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2023 Update: Andropogon fire and flowering in exPt08

In summer 2020, Team Echinacea established two plots south of experimental plot 8 for a pilot experiment examining fire effects on Big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) reproduction. Neither plot was burned during 2020. During spring 2021, we randomly selected the western plot to be burned. In spring 2022, we burned the western plot. Team Echinacea did not collect any new data from the Andropogon pilot experiment during summer 2023. In the lab, Elif and Stuart made progress on developing a protocol for x-raying Andropogon seed heads and processing the X-ray images. During December 2023, Carleton externs Vo and Rebecca are developing a protocol for quantifying seed set. Exciting times ahead!

I smell corn. Lots and lots of corn.
  • Start year: 2020-2022
  • Location: Two plots south of p8
  • Overlaps with: burnRems, remAg
  • Data collected: All reproductive effort data are housed within the remag repo. We are currently generating data on reproductive outcomes in the lab.
  • Samples or specimens collected: All harvested seed heads have been cleaned and x-rayed.
  • Products: Stay tuned for an updated in the next couple weeks!

You can read more about the Andropogon fire and flowering in exPt08 experiment, as well as links to prior flog entries about this experiment, on the background page for this experiment.

2022 Update: Andropogon fire and flowering in exPt08

In summer 2020, Team Echinacea established two plots south of experimental plot 8 for a pilot experiment examining fire effects on Big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) reproduction. Neither plot was burned during 2020. During spring 2021, we randomly selected the western plot to be burned. In spring 2022, we burned the eastern plot. Spoiler: there was a very distinct rectangular patch of flowering Andropogon where we burned this year. We are very curious whether pollination also improved in this dense patch!

In summer 2022, we revisited the 23 random points in both the eastern and western plots. We counted the number of flowering Andropogon culms within a circular 1m2 subplot centered on each random point (within 56.4 cm) and harvested all seed heads within the subplot. Circle 18 in the eastern plot had the highest count: 96 culms.

Elif x-rays Andropogon in the lab

In the lab, Elif has been developing a protocol for cleaning and x-raying Andropogon. She x-rayed the Andropogon that we harvested in 2020 and 2021, and she found quite a bit of variation in seed set. Stay tuned for more details!

  • Start year: 2020
  • Location: South of exPt08
  • Overlaps with: Andropogon fire and flowering in remnants
  • Data collected:
    • Stakefile for random plot locations: ~Dropbox/geospatialDataBackup2022/stakeFiles2022/stakeAndroPilot2021.csv
    • Culm count data: ~Dropbox\burnRems\pilotAndro\androPilot2022\dataEntry\androPilotData2022.csv
  • Samples or specimens collected: Seed heads collected from 2020, 2021, and 2022 are currently stored in Jared’s office. The 2022 heads have been dried and will be cleaned/x-rayed to quantify seed set.
  • Products: Stay tuned!

You can read more about the Andropogon fire and flowering in exPt08 experiment, as well as links to prior flog entries about this experiment, on the background page for this experiment.

burning androPilot (east) 2022

To kick off our 2022 burn season, we conducted a prescribed burn in our eastern pilot Andropogon experimental plot on Friday, May 6. We burned the western plot in spring 2021.

After staging equipment and checking the weather with our new bluetooth-enabled Kestrel, we ignited a test fire in the NW corner of the plot. The fire looked great and out mowed break was doing its job so we proceeded with the fire. Stuart kept watch over the northern line while Alex and Trygg tended to the western edge. We allowed the fire to back downhill against the wind. After putting in a few strips to quickly widen the black, we ignited along the eastern and southern lines. The headfire quickly ran uphill. Apart from areas with discontinuous fuels along the northern edge, the burn was pretty thorough. Stuart noted that the wind was consistently southeast except for a southern push when we ignited the headfire. We agreed that lighting the headfire sooner would have been possible given conditions and the fire behavior we observed. All-in-all, a successful first burn of 2022 for the Echinacea Project. We are eager to learn how Andropogon gerardii responds to fire.

Temperature: 65 F
Relative Humidity: 37 %
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind Direction: SE
Ignition time: 12:03 PM
End time: 12:24 PM
Burn Crew: Jared, Stuart, Alex C., Trygg

2021 Update: Andropogon fire and flowering in exPt08

In summer 2020, Team Echinacea established two plots south of experimental plot 8 for a pilot experiment examining fire effects on Big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) reproduction. Neither plot was burned during 2020. During spring 2021, we randomly selected the western plot to be burned.

Within each rectangular plot, we selected 30 random points. We then counted the number of flowering Andropogon culms within circular 1m2 subplot centered on each random point (within 56.4 cm). After excluding random points that overlapped with the plot boundary or other random points, we were left with 24 usable random points in the eastern plot and 23 usable random points in the western plot.

  • Start year: 2020
  • Location: South of exPt08
  • Overlaps with: Andropogon fire and flowering in remnants
  • Data collected:
    • Stakefile for random plot locations: ~Dropbox/geospatialDataBackup2021/stakeFiles2021/stakeAndroPilot2021.csv
    • Scanned data sheets: ~Dropbox/burnRems/pilotAndro/androPilot2021
  • Samples or specimens collected: Seed heads collected from 2020 and 2021 are currently stored in Jared’s office. These have been dried and will be cleaned / x-rayed to quantify seed set.
  • Products: Stay tuned!

You can read more about the Andropogon fire and flowering in exPt08 experiment, as well as links to prior flog entries about this experiment, on the background page for this experiment.