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The usual activites of Team Echinacea (or at least for the non-locals) on a Sunday are driving in to Alex to do laundry and get groceries for the week. Most of us did that today, but Lea and I also had a special errand to run: Menard’s. We needed to pick up some quadrat-building material. We are beginning a new project this week that has been in planning for some time. We have selected 100 Echinacea plants that have flowered either in 2014, 2015, or 2016, and also have seed set data associated with them at least one of those years. Then, we are going to stake to those plants and do vegetation surveys in a 2 meter by 2 meter quadrat around them. Our goal is to assess whether the diversity surrounding an Echinacea benefits its reproductive fitness. More to come later!
So, Lea and I met at Menard’s to pick out some nice PVC pipe and corner fittings. We got the PVC pipe cut to 2 meter pieces so that everything could fit in our cars. Assembly will take place soon, once we start working in the field! There are some plants at Staffanson first up on our list; I’m sure there will be some exciting species surrounding them.
It was a pretty productive Sunday. Also, here is an update on how dirty my car has become over the last couple weeks:
 Tracie’s car and some advertisement.
Today we found plants, measured plants, counted plants, identified plants, pollinated plants, painted plants, examined plants, surveyed plants, and added aphids to plants. A usual day for Team Echinacea. I started out my morning at Lea’s roadside plots to get the weekly update on floral resources. Most of the plants I came across were non-natives, but there was one flowering monarda at one plot and some solidagos at another.
 Flower fly and a Solidago canadensis.
Later in the morning we started total demo at Steven’s Approach. The percentage complete might indicate the steep learning curve most of us are discovering. I’m sure we will get faster with practice.
After lunch we headed out to p1 to measure the 99 garden. It didn’t take too long, and then we had more individual project time! Gretel helped me identify a few plants I was unsure of, and I got the maps for phenology ready for tomorrow. Alex worked on his pollinator identification, Wes and Anna worked on aphids, Ashley entered data from her time at Nice Island today, and Stuart and Will prepared for total demo. A good Tuesday.
 Wes, Blue, Gretel, Anna, and Ashley working in the Hjelm House.
Another fun phenology Monday! We got a lot done this morning. The time it takes to get phenology finished has decreased as we have all gotten more efficient and many of the Echinacea are done flowering. Ashley and Gretel did p2, Wes did the Nessman/Aanenson route, Anna and Alex took Staffanson, and Will and I took the Around Landfill route. I was excited because my route today includes my favorite plant. It’s in the northwest corner of East Elk Lake Road.
One of the heads on my favorite plant. First day flowering at East Elk Lake Road.
After finishing up phenology Will and I GPSed plants at the rest of the phenology remnant sites. As of now, all plants in the phenology dataset should have a matching location! We had a couple extra minutes before lunch, so we ventured into an island within a corn field near Stevens Approach. We found a lot of cool plants there, including some swamp milkweed.
 Swamp milkweed, a very beautiful milkweed.
After lunch we headed out to do flowering demography at Loefflers Corner West. I liked being at a new site and seeing some new plants there.
Anna, Will, and Gretel flagging and entering data on flowering plants at Loefflers Corner West.
See you tomorrow, flog!
The Andes crew spent another Sunday doing laundry, grocery shopping, and preparing for the week, so I’m going to take today’s flog to talk about the trip to Minneapolis that Ashley, Alex, and I took yesterday.
Besides eating delicious Vietnamese food for lunch and tacos for dinner, the highlight of the day was going to the Walker Art Center. We started out in the garden and saw the iconic Hahn/Cock by Katharina Fritsch, along with some other great sculptures by Jim Hodges and Theaster Gates.
Hahn/Cock by Katharina Fritsch at the Walker Art Center Not forgetting our ecology side, we did notice some bird’s foot trefoil in the meadow restoration along the footpaths (though we resisted the urge to dig it out) and we couldn’t help but check how far along some of the flowering Echinacea varieties were as we walked from place to place.
We spent a lot of time in the galleries, featuring Jimmie Durham, Katharina Fritsch, and videos of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. One exhibit by teamLab involved building up an ecosystem by coloring in templates of different organisms. Then we scanned these drawings and they came to life as video projections moving about in a colorful space.
