The usual activites of Team Echinacea (or at least for the non-locals) on a Sunday are driving in to Alex to do laundry and get groceries for the week. Most of us did that today, but Lea and I also had a special errand to run: Menard’s. We needed to pick up some quadrat-building material. We are beginning a new project this week that has been in planning for some time. We have selected 100 Echinacea plants that have flowered either in 2014, 2015, or 2016, and also have seed set data associated with them at least one of those years. Then, we are going to stake to those plants and do vegetation surveys in a 2 meter by 2 meter quadrat around them. Our goal is to assess whether the diversity surrounding an Echinacea benefits its reproductive fitness. More to come later!
So, Lea and I met at Menard’s to pick out some nice PVC pipe and corner fittings. We got the PVC pipe cut to 2 meter pieces so that everything could fit in our cars. Assembly will take place soon, once we start working in the field! There are some plants at Staffanson first up on our list; I’m sure there will be some exciting species surrounding them.
It was a pretty productive Sunday. Also, here is an update on how dirty my car has become over the last couple weeks:
Tracie’s car and some advertisement.
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