Lea Richardson died on Friday April 3rd due to complications from melanoma. She was surrounded by friends and family in a hospital in California.
Lea joined Team Echinacea in June 2015 when she participated in a Research Experience for Teachers internship at our field site in Minnesota. It was a bold move for a teacher from Los Angeles public schools to try out research in rural Minnesota. She loved working with the team and developed a passion for fieldwork. She also relished fun times like swimming at the lake after work and adventures with the team. Lea liked it so much she stayed longer than she planned that summer and returned the next summer.
Lea joined the Ph.D. program in Plant Biology and Conservation at Northwestern University and conducted research at our field site in Minnesota. Lea was a valued member of the department and looked out for those excluded from opportunities and advancement in science. She was a stellar student earning many academic honors.
Lea was an accomplished teacher and believed in the power of education to empower students—especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. In addition to classroom teaching, Lea engaged students from diverse backgrounds in her research and conservation activities in the field and in the lab. She modeled a growth mindset in formal and informal settings.
Lea enjoyed facing the many challenges (physical, intellectual, and logistical) of conducting ecological research. Lea’s dissertation made substantial contributions to basic science and to conservation. She used multi-year experiments to investigate how prescribed fire and other disturbances affect the timing of flowering of prairie plant populations and their persistence in the face of environmental change. We are proud of Lea and of the good work she did for people, the prairie, and the planet. She made many diverse contributions through her work with Team Echinacea.
After her graduation Lea returned to California as a post-doctoral research fellow. Lea dedicated her substantial talents to science, mentoring, and conservation. She continued to collaborate with Team Echinacea on research papers and projects until she fell ill in spring 2025.
Team Echinacea gained so much from Lea. Lea will be missed.
Lea Richardson in a prairie in western Minnesota.
UPDATE: Memorial service Friday, May 8th at 2 pm All Saints Church 132 N Euclid Ave Pasadena, CA 91101
Team Echinacea has been using discord for communication during the field season, for announcements, and for organizing. If you want to join our discord server, please contact Stuart. We’d love to hear from you.
We are continuing to monitor the Viola pedatifida (Prairie Violet) and Comandra umbellata (Bastard Toadflax) experiments. The Viola plants are continuing to develop new growth and produce pods consistently, with dried seed pods collected daily. Between August 20th and September 21st, 131 pods were collected! The seeds will be sorted into randomized groups for use in remnants and experimental plots. At the end of the field season, the Viola will be covered in a mulch of straw for overwintering.
The Comandra initially struggled with sun exposure in the transplant tub, but have since rebounded! There are currently 12 plants growing, alongside gallium and a large number of volunteer species. These have been left undisturbed to avoid accidentally removing any Comandra host plants. See the spreadsheet below for a full update on each plug.
As the season nears its end, the seasonal members of the Echinacea Project have all returned to school. This week, Grace flew back to California to start her junior year at UC Santa Cruz, leaving only a lone juggling ball for us to remember her by. Now only me (Maddie DiMarco) and Maddie Sadler remain as interns to conclude the field season. With measuring done in the experimental plots and (almost) all demo sites finished, our main focus is harvesting. We spent the first few days of the week harvesting whenever possible, filling up several bags with harvested echinacea heads. Soon, they will all be ready for cleaning and counting of achenes.
A monarch nectaring on thistleOne of the goats, which we have named DirtA leopard frog at ExPt02, who was not as fast as I am
However, we cannot harvest in the rain, and this week had lots and lots of rain. While we are trapped inside, Maddie and I have been working with our data, ensuring that there are no missing, duplicate, or incorrect records. During a break in the rain, I also trekked out to exPt01 to revisit some of the plants we needed to check.
Massive Chicken-of-the-WoodsA secret mushroom spotFound en route to exPt01
The rain has brought us many boones. Mushrooms were plentiful, found near the goat paddocks and the experimental plots, including a magnificent Chicken of the Woods. We have also seen our first salamanders of the season. Two eastern tiger salamanders were spotted on the roads—we shuttled them to safety. You can tell by my face how excited I was.
Me, clearly having the best moment of my lifeTiger salamander #1Tiger salamander #2 with Maddie and I
This week at the Echinacea Project we had a few visitors. On Monday and Tuesday Maddie, Grace and I worked hard in P2 to wrap up measuring and ran into an abundance of different creatures. From frogs, to spiders, a garter snake, and grasshoppers there was no shortage of helpers at the experimental plot.
Harvesting is in full swing as fall begins to roll around, also bringing many different caterpillars and monarchs along the way for our viewing pleasure. On Wednesday we had some real human visitors! Gasp! Riley and Amy W. came and paid Echinacea Project a visit and helped with the collection of measure data in P7 and P9 and contributed an abundance of harvesting in P1 and P8.
The gang back together!
In the final days of this week, we got an additional human visitor Aaron who came back to help us for a morning before returning back to school for the afternoon. We regaled on memories from this summer and thought about the ending of the season while reflecting on everything that has been accomplished by our mighty team of 8. Thousands of demo records, tons of surv records, measuring, and many healthy heads that have been harvested.
Aaron giving us the plot of Into the Woods in LOTS of detail.
For me, I spent many hours doing aster walks this week for my thesis encountering many different friends in the prairie along the way. This included monarchs, a mysterious caterpillar, many spiders, and a handful of wooly bear caterpillars (or as I like to call them wooly worms). The record for the most amount of aster species at a single site was broken this week at 27 different species at Staffanson E (previous winner was HeggW with 25).
