Daily Archives: 8 August, 2023

You Blink and You Miss It

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1. Silphium laciniatum towers over even the tallest of CLM Interns.
2. Dalea purpurea ft. a visitor.
Vegetation monitoring

July kicked off with the most anticipated task of the field season: vegetation monitoring. Two and a half weeks filled with… Botany! Interns, technicians, volunteers, and specialists worked collaboratively to monitor four different tall grass prairie restorations. At each site, four 100 meter transects were established. Every four meters, a quadrat was randomly placed, and each plant within the quadrat was identified to species and recorded. That adds up to a total of 400 quadrats!

Groups of three would rotate roles, ensuring that there were always two identifiers and one recorder. The recording process was often quite intense; identifiers would continuously call out species like Sporobolus heterolepis, Heliopsis helianthoides, Oenothera pilosella… Meanwhile, the recorder would frantically scroll through the species list, occasionally selecting the wrong species and fall further and further behind. Nevertheless, identifying the plants presented the best opportunity for me to enhance my botanical knowledge and occasionally showcase my skills when I felt confident in my identifications. I relished every moment, from the plants to the people.

The data collected during these two weeks will help in estimating species richness and evenness, providing a deeper insight into the annual changes observed in restored prairies. While it was satisfying to successfully complete this project in a timely manner, I was sad that it ended so abruptly. I can only hope for the chance to participate in a similar project in the future.

Bouteloua curtipendula, Schizachyrium scoparium, Sorghastrum nutans

July brings a breathtaking display of colors and structure to the prairie. The towering inflorescences of Silphium laciniatum and Silphium terebinthinaceum, standing in some cases at an impressive 12 feet in height, inspire awe. Amidst this spectacle, the vibrant red flowers of Silene regia catch the eye from considerable distances. One species that never fails to excite me is Porcupine grass (Hesperostipa spartea) this species might have the longest awns of any grass in North America, reaching lengths of seven and a half inches. The seed, heavy and sharp, falls to the ground. The awns then “drill” the seed into the soil, twisting back and forth in response to changes in humidity. While the diversity here is undoubtedly remarkable, it is when you take a closer look that you truly begin to appreciate it. It feels like just yesterday the prairie was only knee-high now, it has transformed into an almost impenetrable thicket of forbs and grasses. I imagine it will go as quickly as it came, and before we know it, it will all start over again.

– Hesperostipa spartea

As our initial phase of seed collection draws to a close, the sedges are wrapping up for the season. Our attention shifts towards the genus Symphyotrichum, which takes center stage later in summer and extends through fall. Additionally, we look for members of the genus Sporobolus – a group of warm-season grasses. Amidst it all, my experience at Midewin has been incredibly fulfilling. The work itself is a joy, and the camaraderie amongst my fellow interns enhances the experience even more. A special shoutout to Dade, Veronica, and Harsha – you’re all truly amazing individuals.

Removing woodies

Showing off some mussels!

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Throughout the past month, we have been given the opportunity to conduct mussel surveys along the Sprague River. During these presence/ absence surveys, we have been looking for three mussel species: the California floater, western ridged, and western pearl shell mussels. The surveys, which are completed either by kayaking or snorkeling, have given us great views of the river as well as an opportunity to explore other wildlife! Before these surveys, I was unaware of the abundance of life among the riverbed.

I took an invertebrate biology course during undergrad and we had a section dedicated to mussels. I surprised myself with the knowledge I retained during the course, as I remembered where the mussel’s “tooth” and “foot” were located, which are important indicators when determining a species. Below are some examples of western ridged mussels observed along the Sprague.

We also had the opportunity to visit the wildlife forensics lab located in Ashland. I was a bit weary at first as I tend to get squeamish around deceased organisms, yet I faced my fears and learned so much about wildlife trade and trafficking. Wildlife trafficking was always a blurry subject for me, as I never understood how people got caught and what is considered illegal and legal. I learned that many tourists when traveling abroad want to bring back souvenirs such as ivory or animal fur, however, the gifts they acquired may have been illegally sourced. The gifts are then collected and brought to the forensics lab to determine where they originated and what type of animal was used. This is why the role of wildlife inspectors is crucial within international travel, as many goods are sourced from endangered species. Below is a collection of trophy animals donated by a family who had legal permits to hunt on safari trips, it is baffling that these animals were all acquired legally!

