Members of team Echinacea went back to Minnesota to do some final field work and winterization of our field station. We had fantastic weather for field work but northerly winds brought chilly temps by the end of the week and reminded us that winter is near . Here are some updates from all we got done these past few days!
Seed Add
We added seeds to 84 experimental transects at 36 sites for our seed addition experiment, which measures the effects of prescribed fire on seedling germination and emergence in Echinacea. We made quick work and were able to get this done in just 1 day plus an extra morning!
Here is Wyatt sprinkling E. angustifolia achenes along our seed addition transects.
Prescribed Burning and Broadcasting Seed
We got two solid days of good burn weather– more than any of us predicted! Over this window we burned six units, including the production plot, a few oak litter areas, Jean’s prairie garden, and the southeast hill. After all this burning, we broadcasted native seed collected by the team this summer. We’re excited to see what happens in these units next year!
Jean’s prairie garden burned in ~5 minutes
Jared gets our 1st burn started
Wyatt broadcasts seed into this freshly burned unit
Return Achenes to Remnants
Every summer we harvest a subset of Echinacea heads from remnant sites to assess fitness. In order to ensure that we are not disrupting these populations, we later return the achenes to their maternal plants in a way that mimics natural dispersal. On this trip, we visited many small sites, where this process is essential as well as a few bigger ones.
Woody Encroachment Pilot
I tested out methods for my research project looking at the effects of Sumac encroachment on Echinacea fitness and mortality. I collected height and spatial location information on Sumac plants in order to quantify encroachment. In an encroached site like Tower, this process was no walk in the park…
Here I am staking to one of my random points
Post- Summer Sleuthing
When mistakes during summer data collection happen, it takes some investigating to figure out where we went wrong. On this trip, we revisited plants with issues from demographic data collection AND we found a P02 plant that was never harvested during the summer!
It’s autumn at Chicago Botanic Garden! Geese fly south overhead, the trees are ablaze, goldenrod has gone to seed, and there was even a dusting of snow on the ground this morning (which made for a treacherous bike ride along the Green Bay Trail).
But there are also many other signs within the Population Biology lab that will tell you fall is in the air. All of our heads from 2023 are done drying and we have just begun to inventory our harvest.
Here is Wyatt, pulling out the very first bag for 2023 inventory.
How else do we know it’s fall? We are gathering seeds and datasheets in preparation for a final return to Minnesota. We put these seeds out in experimental plots/transects or remnants “as late as possible, but not to late”. Ian is entering the last of the data from pollen and nectar collection this summer and it feels like forever ago. And when 4pm hits, the sun shines though the atrium and fills our lab with natural light. This doesn’t happen very often, but it’s a treat when it does.
Maybe it is all these tell-tale signs from the Echinacea Project that told the wild geese- “It was time to go”.
Here in the lab at the Garden I’ve settled, In demap and on ACE, oh boy, have I meddled. New faces I’ve seen, Not to mention achenes And all through the trails I have pedaled.
The foliage here is quite a delight, And from the Metra the city looks bright. But Minnesota’s fire Is my heart’s true desire, The prescription to better my plight.
This past week, Team Echinacea volunteer, Allen, hit a milestone of 1 million achenes counted. That’s a lot of achenes! This achievement has led to his promotion to Chief Echinacea Officer, a highly esteemed role. Thanks for all your hard work, Allen!
A top hat is a must for any CEO Mid-morning achene cupcake snack
This lore I tell may be known by few, But the puzzle is truer than true. I’ve set out on my quest, To resolve this strange jest, With determination, I’ll find what’s askew!
At landfill prairie I roamed with dread The mystery swirled round in my head At last, like a flag, A twenty-nine tag! I grabbed it and onward I fled.
The field has been a wonderful friend But my time here has come to an end With joy I confess, I’ve fixed up this mess, Leaving others no doubt still to mend.
It’s an exciting time to be a demographer with the Echinacea Project… We are 69.3% done with total demo! We’ll start today with a team effort to knock out Landfill, which is one of our last big sites! Stay tuned to see how much progress we make!
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