Heather McCarthy (half hidden behind the tree) and Leah Hill gave talks on their work at the garden. Interesting enough she told us the bur oak’s acorns were just the regular sized acorns in the Illinois compared to the large size we find here in Oklahoma and Texas.. A Differential Grasshopper (Melanoplus differentialis) was taking in the talk too. They said insects were not being monitored in the project at this time.
Bagworm!
Indeed, the Olive-shaded Bird Dropping Moth (Ponometia candefacta -tentatively) did not fool me!
Next Abby led us to the next destination, a drought project.
As we walked along the trail we were able to do a bit of botanizing. A Mexican Hat (Ratibida columnifera)!
And the eggs of Assassin bugs (Reduviidae) was spotted!
Big Top Dalea (Dalea enneandra) was a common plant along the path too.
The Bluebells (Eustoma grandiflorum) was a bit of a surprise in a small swale.
The Leafroller ties definitely looked like an alien face starring back. LOL.
Grad student drought researcher Mariela Encarnacion (green shirt) explained how and what the experiment was measuring. This is a “part of a coordinated global ecological network to assess grassland sensitivity to drought”. So the covers over each plot let them control the amount of water. In fact, it ranged from zero percent to 100% with seven different percentage allowed that were being monitored. See Projects for this other projects at KAEFS.
So we had been out since 8am. And Abby handed out the Nuun tablets at the drought research station. We accepted them! 🙂 Certainly helped on the way back. In fact the tablets will now be in my summer tool kit.
Indeed what a fantastic field trip! Thanks to Abby, Tiana, and the whole TORCH team for putting the conference together!
And a good time was had by all. Interesting about the nuun tablets. Good to know.
It was a great field trip – the experiments were really interesting. Glad Abby had the NUUN!
Looks like a great field day! Good sets of articles. I’ve never heard of nuun – will do some investigating.
I brought some Nuun so next time I see you, you are welcome to try.
Will do!
Great article on oaks – one of my particular interests. Large bur oak in my yard.
Beautiful tree!
Glad you had such a good time on your Oklahoma visit!!