took a field trip to visit various sites and explore the flora therein (Josh snapped some wonderful pictures and will post them here soon). Over Thursday and Friday we completed seedling searches in three remnants: RI, KJ, and NESS. At each site we flagged a subset of Echinacea plants and pairs of team members searched for seedlings around each plant, mapping their results so we can find them again in the future.
This week has also brought a lot of discussion. Prominent items on the agenda were chores (someone has to keep the field station clean), summer research projects, and our new media initiative. In addition to helping out with ongoing field projects, each member of the team must tackle a research question–working in groups or individually, depending on their preferences. Project proposals should appear on the flog over the next few days. I’m excited to see what people come up with. We talked at length about how we can use various media sources (the flog, the website, facebook, Twitter) to enhance communication within the Echinacea Project and with a wider community. I never thought a field biology internship would include making a Twitter account, but now I’m convinced it’s a good idea. Check the flog for our plans and ideas.
Lastly, and most importantly, this weekend marks Kensington’s annual celebration of Runestone Day, which means Viking shiploads of small town fun. Last night we saw a fireworks show paired with a lightning storm (I’m not sure which was more impressive) and this morning several of us ran in the Kensington Runestone 5K. Stay tuned for pictures.
Cheers,
Katherine
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