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Some of the team headed out this morning to do phenology. The flowers are quickly finishing up and many sites have no more flowering plants. Amy and Will stayed back to work on their posters for the Ecological Society of America (ESA) annual meeting next week in Florida!
After phenology, people worked on aphid treatments and Laura painted bracts. We took an early lunch and then began the daunting task of measuring the 99 and 99 south gardens to finish out P1. We worked quickly and efficiently. Afterwards, we celebrated the P1 victory with root beer floats.
 Wow so tall To help celebrate Monday Funday, this flower is made out of burnt up toothpicks from P8.
You may catch more flies with honey. And you also may catch more honeys being fly. But I catch more honeys (which aren’t actually “honeys” or honey bees but rather solitary bees) with a quiet step and lots of vials.
For my independent project, I am interested in examining the infraspecific pollen diversity load on different pollinators of Echinacea in this community. With a more diverse pollen load, the pollinators will likely be able to supply more compatible pollen to Echinacea plants.
During mid-flowering, I snuck up on many an un-suspecting pollinator in experimental plot p2 and caught them in vials. I then took these pollinators to experimental plot p1 and wiped them on receptive styles. After the heads are harvested, I will dissect the akenes and germinate the seeds. I will perform paternity testing on the first true leaf and be able to identify not only the distance traveled by the pollinator but also examine the diversity of the pollen donors for the seedlings.
Check out my full proposal:
Laura’s proposal: Intraspecific pollen diversity on pollinators of Echinacea angustifolia
I’m sure we left y’all sitting at the edges of your seats waiting for an update on the pizza, but before we get there, I would like to offer a complaint. It has come to my attention that the loon was given 1 point, while I was given zero. It is my opinion that the judging was rigged and the loon bribed the judges. I see no grounds for my loss. But I’m sure you want to hear about our pizza, so no more of our slight squabbles. After I took a short swim in the refreshing Annie Battle Lake, we headed off to Battle Lake for some pizza. The food was great after a lackluster breakfast and lunch. Much to the surprise of our waitress, Laura managed to ‘drink’ (put into a Nalgene) four glasses of water. Next we went to the local ice cream shop. While looking for a spot to sit, Scott lost his upper scoop to the road. This was much to the amusement of a spectator who laughed at the hapless Scott. Not to be at a loss of ice cream, Scott picked up his scoop and enjoyed it with some extra vitamin P (P for pavement).
We spent the rest of the evening enjoying the great campsite. Laura and Amy went for a swim at sunset, I built a fire and everyone scratched their chigger bites. Those little guys are quite persistent. After a great trip, we returned to K-town this morning. We are prepared to continue measuring plants and do flowering phenology as the number of flowering heads dwindles.
 Peaceful sunset from our campsite
Good evening flogland and sorry you’ve been feeling neglected lately. We still love you.
We know it’s not evening yet, but it sure feels like it and we have already taken two naps today. An elite contingent of Team Echinacea left Friday after work to camp at Glendalough State Park. We are sitting around the picnic table watching Jame trying to catch a loon in the lake! So far score is 1-0 loon. Actually it might be higher because apparently Jame wakes up really easily to loon calls but not other loud noises.
Last night when we arrived most of our time was spent around the campfire. We learned a lot of interesting things about each other including that if you spell James’ name backwards and change the “m” to a “w” that it would spell “Sewaj” (sewage). Also Will is a satanist and doesn’t like S’mores. Also we learned that Jame has been making fires for his family since the age of 3.
This morning we were awoken by a Miss Amy Waananen at 6 am and promptly made a fire to eat some squishy oat meal. Alyson AKA Lil’ Terrified did not partake in the oatmeal but joined me in the Cheetos for breakfast movement. We also developed a sophisticated ranking system for food ranging from “would try again” to “would eat forever”.
Earlier today, we went on a hike on the Beaver Pond Interpretive Trail. We are all now sitting around the picnic table anxiously awaiting the arrival of Scott “Scooter” Nordstrom. Will is especially excited because they have plans to “cuddle puddle” tonight.
Tonight we are going to eat pizza and itch each other’s chigger bites.
