Ian Roberts presented his thesis research “Impacts of Prescribed Fire and Land Use History on Ground Nesting Bees” at the Chicago Botanic Garden on April 30th. The presentation was well received by those attendees in the room and those who attended via zoom. After the public presentation, Ian successfully defend his Masters thesis for the program in Plant Biology and Conservation at NU. Congratulations, Ian!
Ian’s research advances our understanding of ground nesting bees, prescribed fires, and nesting habitat for bees in remnant and restored tallgrass prairie. Stay tuned for a publication and recommendations for land managers!
This is part of our project “How Do Prescribed Fires Affect Native Prairie Bees?”
Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).
Jared gave a presentation at the Chicago Plant Science Symposium on April 19th about our big prescribed fire experiment. He focused this talk on fire effects on plant reproduction & demography.
This is part of our project “How Do Prescribed Fires Affect Native Prairie Bees?”
Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).
It has been a packed few days here in Phoenix, and I’d like to describe some of the presentations I saw at yesterday’s ground nesting bee symposium. There was a broad range of topics, including the microbe communities found on pollen balls, brood parasite and host interactions, rare desert bees, and more! Nick Dorian had great results to share from his mark-recapture work in New Jersey, which was great to see after he demonstrated that method to Team Echinacea over the summer. Lily Fulton’s presentation really stood out to me: She is also studying prescribed fire, at a long term experimental fire site in Florida longleaf pine flatwoods. they found higher bee and wasp abundances during burn years, as well as higher proportions of bare ground. This is strikingly similar to our research findings! It was great to chat with her about it over my own poster.
Title slide of Lily Fulton’s presentation. My poster! It is showing the first year of data from the ENRTF project, since we haven’t sent our 2024 bees to Zach yet.
It’s been incredible getting to meet so many researchers who care about native bees. Many stopped by to have a look at the poster! I’ve cited many of them in my previous work, so running into them in person is almost like meeting a celebrity. One consistent interest I’ve gotten from attendees is to look a the community composition of bees in the different treatment groups. Perhaps the increased abundance in the year of a burn we’re seeing is because of a cohort of burn-loving ground nesters, who don’t stick around in following years. It’ll be exciting to look into!
Shot of the poster sessions. There were a ton of applications, so space was pretty limited.
Overall, this has been a fantastic experience and opportunity to expand my network. I got to reconnect with some old friends, and make plenty of new ones. I can’t wait to get back to work on my thesis, now that I know who might be viewing it once it’s published! Expect more on that in the next few months.
A flowering head of the narrow-leaved purple coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia). Credit: Jared BeckA prescribed burn of a prairie restoration. Credit: Stuart Wagenius.
The Echinacea Project is seeking collaborators interested in studying the ecological effects of fire within a highly fragmented prairie landscape. In 2021, we began experimentally burning patches of remnant prairie in western Minnesota to investigate how fire effects on plant reproduction and population dynamics may be mediated by fragmentation. In 2023, we are expanding our efforts to study fire and fragmentation effects on plant-pollinator interactions and ground-nesting bees in remnant and restored prairies. We hope to collaborate with other researchers who can capitalize on our landscape-scale experiment to address these and other ecological questions about effects of fire and fragmentation in tallgrass prairie. Please share with anyone you think may be interested!
We will host a brief informational Zoom meeting on February 22 at 10:30 AM CDT to share information about the experimental design and potential opportunities for collaboration. If you are interested in attending the informational meeting, send us an email (EchinaceaProject [at] gmail.com) and we will share a link to the Zoom meeting. If you are unable to attend live, we plan to record the informational meeting and can make this recording available.
After finishing up at nice island, our crew departed for the next set of burns. Our hope was to burn Loeffler’s Corner west as well as an adjacent 10 acre unit with gorgeous prairie hills. Unfortunately, minor delays and a couple bureaucratic hurdles outside of our control slowed us down. We chose to prioritize the smaller lcw unit (~2.25 acres). We ignited a test fire in the southeast corner of the burn unit and secured the southern burn break. Once a little black had been established, Stuart and Dwight began lighting along the eastern edge of the burn unit while Brad and I ignited along the western edge. Per and Ed patrolled the break and Alex monitored the weather. This was another slow burn through mostly brome. Around 4:45 PM, the winds began to die down so we hurried to ignite a headfire along the northern edge of the unit in an effort to avoid putting smoke on Hwy 55. Although the fire closed slowly, the burn was quite thorough and will help set back brome. Stuart and I were reminded of the lce burn from spring 2021 in which nearly the same situation unfolded just across the road. The projected stiff north winds lost their energy resulting in light and variable winds. We suspect local topography may be to blame.
Thanks Alex C. for this sequence of photos illustrating our burn at lcw.
Temperature: 67 F Relative Humidity: 34 % Wind Speed: 12 mph Wind Direction: NNW Ignition time: 4:06 PM End time: 5:27 PM Burn Crew: Jared, Stuart, Alex C., Per, Dwight, Ed C., Brad D.
After navigating uncertainties about weather and electricity, we ventured up to western Minnesota for a promising burn window. Steady northwest winds, dry fuels, and suitable conditions left us eager to burn on Monday, May 16. Alex, Per, Stuart, and I worked all morning to ready burn breaks in preparation for the afternoon. We were joined by Brad D., Dwight, and Ed C.
