Monday morning we started out by doing our phenology routes, I was in the northwest/landfill group with Wesley and Allie. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing in the wrong direction and it made for a stinky morning at landfill! The morning was the fastest morning of phenology yet, we were all back and finished well before lunch. The reason it was so fast was because so many plants were done flowering so we didn’t have to check them. Last Friday we did independent estimates of how many heads we thought were going to be excluded from our routes as of Monday morning. Alex won with an estimate of 521, only 2 off from the correct answer of 519 heads!
Our afternoon consisted of working on independent projects. For me, this meant heading out with Kennedy to P2 to asses style persistence and dust more echinacea for Team Dust. While we were there we saw lots of different critters, ranging from a robber fly (if you haven’t seen one, just know that you don’t want this fly to bite you) to a gopher. The gopher didn’t seem to notice that we were there, it came right up to us! As a future gopher, I was very excited to see my mascot in the field.
Since there was still more time in the afternoon, we went back to Hjelm to see what we could help with. I went out with Wesley to search for liatris in remnants for his independent project assessing liatris and butterflies in the remnants. Some sites didn’t seem to have any, but others were promising! At the end of the day Wesley and I helped Allie with the aphid project and we searched for aphids and looked at different echinacea plants in P1. While we were successful in finishing assessing all of plants, none of us found any aphids. Once we did our chores, we were able to head out for the day and get ready for Tuesday!
The first picture was taken at aa after lunch at 1:38 pm in the NE map section. It is of a small spider and there were also webs around the rays of the echinacea.
The second picture is from Nessman and is of a small, green and clear flying bug. It was taken at 2:33 pm.
The third picture was taken at Steven’s Approach this morning at 10:18 am. It is of a small, white fly on the head of the echinacea.
Friday morning started with the whole team doing our first full round of phenology. I headed out with Mia to a couple of sites, we managed to find lots of new flowers and do phenology on multiple sites. At North of Golf Course, we managed to find so many new flowers that there are now 5x as many heads at the location as before! At East Elk Lake Rd, Mia and I set up some filters for Team Dust. The filters are measuring how much dust is deposited at multiple locations at different distances from the gravel road.
After lunch Mia, Laura, Kennedy, Wesley, John, and I went out to finish flagging experimental plot 2. I can proudly say that we finished flagging and the plot is completely ready! Kennedy had the highlight of her life occur while out of P2, she almost dropped her water bottle while taking a drink but made an amazing save!
Since we finished flagging before the afternoon was over, each of us split up to help others with other work that needed to be done. I went out with Jared and helped him count Stipa at Landfill. We did not expect just how many plants were at the locations we were searching at, it took a while longer than expected. Once we finished we went back to Hjelm for a little watermelon treat and some good conversation.
Glad to have had a second successful week! Catch you later,
This morning a crew of us went out to search for Stipa, otherwise known as Porcupine Grass, in experimental plot #1. After practicing our skills together, we paired up and went searching. Each group found quite a few plants, some big and some small. Today Stuart found the biggest plant with 27 culms! Kennedy and I found many critters while searching for Stipa, including a caterpillar, a gopher, and a moth which was extremely photo shy. When I tried to take a picture of him, he decided it was better to fly into my face. Overall, it was a great morning to be out searching for Stipa!
Stipa!
Kennedy searching for some stipa…
After lunch a large group of us went out to take demos at a few sites. We started at Loeffler’s Corner and finished taking demos. I don’t know exactly how many there were, but there were plenty, believe me! My favorite part was that some had started to produce pollen and had gained their signature purple color. Then we finished demos at Railroad Crossing and Riley. Riley had my favorite flowers of the day, don’t they look so pretty?
Laura and Alex hard at work!
Once we got back, we put our equipment away and went home to prepare for a hot day tomorrow, hopefully we will stay cool!
Biochemistry, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities 2025
Graduated from Alexandria Area High School in 2021
Research Interests
I am interested in learning how research works and gaining an introduction into professional and college level research. This summer I am interested in studying how organisms and plants genetically change through generations, but in the future I would like to study much more so I can gain a better understanding of the world. My favorite classes have always been science classes so I am hoping to be able to apply what I learned in the classroom to real research!
Statement
I am from Alexandria, Minnesota. In my spare time I like to nordic ski, exercise, read books, play my violin, sew, spend time with my dogs, and be on the lake.