It was also interesting to learn about various cultural cosmologies. To a worker in southeast Asia, they might want to impress their boss by purchasing a “valued” good such as a sculpture from an endangered animal, since that animal is endangered, it is considered “rare”, meaning goods created from it have more value. To me and most people from the western world, this way of thinking seems skewed, however, this is common in several cultures across the globe. Throughout the tour, I kept asking myself, “how can we respect other cultures and animals at the same time?” I left the tour with more questions than I came with, so I hope to come back to the lab someday!

Every week I obtain a great appreciation for the work completed at U.S. Fish & Wildlife and I am so excited to share what is next to come.

Another fun Month!!

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Another month down and one more to go; it is a bit bittersweet as this internship has been so amazing. We started the month off by electrofishing on Leonard Creek to monitor what is in there after the fire that came thru the area 2 years ago.

Leonard creek

Then to finish the first week, we monitored Demming Creek again using block nets to section up part of the creek to capture all the fish in the stream and then measure each fish.

Washington’s Lilly next Deming Creek

For the next three days, we conducted mussel surveys. This fun activity involved floating down the Sprague River on kayas and looking at the bottom of the river with an aqua scope. We were looking for the western ridged mussel (Gonidia angulata), the western pearl shell mussel (Margaritifera falcata), and floaters (Anodonta oregonensis).

The view from the cones

On Thursday of that week, I got to go on the boat on Upper Klamath Lake with the telemetry crew. We relocated a station that day, taking it down, loading it in the boat then setting it up along the shore.

Trying to find a good spot for the station

The following week for the first two days, we were tasked with an interesting job of cutting 800 yards of netting into 100-yard pieces. The first three nets went quickly; then, we found the knot that was tricky to get past. We electrofished the rest of the week in Callahan Creek, removing invasive brook trout. For the last week, we surveyed for mussels on the Sprague River again. This month has been exciting, just like the first two months, and I am excited to see what we will do for my last month.

Botany, Bison, & Bees

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Summer is the height of the field season at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, making it time for annual cover board surveys, robel pole monitoring, and floristic quality assessments. While walking our transects, it became increasingly clear that we were not alone on the prairie, as evidenced by an ever-abundance of fresh buffalo paddies often discovered already beneath your boot. 

As we approached, the bison (Bison bison) were quick to greet us — eager to use the grill of our truck as a scratching post. Weighing in at nearly a ton and standing over six feet tall, Richard is Midewin’s largest bison. And although he may sire the most calves each year, he is far from in-charge. Rather, the herd is led by a matriarch who decides when and where the group grazes.

Midewin’s bison (Bison bison), once again roaming the prairie. 

Although Midewin hosts a growing herd on its prairie restorations today, bison were extirpated from the state during the 1800s by Euro-American settlers. With them, these homesteaders brought Old World agricultural species such as horses, cattle, and honey bees. 

Early American author and diplomat Washington Irving documented his surprise of the westward spread of the European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) in 1832, writing: “The Indians consider them the harbinger of the white man, as the buffalo is of the red man; and say that, in proportion as the bee advances, the Indian and buffalo retire.”

An exotic European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) on native Pale Indian Plantain (Arnoglossum atriplicifolium).

When most people think of bees, they imagine hives constructed from wax which house tens of thousands of workers, making honey to feed their colony during the winter months. Most of these characteristics, however, are only true for the non-native Honey Bee. Native bees, on the other hand, live incredibly diverse lifestyles.

Bumble Bees (Bombus spp.), for example, live in seasonal colonies typically composed of a few hundred individuals. Young queens mate during the late summer and fall before hibernating throughout the winter, when the rest of the colony dies. Come spring, they will emerge from the soil and start collecting nectar and pollen to build colonies of their own. 

A mating pair of Black & Gold Bumble Bees (Bombus auricomus).

Other bees, such as members of the family Halictidae, may be flexibly social. When floral resources are abundant, individuals of a species may live communally or even form colonies. During times of dearth, however, that same species may live solitarily; stockpiling a subterranean chamber or hollow plant stem with pollen, nectar, and eggs by herself before sealing it shut and dying soon after. 

Whether encountering bison or bees at Midewin, days spent working at one of the nation’s few federally protected grasslands are full of reminders for the need to protect the residents of the prairie — both big and small. 

A Halictid bee species, a common hitchhiker during hot afternoons on the prairie. 

Dade Bradley
Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie