See also the press release from MSU EEB:
eeb.msu.edu/news/folklor...
And press from @smithsonianmag.bsky.social:
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a...
and @yahoonews.com:
www.yahoo.com/news/article...
New from lab alum @ashishnerlekar.bsky.social. Traditional Marathi compositions up to 800 years old illustrate the antiquity of west Indian savannas. They are ancient and important conservation targets, not relicts of colonial forest clearance
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
A prairie under a partly cloudy sky
Paper bags filled with prairie seeds
It was a beautiful fall afternoon to do some seed collecting. We'll add these (and more) to our campus prairie reconstruction, as part of the restoration ecology course
A structural equation model explaining oak savanna groundlayer plant diversity based on management, soils, and aspects of ecosystem structure
New from the group:
Across 100 oak savannas and five states, we show how management structures groundlayer plant diversity by modifying canopy openness, with context dependent effects based on spatial scale and soil attributes
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
A graph showing how prairie plant responses to seeding density treatments vary along a soil water holding capacity gradient
New paper led by former post-bac researcher Isabelle Turner, with @chriscatano.bsky.social:
Seeding density alters the role of soil moisture in structuring plant abundance during prairie restoration
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Apply to become the next MSU EEB Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow!
These are two year positions with research stipend, working with 2+ MSU EEB faculty. Applications due 10 November 2025. More here:
eeb.msu.edu/initiatives/...
@martin-nunez.bsky.social - so sorry, I just realized I tagged the wrong Martin Nuñez! Better late than never and I can also now relay an update. I enjoyed your book, have used the chapter on AI in a lab meeting, lent out my copy to a student, and bought a copy for another student.
A gulf fritillary visiting pinkscale blazingstar
Palamedes swallowtail
A grasshopper visiting pinkscale blazingstar
Pinkscale blazingstar
Pinkscale blazing star (Liatris elegans) is blooming in the SRS Corridor Project experiment and attracting many visitors
A view within the SRS Fragmentation Experiment
A sea of pink pin flags marking herbaceous plants
Liatris squarrulosa
Great day today, working in the SRS Fragmentation Experiment. We're conducting our 19th field season, to understand long-term consequences of fragmentation for populations of longleaf pine savanna groundlayer plants species
#demography #fieldwork
Liatris squarrulosa
Amazingly, this is one of the species I was working with today! Part of a long-running study into habitat fragmentation effects on ground layer herb populations
Interesting - sounds like spots around the oak openings (near Toledo) and Allegan (western MI). Thanks for these tips - I'll have to do some looking!
Cool find. I'll have to keep an eye out for this one in my neck of the woods. I've not seen it before, but there's an herbarium record from within a couple km of my house
New paper: Dearth under earth: Understudied plant-soil-fire feedback as drivers of forest mesophication and oak regeneration failures
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Holding a book: A Pocket Guide to Scientific Writing and Publishing, by Martin Nuñez
Hey @martinnunez.bsky.social - guess what arrived arrived today? Looking forward to reading and sharing with students!
New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), gray goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis), and black-eyed Susan
New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)
Gray goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis)
Black-eyed Susan
New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), gray goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis), and black-eyed Susan, starring together in the front yard pocket prairie
A field of goldenrod with t-posts in it
Another year of NutNet in the books @kelloggbiostn.bsky.social
An oak savanna
Tall coreopsis (Coreopsis tripteris)
Oak savanna, with lots of tall coreopsis (Coreopsis tripteris) in bloom - at the Chipman Preserve, near Kalamazoo, MI
Michigan State University is hiring a new Director of our herbarium!
This is an open rank, tenure-stream faculty position, with research focus in plant or fungal systematics, ecology, and/or evolution
Please consider applying and help spread the word!
plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu/job-postings...
I'll send you an email, Mark - thanks!
Thanks - it's a past student's research plot and I'm happy to have it here!
Thanks, Tom
That would be awesome!
Thanks, Mark! I'm glad you were able to visit...and sorry I missed you, when you did (if I remember right, I was on vacation at the time, myself, visiting Door County!)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
Blue vervain (Verbena hastata)
False boneset (Brickellia eupatorioides)
Stiff goldenrod (Solidago rigida)
Lots blooming right now in the front yard pocket prairie, including black-eyed Susan, blue vervain, false boneset, and (just coming online) stiff goldenrod
😀
P.S. I don't usually do field work on the weekend, but yesterday was a (mostly) off day for me, so playing catch up today!
An oak savanna plot receiving prescribed fire and tree thinning management
An oak savanna plot receiving prescribed fire and tree thinning management
An oak savanna plot receiving prescribed fire management
An unmanaged oak savanna plot
Today I wrapped up the 16th year of vegetation sampling in our oak savanna restoration experiment!
In this study, we are testing the long-term ecological consequences of prescribed fire, fire with tree thinning, and no management, within fire suppressed oak savannas at the MSU MacCready Reserve
Monarch (Danaus plexippus) nectaring on butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Monarch (Danaus plexippus) nectaring on butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Purple coneflower, big bluestem, etc in a prairie reconstruction at Kellogg Biological Station
Yellow coneflower, big bluestem, etc in a prairie reconstruction at Kellogg Biological Station
Yellow coneflower, big bluestem, etc in a prairie reconstruction at Kellogg Biological Station
Today we wrapped up the 10th summer of vegetation surveys in our KBS prairie restoration (reconstruction) experiment, testing how the geographic origin and species diversity of seeds used to initiate restoration affects long-term ecological dynamics
@kelloggbiostn.bsky.social @kbslter.bsky.social
A bumblebee on purple coneflower
An ambush bug on lance-leaved coreopsis
A dragonfly
An ambush bug on blue vervain
Lots of insect activity in our front yard pocket prairie this evening, including bumblebees, ambush bugs, and dragonflies