Glen da lough,
Amy “OJ”
Alyson “Lil’ Terrified”
Billy Jeff Reed
Jame “Sewaj” “Jahmez” “Jamie” “Jammy Jam” “Sweet Baby James”
Laura “Puff Daddy”
Hello floglanders and happy Boxing Day in July to you! Earlier this summer, all of us at town hall decided that we wanted to celebrate Christmas in July; however, it snuck up on us very quickly. We all forgot that we wanted to celebrate, so yesterday when we realized that Christmas in July had came and went, we agreed upon celebrating similarly on Boxing Day in July. And oh what a festive day it has been.
You know that warm feeling that the winter holidays bring into the homes and the hearts of so many? Well we felt that on Christmas (Boxing Day) in July too. Except it was a literal warm feeling all over our bodies as it was tremendously humid today. We completed our last pollinator observations, which was bittersweet much like a questionable Christmas cut-out cookie. And oh the carols! After observations, more progress was made on the aphid addition and exclusion experiment, which involves persuading the aphids to add to plants by singing to them, or at least choir director Abby says that works.
After lunch, we all worked together and measured in p1. It might be that holiday feeling in the air, but searching for basal plants along rows really felt like looking for the perfect Christmas tree. But alas, the perfect tree was already erected in town hall.
 Our tree adorned with snowflakes and a musty garland that we also found in the basement. Yes, we found an artificial tree in the basement and decorated it with artisan snow flakes crafted from only the finest old magazines and catalogues. And those gifts you see under that tree not just for show, this isn’t Macy’s!
Yesterday, secret santa names were pulled and we all found items around town hall and in the field today to bestow upon some lucky person. Various personalized gifts were exchanged including: a rotating light, a Rubik’s pyramid, a crusty almond, some caramels, a “new” bag of beans, a paper machete cow, an origami venus fly trap, a single packet of Taco Bell diablo hot sauce, oregano seeds, and Alyson’s field pouch!
But the real gift was a spirited game of Christmas in July Farkle and a family dinner of veggie burgers. Happy Boxing day in July to all and to all a goodnight.
 Alyson received her own field pouch from Scotty boy! Equipped with a paper cup for when she is thirsty, a paper fan for when she is hot, and a mosquito swatter for those pesky buggers! Will receiving his rotating light from Abby (surprise!)
Today was xtreme to say the least. We finished phenology and pollinator observations before lunch, but during pollinator observations, the strangest thing happened. The Echinacea head I was watching started singing. It was singing Don McLean, no less! It was crazy.
Lucky for you all, I caught it on video and transcribed it below.
The Day the Pollen Dried
A long long time ago (this morning)
I can still remember how
Those bees used to pollinate me
And I knew if I got a compatible pollen grain
That I could make a seed set
And maybe it’d germinate in a while
But robber flies made me shiver
With all the egg-goo they delivered
White gunk between my bracts
I couldn’t set one more seed
I can’t remember if I cried
When I saw my widowed anther (last day male)
Something changed deep inside
The day the pollen dried (up)
So
Bye, bye Miss augochlorella guy (*it’s probably a female)
Presented my pollen to the bees but the bees were too shy
And that good ole Team Echinacea would point a camera and cry
Singin’ what if I never see a pollinator guy?
What if I never see a pollinator guy?
Did you find the pollinator reference collection?
And put on sunscreen for protection?
If your sunburn tells you so?
Do you believe in a change in the pollinator communities?
Can andrena composite-specialize in me?
And can you put your bucket in a different row?
Well, I know that you’re interested in me
‘Cause I saw you counting my styles persisting’
You counted back from day sixteen
Man, I dig those styles that are shriveling’
I was a lonely, perennial, long-lived plant
With a cone head and a lots of ants
But I knew I had lost my chance
The day the pollen dried (up)
I started singin’
Bye, bye Miss agopostemon guy (*probably female again)
Presented my pollen to the bees but the bees were too shy
And that good ole Team Echinacea would point a camera and cry
Singin’ what if I never see a pollinator guy?
What if I never see a pollinator guy?
 Even the caterpillars could get down (or up I suppose up) to this catchy tune.
