Team Echinacea seeks a MS student who is enthusiastic about getting a jump start on their thesis during the summer 2024 field season before matriculation into the fall 2024 program. This student would be advised by Dr. Wagenius in the Plant Biology and Conservation program at Northwestern University.
We seek someone who is broadly interested in working on ecology, evolution, or conservation biology of plants or insects in fragmented prairie habitat. The opportunity provides summer funding to conduct fieldwork, lead projects, and build on existing infrastructure to develop a research project at our study site in western Minnesota.
The questions that motivate Team Echinacea are both applied and fundamental. We ask questions about how we can better conserve prairie plants and pollinators with goals of generating concrete answers for stewards, managers, practitioners, and policymakers. Our project also addresses some very fundamental research questions and contributes to better basic scientific understanding of biological processes. Our lab centers mental health, work-life balance, and values diverse perspectives; we foster a stimulating, supportive atmosphere for lab members to learn from and teach one another.
Potential Projects include:
Effects of prescribed fire on the abundance of floral resources for pollinators
Effects of habitat fragmentation on long-lived perennial plants, including porcupine grass (Hesperostipa spartea)
Role of nectar production in pollination biology
Effects of hybridization of a non-local species with a local native species.
Requirements Undergraduate degree in relevant field
Desired qualifications Competitive candidates will have training in community ecology, ecosystem ecology, restoration ecology and/or conservation biology. Candidates with strong field experience, evidence of leadership, communication skills, evidence of outreach and collaboration, and dedication to making science more welcoming to underrepresented groups will be viewed favorably.
Application materials and instructions If you are interested in this position please see the PBC website for more information on materials to send to apply and contact Stuart. Applications for the program are due February 15th.
Kristen Manion, NU MS student, graduated 2021 Thesis title: Where do bees build their nests? The influence of land-use history and microhabitat on nest presence of ground-nesting bees
Drake Mullett, current NU PhD student Dissertation title: The roles that parasitic plants play in prairie communities
Wyatt Mosiman, current NU MS student Thesis title: Heritability and selection of fire-stimulated flowering in an herbaceous perennial
Lea Richardson, NU PhD student, graduated 2022 Dissertation title: Investigating impacts of prescribed fire on flowering phenology and reproduction in grassland perennials
An ideal position for undergraduates or graduates interested in gaining field experience.
The Echinacea Project is looking for enthusiastic research technicians for the 2024 summer field season. Our project investigates plants, plant-insect interactions, and bees in fragmented prairie habitat. Summer research technicians will collect data for several long-term research projects, maintain experimental plots, remove invasive species, harvest seed, deploy emergence traps to collect ground-nesting bees, sample pollen and nectar, assess floral resources in remnant prairies and restorations, and characterize nesting habitat for bees. This is a great opportunity for aspiring ecologists, conservation biologists, and evolutionary biologists to gain research experience and learn about the ecology and evolution of plants and pollinators in fragmented prairies! Read about what it’s like working and living in Minnesota.
Qualifications: We are looking for undergraduates or recent graduates who are willing to work outdoors in adverse conditions, exhibit patience, possess good hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, comfortable handling plants and insects, work well independently and as part of a team, and have an interest in scientific research. We will hire team-members with a diverse range of experience and skills. No experience is necessary, but you must be enthusiastic and hard-working.
Details: The field season runs from late May or June to October. The salary ranges from $16-22/h, commensurate with experience. Housing in Minnesota during the summer is included.
Send a cover letter, your resume, and a transcript (unofficial OK) in one email to echinaceaProject@gmail.com. Use the subject line: “Summer field research technician application” and format your cover letter, resume, and transcript as pdf files. Begin each file name with your surname.
El, Luke & Jan (Team Echinacea 2023) deploy an emergence trap at a prairie restoration
To ensure that your application is thoroughly considered, submit by the deadline, 28 February 2024 at 11:59 pm CST. However, we will review applications until positions are filled. Please include an email address and phone number where you can be reached during March.
You are welcome to apply to multiple positions with Team Echinacea with the same application. Please indicate which positions interest you on the form that you submit with your application.
Members of groups underrepresented in science are particularly encouraged to apply.
More information
First, read about our field season! If you have any questions, contact a team member via e-mail. Read about our lab and field activities on the flog and more about the project’s background.
Today was Harrison’s last day with us 🙁 Stuart made a prairie-inspired cake to honor his time with the project. He is returning to teach young minds about ecological research. Farewell, Harrison, and good luck!
The team also conducted floral abundance surveys. Essentially, we want to see how many plants (and what kinds) may be associated with ground-nesting bees. That requires feet on the ground to estimate abundances and identify plants.
Lastly, a battle occurred today. While the crew did demography of echinacea plants- where we record data on this year’s flowering plants- I was stung by two wasps. Luckily, Lindsey was prepared to retaliate, though it wasn’t necessary.
All in all, farewells can sting, but at least there’s cake in the end.
The pollinator team set out to recover some emergence traps (picture 1) this afternoon. While we didn’t find ground-nesting bees, which this project is centered around, we did see another pollinator while sifting through grass that extended beyond our own heads (Jan for scale; picture 2). The viceroy (Limenitis archippus; picture 3) looks incredibly similar to the monarch (Danaus plexippus), except for the black, horizontal line that cuts across their dorsal wings. We hope to see even more pollinator friends as the field season goes on!
