Summer field work

This summer, we completed our second field season for the stomatal traits of Wisconsin’s herbaceous species project. Elsa, Lily, and AJ made significant progress, collecting data on over 100 new species and traveling to two new sites. Parrish Oak Savanna in Blue Mounds, WI, contains both remnant and restored prairies. The savanna and forest ecosystem meant lots of variation in canopy cover in a relatively small area, allowing the team to sample plants growing in a wide range of light conditions. At the end of the summer, Lily, AJ, and Chris traveled back to Parrish to help The Prairie Enthusiasts collect seeds for their future restoration projects.

Nachusa Grasslands in northern Illinois was another new site this summer, which was especially fun to visit. Spanning over 4,000 acres, Nachusa consists of a variety of ecosystems, allowing the team to sample remnant and restored prairies, oak savanna, wetlands, forests, and more. This site is home to a herd of wild bison, which were very interesting to see. We saw both the herd of females and calves, as well as some males off on their own. Nachusa was a great place to expand our species list and sample plants from various environments.

We continued to sample at the sites from the last field season in Madison and process our data in the lab. This project has allowed Elsa, Lily, and AJ to become more familiar with plants in Wisconsin and improve their plant identification skills. We are so grateful we are able to visit and work at these sites, and we extend our special thanks to those who maintain these areas, welcome us, and support our research. We are looking forward to a great fall semester in the lab and wrapping up data processing on this project until next year’s field season.