The name of today was phenology! Wes, Ashley, Anna, and I started off the morning finding and documenting Echinacea buds at the East Elk Lake Road fragment. We had heard tell of a four headed plant living on the edge of the corn field, and low and behold there it was! We only found about 20 plants, but I’m sure we will find more as the season progresses.
In the afternoon, we split into 2 groups: one group went to conduct phenology at p2, and the other group went to stake and find plants at the Staffanson transect plot. Staffanson was absolutely beautiful; there were a few puffy white clouds, the temperature was perfect, and the Echinacea buds were out! The p2 team reported that there would be an above average number of flowering Echinacea plants this year, while we found typical numbers of Echinacea buds at Staffanson. It was a great day of fieldwork and a nice way to start the week.
Stuart and Tracie at Staffanson Prairie doing phenology and staking the transect (26 June 2017).
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