research team mentorS
Co-Principal Investigator
Erin O’Connell, MS (Integrated Biosciences: Ecology, Organismal, and Population Biology)
Research and Conservation Project Coordinator
Tyson Research Center
Email: eoconnell@wustl.edu
Co-Principal Investigator
Doug Ladd, MS (Botany)
Senior Lecturer
Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts
Washington University in St. Louis
Email: dladd@tnc.org
Research focus for summer 2024
Team Flora conducts plant monitoring and applied conservation at Tyson Research Center. Our goal is simple: to create a master list of Tyson’s vascular plant species – from rare orchids in a remnant glade to weeds in the lab lawn. In addition to documenting a plant species, we will map plant communities across the Tyson landscape. These projects will require learning plant identification, conducting intensive field surveys, and collecting vouchers (geolocated representative plant samples) for every species. This summer’s work will build on the previous year’s collections and inventories. The “Flora of Tyson” project is a critical ongoing endeavor to create a baseline resource for experimental design and land management at Tyson.
Our team will also work closely with the Missouri Botanical Garden. We will contribute our vouchers to the Garden herbarium, which is a library of preserved plant specimens used for reference and research. In addition, we will spend one day a week at the Garden processing collections and learning about behind-the-scenes herbarium operations.
Team Flora projects are structured differently from other research-focused teams because we do not conduct experiments or investigate hypotheses, but instead engage in exploratory monitoring and applied conservation. This necessitates a curiosity about the natural world and a desire to immerse yourself in Missouri flora, literally and intellectually!
Skills
techniques
methods
As a member of our team, you will develop field, research, and teamwork skills useful for a wide range of careers.
Plant identification: You will learn botanical terminology, plant taxonomy, field botany, and how to identify vascular plants using dichotomous keys.
Habitat assessment: You will learn survey techniques for inventorying plant communities and monitoring rare plants. This will include applying your survey results to create habitat classification maps.
Voucher preparation: You will practice collecting, pressing, mounting, and preserving plant collections. In addition, you will learn how to create herbarium labels and experience herbarium collections management.
Field skills: You will learn to navigate off trail terrain, maintain a detailed field notebook, and practice field safety.
Community science: You will gain experience contributing to community science through iNaturalist, and learn about the behind-the-scenes coordination and curation of community science projects.
Applied conservation: You will practice applying the data collected from plant inventories and monitoring to conservation efforts. This will include GIS mapping and ecological data analysis in Excel and R.
research conditions
Fellows should expect to spend at least 60% of their time outside in Tyson’s gorgeous forests, glades, old fields, ponds, quarries, and the Meramec River floodplain. This will entail exposure to ticks, chiggers, mosquitoes, snakes, spiders (and their webs!), and many more exciting critters. You need to be comfortable working in high heat/humidity and hiking off trail on steep rocky terrain. We always prioritize safety and will provide instruction on best practices for field work.
Indoor time will include work in the lab and at the Missouri Botanic Garden identifying, processing, and pressing collected plants, as well as entering and analyzing data. This will involve time at microscopes and computers.
Team structure and opportunities for independent research
Undergraduate fellows will work directly with Erin O’Connell and Doug Ladd. The Flora of Tyson and habitat monitoring projects will be a collaborative effort with all fellows working together. Weekly team meetings will provide opportunities for team check-ins, career skill-building, project guidance, paper discussions, and reflections on social justice topics within conservation.
Each student will have the opportunity to conduct and present an independent research project on a topic of their interest. This may include leading teammates in data collection. Examples of past projects include roadside floral diversity, wetland and aquatic flora, and land cover history at Tyson. All fellows will present a poster during the Tyson Summer Research Symposium at the end of the field season. Students are also encouraged to present their poster at the Washington University Undergraduate Research Symposium.