Two large packages arrived on the doorstep of the Chicago Botanic Garden this week containing 40 (yes, 40!) brand new emergence traps! This summer, we are conducting research on the impacts of prescribed fire and fragmented patch size on ground-nesting bees. This new research is funded by ENRTF!
To make sure the emergence traps were functional, Alex and I decided to assemble one in the lab. The assembly was fairly easy, but we noticed that there were some plastic pieces that connected two fiberglass rods that may fall off or get lost easily; sounds like a job for some super glue! We also realized we will need to purchase a heavy object, like a chain, to lay around the base of the emergence trap to prevent it from flying away in the wind!
Looks like we caught someone already!Alex assembling the collection head and bottle, sans killing agent.
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.
Last weekend I presented a poster (link below) at the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions convention in Worcester, MA.
This was my first poster symposium and I am glad to say it went great! I was able to interact with so many people attending the conference, along with other student researchers. I received some wonderful comments and feedback, and hopefully was able to make more people aware of soil, native bees, and the Echinacea Project!
My poster focused on the soil texture data I collected over January and its correlation to native bee nesting. After a little more work in R, I found some surprising results. The percent of sand or silt did not have any influence on bee presence. However, between the eight sites and the three land uses, variation in percent sand was significant. Meaning, soil variation does exist across the Echinacea Project sampling area, it just might not be the strongest factor influencing bee nesting.
The soil is only one component of this project though. We also collected data on the slope, vegetation, percent bare ground, and soil hardness. One of these variables may be the key in understanding native bee nesting, so there’s a lot more analyzing and R to come.
I am so grateful for all the help I have received to make my first poster experience a success!
Until next time!
Click on the link below to see a high resolution image of the poster
This morning the much-diminished Team Echinacea (Stuart, Kristen, Lea, Michael, and I) gathered at the Hjelm house to start the day. Lea went to Staffenson Prairie Preserve to measure the flowering phenology of Liatris and Solidago plants. Michael and Kristen began to prepare experimental plot 8 for management in the coming year. The team will treat rogue Ashe trees and collect and broadcast the seeds of several prairie plant species in this plot. This is part of an ongoing effort to ensure that the plant community within the plot is consistent throughout.
Meanwhile, I assessed the leaf damage and senescence of plants in the aphid addition/exclusion experiment in p1. This was the final component of the fieldwork involved in this experiment for the season, and the last step in my independent project before I begin statistical analysis. The next step is to gauge fitness differences between plants in the aphid addition and exclusion treatments by constructing an aster model. While it was exciting to finish this aspect of the project, I will miss spending time with my Aphis echinaceae friends.
Over lunch the team prepared for inclement weather by sharing our experiences of intense weather events. After that, Kristen presented an update on her master’s project. She shared some intriguing preliminary results about the nesting preferences of native ground-nesting bees. We are all looking forward to the results of her study! Due to the rainy weather, the team was ready to call it a day after Kristen’s presentation. We held a short meeting to plan next week’s schedule and then headed home for the weekend.
Plant Biology & Conservation, Northwestern University 2017-
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University if Kansas 2017
Research Interests
Broadly, I am interested in how landscape dynamics shape bee communities. Did you know that over 80% of bees in the prairie spend part of their life in the ground? We have lots of information about how bees forage and the kinds of pollen they forage for, but know very little about the kinds of conditions suitable for bees to build their nests. My thesis project explores how land use history and soil microhabitat indicators influence nesting densities. This summer I will explore how common land use treatments (remnant prairies, restorations, and old agricultural fields) influence where bees build their nests!
Statement
I am a Master’s student in Plant Biology & Conservation through Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Garden. I grew up moving all over the country but went to high school and college in the Kansas City area. I believe passionately in diversity and inclusion and try to do my part to make STEM a more equitable field for people of all backgrounds and identities. I am active on Twitter and Instagram and am learning how to use these platforms for science education and communication. I love to read in my spare time, but I also just enjoy learning/speaking Spanish, listening to good music, smelling candles, and cooking yummy food!
Identification: Lasioglossum are slender, tiny, long, a dusky black, dull green, or blue, and sometimes metallic, with a band of pale hair along the base of each abdominal segment, making them appear striped. They carry pollen in the scopae on the upper part of their hind legs. They are often the most common bees in a habitat, but may be overlooked because of their small size. Furthermore, Lasioglossum are similar in look to Halictus, but the abdominal hairs on Lasioglossum are at the base of each segment. Also, the veins on the outer edges of Lasioglossum wings fade away, and in Halictus they are thick and bold. They are also confused with Colletes, which have a distinct, heart-shaped face.
Foraging Habits: Generalists
Nesting Habits: All social behaviors observed with Lasioglossum. They nest burrows in flat ground with loose, sandy soils. Nests usually consist of narrow, branched shafts, with brood cells connected directly. The pollen ball in these cells is dry, with a single egg laid on top. Lasioglossum line their brood cells with glandular, waxlike secretions (some line entire nests).
