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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!  Finally done with orientation week! This past week I have had the chance to tour the different labs located in the Plant Science Center, visit UIC’s heritage gardens, and see the amazing resources the Lenhardt Library has to offer! I was able to learn not only more about the different projects other interns will be working on this summer but also more about fieldwork safety and intern wellness. I am so excited to dive into what this summer has in store for me while also being more mindful of my well-being. Here is a photo of some Echinacea found in the diverse garden beds on the UIC campus.  Today as part of the orientation for the 2023 summer crew Dr. Jennifer Ison led a group in catching and identifying bees. The group loved running around the heliopsis in the garden trying to capture that elusive male Megachilidae “mason bee” with the big furry body and the green eyes. Unfortunately, we were so excited we forgot to get a picture. So you’ll have to take my word for it, but here’s a picture of the flowers.  Echinacea Project 2023 Environmental science university of mn-morris Pronouns: he/him Research interests: I am hoping to build on my knowledge of native flora and how they affect the environment around them, especially the soil characteristics. I would love to learn more about how deep rooted perennials affect the hydrology of the landscape. Statement: I am from Virginia, MN I started getting interested in native prairie plants when i was in high school working with conservation corps MN and IA in their youth program, I love being outside and spending time in nature. My hobbies include running, snowboarding, fishing, hiking, and gardening.  Today about half of the team got together and planted a new experimental plot. We all found our roles, worked efficiently, and got it done in 2 1/2 hours. Good work team! I’m excited to see what happens to the plot over the summer!   A monarch butterfly caterpillar at the Runestone Park remnant which is abundant with milkweed, his favorite snack.  Slow start this morning drinking water as we waited for rain to pass so we could continue shooting ENRTF GPS points (we forgot it’s raincoat). After lunch we continued with more of the same work and saw some Heliopsis helianthoides conspiring with bees.  We started early today to beat the heat but instead were greeted with a cloudy and cool morning. Right off the bat, I started the morning by continuing to take some GPS points for the ENTRF-funded bee research project. While I was enjoying taking points in a site with minimal hills… other groups did not have the same experience. Public enemy #1 (Geese) showed their true colors by showering El with some “love”.   After lunch, I learned how to take samples of the amount of light available along some of our transects using a light meter. My biggest trouble was finding all of our nails in the ground!  Lots of tasks today, one of which was sampling the amount of light available along some of our transects using a light meter!  These transects are part of our seeding experiment, and we added some lovely markers to help us spot some sprouting echinacea!  We also continued to establish new points for our upcoming emergence trap work and we saw several friends along the way.     Around 80 8th grade students from Morris Junior High came by and learned about tools used in prescribed burns, plant identification, how to develop hypotheses, and methods for finding and trapping native bees!  Meanwhile…Other members of the team established points for our ENRTF-funded pollinator project, a rare species (Teeny catus) was spotted at the Hjelm House, and we all had watermelon at the end of the day to cool off.   |
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