Abby Widell « The Echinacea Project

It’s a Great Day to be Halfway Done with Total Demo!

We made excellent progress with total demo this week! Just check out our total demo-meter! It’s filling up quickly! Hooray and happy Friday to all!

Extra Extra Read All About It- P1 Done!

This Just in- After a lengthy stint of measuring in P1, Team Echinacea finally completed all rows on the morning of Tuesday, August 8th. Hoots and hollers rang out near Tower Rd. at approximately 11:30 am.
“I’m happy to be done,” said Janice Anderson, member of Team Echinacea. “We don’t need to drag on it too much, but I’m ready to put it behind me and move on with my life. I wish P1 the best,” they added. Luke Settles agrees. “Where some see an end, I see a beginning.”

Wyatt Mosiman, who made a valiant effort in measuring and contributed much speed and determination to the project, echoes the general excitement of finishing. However when asked to comment, her only remarks were “Ouch, my knee”.

Team Echinacea would like to thank some P1 regulars that aided in the process, such as the giant field spider, the giant katydid with “face hands” and the tiny frog that found a home on Mosiman’s hat.

Abby Widell, another member of Team Echinacea is excited to be done, but maintains a solemn understanding that there is still work to be done. “We’ll see you soon, P1”.

Introducing Total Demo-meter

Friday was our first true day of total demo! After thorough instruction and review, Team Echinacea was off to the races as we PGORY’d our way through our first few sites! Already 6.9% done!

Hello Microhabitats, Good Morning P2, So Long Victoria

It was a busy morning here at the Station
I barely had time to comb through Victoria’s Donations
A little past 11 I drove her to Perkin’s
Where much to my sadness the Groom Shuttle was lurkin’
We will miss you, Victoria, a whole heck of a lot
More than all the plants missing in our P2 plot

Lonely visor seeks loving, careful, accurate data collector

Moiduh in P6

This morning in P6, a murder occurred. The victim? A (likely) hybrid between Echinacea pallida and angustifolia. It flowered for the first time ever and Lindsey quickly decapitated it after taking data.

Top: Lindsey and her latest victim. Bottom: Echinacea angustillida (unofficially named). The pollen color is right in between that of a pallida and angustifolia plant.

The case of the duplicate datasheets and arrival of the goats

Much hubub around Hjelm this morning. After a mishap with some duplicate datasheets, members of team echinacea put on their thinking caps to resolve some pollen and nectar mysteries. Using clues like handwriting, date, parsimonious location in tube stands, we put this case to rest. And we won’t get fooled again.

The goats also arrived over the weekend. I can’t help but wonder if they had anything to do with this….

Echinacea Stomp

On Kensington gravel roads the cars did yield

As they watched team echinacea move through the field

Knees high with measured steps, “Maybe they are dancing?”

Heads on a swivel with eyes alert, “Where are they Glancing?”

This way of walking may look funny

But you wouldn’t want to squash the plants now would you honey?

I call this walk the Echinacea Stomp

It helps us tread lightly on the prairies where we romp

It’s role in our practice in positively necessary

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not work in a cemetery

all ABoutT ABTs

Today members of Team Echinacea shared some preliminary ABTs for their summer research! Today we heard from Victoria!

Victoria is going to design lesson plans for her co-taught 9th grade biology classes. They are designed to support her students in lab based learning. She hopes to lower the barrier for underrepresented students engagment in science practices!

Thinking like an echinacea: a foolproof guide to finding seedlings

I spent the day searching for echinacea seedlings in our seed addition transects. With the help of Lindsey and advice from other seasoned experts, I have complied a list of tips and tricks that will lead to highly accurate data collection.

DO:

Upon arrival at a segment, announce yourself to the echinacea. Why have you come here and what are you doing?

Consider making an offering. Perhaps an invitation to collaborate in future studies, or the opportunity to review any relevant manuscripts.

Be gentle when combing through their home. Clumsy fingers lead to broken echinacea and broken hearts.

Of course, search actively! Change your angles and consider the topography. But also, let the echinacea find you.

Never stab your toothpick into an echinacea root. I think this needs no explanation.

Before your final sweep, verbally announce that you are done looking. This will most likely lead to the instant detection of one more plant. We can’t explain it, but it happens.

Say your goodbyes before heading off. Offer words of encouragement to the seedlings as they, too, have a long summer ahead.

Soils and Storms

Today we were visited by Dr. Matt Kaproth, who came up from Minnesota State University Mankato! He is interested in investigating soil properties in our ENRTF pollination study, and we will hopefully see more of him this summer as he samples our sites!

The weather quickly turned stormy, so the team is now stationed at Hjelm, glued to our weather apps.

^{“Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources
Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources
(LCCMR).”}

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