Beginning in 1996, Team Echinacea has monitored the flowering phenology of Echinacea angustifolia in remnant populations around Solem Township. The number of populations and plants we visit has varied over the years; a summary of which populations were monitored in each year can be found at this link. In 2015, we monitored phenology of 1763 heads on 1384 plants at 27 remnant populations. Whew! That is about 400 more flowering individuals than in 2014 although we monitored the same populations. Populations with big increases in numbers of flowering individuals from last year include Aanenson, East Riley, Landfill, and On 27. At each population, we identify all flowering individuals and track their development over the course of the season, gathering data on start and end dates of flowering for every individual. Flowering began at Loeffler’s Corner on June 23rd and ended at Aanenson on August 19th. We will use this data to describe temporal flowering patterns within and among remnants and relate this to potential for successful mating in populations.
Blue line segments indicate the period of time that at least one individual was flowering at each population. The numbers to the left of the lines indicate the number of individuals that flowered from each population in 2015. Click to enlarge!
Look here to read previous flog posts about this experiment.
Start year: 1996
Locations: roadsides, railroad rights of way, and nature preserves in and near Solem Township, MN
Overlaps with: mating compatibility in remnants, demography in remnants, phenology in experimental plots
Team members who have worked specifically on this project include: Amber Zahler (2011), Kelly Kapsar (2012), and Sarah Baker (2013), although gathering phenology data was a whole team effort in 2014 and 2015. Flog posts authored by Kelly, Amber, and other team members may provide additional details about day-to-day activities associated with our flowering phenology monitoring project.
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