Our first unit of the afternoon was the ironically named “nice island.” This unit comprises an eggplant-shaped peninsula of grass extending into an agricultural field. We are studying Green Milkweed and Rough Blazing Star reproduction at this site. After taking weather, discussing the burn plan, and orienting new crew members to their tools, we ignited a test fire in the southwest corner of the unit. The crew then split in half. One group secured the eastern burn break while the second group ignited and secured the western burn break. Once sufficient black had been established, Brad ignited west along the northern edge of the unit while I ignited east along the southern edge. Our hope was the fire would close on itself rapidly but this burn was much slower and smokier than expected (probably owing to the higher relative humidity and the abundance of brome that had greened up after rain and warm temperatures). Slowly but surely, the flames came together leaving a uniformly black burn unit. We are excited to see a nicer post-burn version of nice island this summer.
Thanks to Alex C. for this series of photos illustrating our smoky and slow burn at nice island.
Temperature: 64 F Relative Humidity: 44 % Wind Speed: 11 mph Wind Direction: NW Ignition time: 1:32 PM End time: 2:29 PM Burn Crew: Jared, Stuart, Alex C., Per, Dwight, Brad D., Ed C.
After completing the nwlf burn on May 6, we packed up and drove south taking the scenic route to btg. Our goal was to get a look at TNC’s Staffanson west burn. Just north of the intersection of Hwy 27 we spotted a Swainson’s Hawk. Stuart noted this is the first time he has seen a Swainson’s Hawk in Douglas County. The Staffanson burn was ongoing, though the north and west lines were solid black. We circled around to btg in time to see a large column of smoke rising from Staffanson west. Presumably this was the head fire hitting the kettle pond.
Unlike the prior burn units, we had just received permission to burn btg and were not able to mow breaks. We decided the best course of action would be igniting along a wet line on the western and southern edges of the burn unit. We took weather, walked the unit, divided up responsibilities, and ignited a test fire. Stuart and Trygg wet lined down the western edge while I ignited. Upon turning the corner along the southern line, the more southern wind picked up and pushed a head fire across btg. The result was pretty good coverage and an efficient burned. Once the smoke dissipated, we packed up and returned to the farmhouse. Our plan was to burn Jean’s prairie garden quickly and then divide up. Alex and Trygg would take the GPS unit to shoot the boundaries of burn units while Stuart and Jared put away equipment.
Six experimental burn units in one afternoon… not too shabby.
Lighting a test fire (Alex’s photo)Wet lining the western edge of the unit (Alex’s photo)Stuart in a reflective mood while watching his all-time favorite remnant burn (Alex’s photo)Watching btg burn (Stuart’s photo)Not a bad burn to wrap up the remnant fires (Alex’s photo)
Temperature: 69 F Relative Humidity: 30 % Wind Speed: 13 mph Wind Direction: SSE Ignition time: 4:35 PM End time: 4:50 PM Burn Crew: Jared, Stuart, Alex C., Trygg
Continuing our May 6 burning adventures, we departed mapp and drove west to nwlf. Our goal was to burn nwlf when conditions were most extreme to maximize burn coverage at nwlf.
After arriving at the site, staging equipment, and taking weather, I ignited a test fire in the NW corner of the unit. We were pleased with fire behavior and went ahead with securing the north edge of the burn unit. After rounding the tricky northeast corner, I tried extending the black in the ditch with little success. The fire did not carry well in the bottom of the ditch. We decided the best course of action was to ignite along the eastern edge of the unit before igniting in the ditch. I used a lot of fuel in the bottom of the ditch. This generated a lot of smoke but didn’t dramatically improve burn coverage in the bottom of the ditch at the north end of the unit. I ignited one more line along the western edge of the unit for good measure. The smoke soon subsided and we were left with a sufficiently charred ditch to leave us proud of our work. We packed up and departed for our last remnant burn of the afternoon.
Igniting along the north edge (Alex’s photo)
Securing the north break was strenuous work (Alex’s photo)
Lighting in this ditch bottom was an exercise in futility (Alex’s photo)
Jared re-evaluating tactics from the ditch (Alex’s photo)
Fire carried much better along eastern edge of unit (Stuart’s photo)
Jared dismayed by ratio of fire to drip torch fuel in the bottom of the ditch (Alex’s photo)
Who made all this smoke? (Stuart’s photo)
Pretty complete burn on south end of unit
Patchy burn in ditch on north end of burn unit (Stuart’s photo)
Temperature: 69 F Relative Humidity: 31 % Wind Speed: 13 mph Wind Direction: SE Ignition time: 3:30 PM End time: 3:58 PM Burn Crew: Jared, Stuart, Alex C., Trygg
Upon completion of our waa burn on May 6, we ventured north to mapp. After a quick discussion, we decided to enlarge the unit by ~10 m to the west just in case there were any Echinacea plants lurking outside the area where plants have flowered in the past. Stuart ignited a test fire in the NW corner. We installed a wet line along the western edge of the unit and Stuart ignited along the north edge. We secured the eastern edge where fuels were a bit heavier and watched the interior of mapp burn slowly and patchily. The thin film of silt seemed to prevent litter from burning in spots. We tried igniting unburned patches in the interior but soon concluded it was not worth the effort. We were eyeing at least two more burns and wanted to move quickly. While packing up equipment, we noticed a large plume of smoke rising from Staffanson!
A nice sequence of photos from the mapp burn courtesy of Alex C.
Temperature: 68 F Relative Humidity: 31 % Wind Speed: 11 mph Wind Direction: SE Ignition time: 2:45 PM End time: 2:58 PM Burn Crew: Jared, Stuart, Alex C., Trygg