 Easy, breezy, beautiful Good evening, Flogland. I’m here in Kensington after a quiet Sunday compared to yesterday’s festivities. After confirming that Scott, with help from Lea, had indeed reenacted every image in my basement last night, we headed back toward Kensington.
 (L to R) Rudolph, Santa Notable events from the drive include conducting an experiment to see how accurately we could identify Skittles flavors. I was pretty bad at distinguishing the variation in flavor profiles but Will did pretty well. After returning home, people at Town Hall spent most of the day napping, cooking, and working on independent projects.
 The champion We are saving our energy for another day of Xtreme phenology tomorrow, which is when we combine xamining phenology with xercising our xpertise in pollinator observations and get everything done xtremely fast! It is very xciting, although with the number of plants xhibiting pollen getting smaller every day, I’m xpecting it to go even faster than Friday. Stay tuned for updates.
Peace,
AW
I am excited to present to you my summer 2016 research proposal. While previous research has shown that isolated Echinacea plants and populations experience reduced reproductive fitness, we have not looked at what influence edge effects may have on Echinacea populations. Findings presented in Ison and Wagenius 2014 showed that plants in P1 experienced slight edge effects on seed set. My research this summer will use style persistence data collected from all remnant sites and quantify the relationship between distance of an Echinacea plant from a habitat edge and average style persistence. This will help us understand if fragmented populations are being harmed by yet another factor. Hopefully you find this topic as interesting as I do.
JamesEckhardtProposal2016
Hello flog! Comin’ at you live from Maple Grove. I am currently sitting in Amy’s basement following a rousing evening of music, fun, and friends. We drove to the Cities today in a torrential downpour to see a concert this evening of Dr. Dog featuring Shakey Graves. Before the concert we got to know each other better by playing ‘Would You Rather?: Provocative Questions to Get Teenagers Talking.’ The questions truly were provocative but some members of the group were still game: as Alyson said, “I’m a teenager and I’m ready to get provocative.” Many of the questions presented difficult choices, but we added a third alternative, having clams for hands, which proved to be a surprisingly popular option. After that we drove to the concert and we all had a great time! Here’s a story from the evening. I was just dancing around and all of a sudden this darn thing grazes my head, I look around like ‘what the heck, man’ and it’s a rice crispie bar! I smelled it first and then I ate it. After that we danced more.
 Here’s the aforementioned rice crispie bar mid-eating Following the concert we went and ate ice cream. I got lemon custard and so did everyone else. It was an accident. I also got a Izzy (TM) scoop of raspberry sorbet. Yum.
We’re having fun!
XOXO,
gossipboi
(Billy “Jeff” Reed, Class of 2018)
 It was supposed to be sunny and hot. Remember what the forecast was for today? As I sat in the cold drizzle with goosebumps looking at a gray sky, I wished for the warmth that was predicted for the day. We started off early again this morning with pollinator observations. Early on in this endeavor, we realized that pollinators did not enjoy the weather, and many of us observed more lightning bolts than bees. Late in the morning, a few brave bees made their way to Echinacea heads to scavenge for pollen. By lunchtime many of us were still marveling at the coolness of the day. I believe it was about the time it was announced that we would prepare to head to P1 that we were suddenly transported to the Amazon rain forest.
The dappled light from the sun shown through a steamy haze while heat shimmered off the soggy tree leaves. We left our outpost at the Hjelm house and began our journey through the jungle to our research site in P1. Our object was to finish searching for and measuring INB2 plants, a project that had begun yesterday. We trudged through the dense underbrush. The air was close, and a hush fell over the column as we reached a clearing. It was our research site. We split into smaller groups to measure plants more efficiently, and made our way through the dense mass of damp grasses. Throughout our research, the quiet was disturbed by the call of Roxy, a doglike mammal native to the area. As the day progressed, the heat became more oppressive. It was only made worse by the constant threat of mosquito bites and ticks. By 4:00 PM we had made extensive progress and finished measuring INB2 plants. We treked back through the forest to our base.
Anyway, after that adventure, Scott, Alyson, Lea and I again swam in Elk Lake, which was immensely refreshing after the hot day. Amy stayed back and made some great lasagna for dinner. Tomorrow is another early start. Stay tuned for Xtreme Phenology tomorrow.
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