seedlings found!

We searched for Echinacea seedlings in six prairie remnants last week. We found some! Over 2+ days eight of us found 57 seedlings.

Ruth and Georgiana found 5 seedlings in this circle (41 cm radius) centered on plant 12034 at Steven’s approach.

We visited 87 circles. Ten of the circles were centered on random points in the remnants and the rest were centered on plants that flowered last year. The random points were all at least 1.5 m from every plants that flowered last year and within 4 m of one or more plants that flowered last year. The radii were 41 cm in 4 remnants and 50 cm in the other two. The total area searched was 51.3 square meters.

We also noted that there were about a gross other Echinacea plants in these circles. Some were tagged from previous year, others not.

We changed our protocol from last year and pairs differed in data they recorded and map notations. When we go back to the remaining nine sites in two weeks we should follow this protocol:

we must have at least two measurements to every seedling noted on the map
we must have at least one measurements to every basal plant noted on the map
make a map for every circle where any plant is found
note the style of every toothpick placed (round, square, colored, striped, etc)
note all plants that are determined to be just outside the circle on the map
We need consistent map notation for seedlings, basal plants, focal plants, flowering plants, tagged plants, nails

Also we need to get more pencils, thumbtacks, and cards with containers to hold it all.

Here are some photos of us searching and photos of places where we found some seedlings…

There were eight of us searching, Amber Eule-Nashoba, Ruth Shaw, and Stuart Wagenius searched Thursday & Friday. Georgiana May searched on Thursday. Gina Quiram searched on Friday. Caroline Ridley, Amy Dykstra, and Kate B searched on Friday (after driving across South Dakota to search for seedlings there earlier in the week). [Note to SW: Kate B is KD on datasheets.]

On Thursday we found one circle at SGC that was overrun by poison ivy. Lacking protection, Amber and I decided not to venture in. On Saturday I went back to the circle with neoprene gloves. I removed some poison ivy and then searched the circle. Alas, I found none.