Just finishing up may second week in Farmington, New Mexico and we are really getting into the swing of things here. Coming from a plant physiology background these first weeks have been a humbling and fulfilling experiencing of \u00a0botanizing, plant keying and navigating around the desert. Relearning families, remembering\u00a0plant morphology,\u00a0learning\u00a0how to use\u00a0GIS and\u00a0GPS units\u00a0has been really\u00a0exciting! Everyone always told me that the real learning starts after\u00a0you finish with college and if these\u00a0few weeks are indicative\u00a0of the next five months\u00a0I\u00a0have no\u00a0doubts.<\/p>\n
Today we were able to check out a new program that our office has implemented as a control for Russian Knapweed, \u00a0Acroptilon repens<\/em>\u00a0, an invasive herb in our\u00a0region. This biological control involves a mite that infects the inflorescences of the knapweed and instead of them producing flowers they make galls for the mite larva to live in. This will hopefully slow down the reproduction of the knapweed and prevent it from spreading further! In the second year of implementation the mites seem to be spreading well and soon the project could be implemented on a larger scale.<\/p>\n Looking for mite infected plants.<\/p>\n Got one!<\/p><\/div>\n Just finishing up may second week in Farmington, New Mexico and we are really getting into the swing of things here. Coming from a plant physiology background these first weeks have been a humbling and fulfilling experiencing of \u00a0botanizing, plant … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dev-clm-blog.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/CLM-6-15-2012-014-300x225.jpg\")
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