My colored-in bird for the teamLab interactive exhibit at the Walker Art Center The video projection bird flying free!
Team Echinacea worked a half day this morning, with most of us working on our individual projects. Then we headed back to Andes to gear up for an afternoon celebrating July 4th. We got our bathing suits on, finished up our potluck items, and headed over to Elk Lake.
It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon, and we had a lot of tasty food. At least half of the picnic table was covered in desserts. Following tradition, the Declaration of Independence had to be read, with each of us taking turns. There was a small debate about whether this should happen before or after eating, but that decision-making was pretty easy.
Eventually the heat got to us and we took the canoes out. Some splashing battles between the Wes-Ashley canoe and the Alex-Anna-Tracie canoe ensued. A few close calls, but no one fell in. After that, we spent the rest of our time swimming, hanging out, and watching Blue eat watermelon rinds.
The Andes crew is planning to climb up the nearby hill to watch some fireworks from the surrounding towns tonight. Should be an exciting ending to our day.
Everyone gathering around for a July 4th lunch at Elk Lake. Lemon squares, fruit pizza, brownies, peach-plum pie, and oreo-peanut butter pie. Lea, Will, Stuart, Per, Gretel, and Alex enjoying some food.
Today was a busy day for the Andes folks. Some of us started the morning off doing laundry, picking up groceries, and working on proposals in the coffee shop in Alex.
Ashley working on her proposal.
A lot of cool experiment-planning going on for Ashley’s project on style persistence.
Ashley’s drawings for hand-pollination of Echinacea heads.
There were also many dirt bike races going on all day at Andes, making for a loud afternoon in the condo.
Dirt biking from our window.
But, Wes came back from St. Olaf with quiche for dinner!
 Delicious quiche made by Wes.
AND cookies!
Delicious cookies made by Wes.
Some of us were quite sleepy by the end of the day.
Bellamy being cute and sleepy.
Today was the third day in the field for Team Echinacea 2017. We all started out in P1, where we split up and did various tasks. Alex and Ashley took on the riskiest task and weeded some invasive bird’s foot trefoil around the plot that was among some poison ivy. Will, Lea, Wes, and I got the 10-meter signs and flag markers up and organized. Stuart and Anna started taking on the invasive hawkweed that has been getting into the plot and spreading, and eventually all of us were wrestling with it. The hawkweed has some incredible rhizomes that spread around to nets and nets of rosettes. Will and I found an estimated 45% hawkweed cover in one part of the plot. Here are some of the comments you might have heard from all of us while trying to get these out of the ground:
“Anytime you think you’ve found them all, you haven’t.”
“You will be champion of the longest rhizome!”
“I think I am becoming allergic to hawkweed.”
Weeding was fun, but I think we were all ready for lunch when it came around. At lunch we talked about doing a yellow pan trap experiment this year to catch and identify bees and see how their abundance and diversity relates to surrounding vegetation. Lea also gave an intro to her experiment for the summer, and we talked about potential REU projects.
After lunch we headed over to P8 and started learning how to collect data on the Echinacea growing there. Returners helped the newcomers start to get a hang of navigating the plot site, collecting data on visors, and finding and measuring Echinacea. We finished the day with a watermelon on the porch.
It was a great week. I’m excited for more.
Tracie
Lea, Gretel, and Ashley in P8.
Echinacea Project 2017
Biology B.S. & Studio Art B.A., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2017
Research Interests
My general ecological interests involve macroecology and biogeography. I am fascinated by patterns that can be discovered across large geographic scales or over long time periods. With the changing climate I have become interested in how temperature can affect the phenologies of plant and animal species. In my time with Team Echinacea I hope to study prairie plant phenology, plant-pollinator interactions, and the effect of prairie fragment size on community characteristics.
Statement
I am from Charlotte, North Carolina, a day trip away from either the beach or the mountains. I am constantly making art, whether it is weaving, painting, or woodworking. I also love hiking, birding, collecting rocks, and eating sushi. I am excited to join Team Echinacea and experience a new ecosystem!
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