Additional tidbit: We had found an injured monarch on the way to harvest and created a monarch motel for the little diva to recoup before hopefully taking flight again.
It’s been a chilly first week of September! After days of rain and temperatures in the 50s, the team is looking forward to more temperate conditions next week. We’ve been hard at work finishing up the last few sites of demo and surv, and are now halfway done with an expedited measuring of exPt2. Just this morning, Maddie S., Maddie D., and I (Grace) completed 602 records! In addition, a bountiful harvest is in full swing in exPt1 and exPt8–collecting the dried heads for multiple experiments on long-term fitness.
Storm chasing during total demoBaby bunny in exPt1gBags are filling up!exPt2 in autumn colorsFrog adventures gone awry in Hjelm
I want to be in two places at once. I am shutting down & packing up my lab at Chicago Botanic Garden and wrapping up the field season in Minnesota. The lab’s been running for decades and there is a lot of stuff to pack. The annual harvest of Echinacea heads from experimental plots is also underway–this year the crop is big and it’s late due to late spring fires. Two big jobs in two distinct places. Thanks to everyone who is helping!
Due to technical issues I can’t be in two places at once. Please stop by the lab or field site and say hello or goodbye.
Monday, 24th In the morning Aaron, Grace, and Maddie D. went out to East RILEY to do some total demo, while Maddie S. went out to work on her thesis and did some Aster Walks. In the afternoon, all four of us went out to ExPt02 to do some double checking on the twist ties to get ready for measuring and harvest.
Tuesday, 25th In the morning Aaron, Grace, and Maddie D. went out to RHS, NTH, and REL for total demo, while Maddie S. went out to do some Aster Walks. In the afternoon, all three as well as Maddie S went out to ExPt02 to do twist tie again!
Wednesday, 26th In the morning Aaron, Grace, and Maddie D. went out to RILEY for Total Demo. After, Grace and Aaron went out to RKW for more Total Demo. After lunch, Grace and Aaron went out to ExPt02 to finish twist tie.
Thursday, 27th In the morning Aaron, Grace, Maddie D, and Maddie S. went out to ExPt02 for measuring. After lunch Aaron and Grace went out to RKE for Total Demo, and the two Maddie’s did computer work. After Aaron and Grace finished, Grace went out to NICE.
Friday, 28th In the morning Aaron and Grace went out to NICE to survey five plants that were involved in the Ag. Virescens experiment earlier this summer. While that was happening, Maddie D. was working on cleaning up ExPt01 forms for harvest. After lunch, all three went out to ExPt01 to harvest, and it was bountiful.
P.S. This was my last week with the team and it was great! I learned so much about the Prairie and got to meet so many new people and creatures outdoors. I had so much fun and I cannot wait to get back in the field in the future! – Aaron
Maddie S. with a Painted Turtle near ExPt01Monarch Butterfly near Hegg LakeKatydid near RKEGrace with a Green DarnerAaron with a Garter Snake found in ExPt02
For my ongoing thesis research this summer I have been working hard collecting species presence data during this peak flowering time. For data collection I am doing a process where I go out to a specific prairie remnant or restoration and do a “meander walk”. This is where I walk along a winding path through a study area, systematically recording encountered species while trying to cover the most amount of area as possible with the goal of being able to create a comprehensive species list. The original project I had proposed “How prescribed fire affects species diversity and abundance in Aster plants in prairie remnants and restorations” has been scaled back drastically. This is in part due to time constraints, as well as working with a limited team this summer. The new focus moving forward is connected to the Minnesota Prairie Conservation Plan which is an initiative by MN Department of Natural Resources that is working to connect the small percentages of native prairies that are left in the state through a corridor. Multiple of the of the prairie remnants and restorations we do research in here at the Echinacea Project fall within or around this proposed corridor, but we don’t know if these remnants and restorations harbor rich plant biodiversity that could be beneficial to include on the proposed corridor. Therefore, I am investigating species presence of plants in the largest plant family found in prairies which is the Asteraceae in prairie remnants and restorations located in western Minnesota.
In terms of data collection, I have completed 15 remnant sites and 5 restorations of all varying sizes. Each sites offers a different array of plant species (many including our personal favorite Echinacea angustifolia, duh!). In the upcoming week site visits will be wrapping up and data organization will begin.
Since Wednesday, we have continued our progress on total demos. We completed sites KJ, railroad crossing, and around landfill, demoing over 350 plant locations. We also surveyed dozens of flowering echinacea, cataloging their flowering heads and precise locations.
While total demo continues on, today is also full of lasts—we have completed measuring in exPt08! While we experienced quite a rain delay (and a sky-cracking lightning strike somewhere on the property), the team braved the mist, 90% humidity, and the very wet grass to complete our final row of measuring in exPt08 this morning. Harvest lists are compiled and ready to go, meaning we can move on to monitoring the echinacea heads and harvesting them when their seeds are ready. After the achenes are harvested, they will be dried and brought back to the Chicago Botanic Garden, where we will determine the number of achenes produced and seed viability. This gives us insight on the fitness of the plants in the qGen2 and qGen3 cohorts.
Aaron and a Canadian toadA visiting Monarch in exPt01Maddie and her most recent frog friend
We are also saying goodbye to Gael, one of our high school interns. We will remember Gael for his hard work, singing during tasks, and tripping into badger holes in the field. While we are very sad to see him go, Gael is starting his first year at University of Minnesota Morris, where he is studying chemistry.
Gael, operating the GPS during total demoGael on a visit to the sunflower fields near a field site
