The fourth step of the process is counting, which happens mainly on Tuesday and Thursdays. This is when all the achenes in the scanned image are counted. Allen, our Count of Achene County, has counted 999,418 achenes! So close to his goal in counting 1 million achenes!

The team started "total demo", or a census of the Echinacea angustifolia in our remnant sites, on August 4th. As of today, we are 91% done! #progress

Harvesting is in full swing here at the Echinacea Project! In this photo, Alexa and Blaire are racing to harvest Bouteloua curtipendula.

Team Echinacea is 100% done with total demo, our census of Echinacea in remnant populations. Abby officially certified our total demo signout sheet this afternoon!

The fifth and final step for the summer, which happens randomly, is randomization! Here Kenn is taking a small sample of achenes from each head and categorizing it as informative or uninformative. Check out this poster and see if you can identify them yourself! Chicago Botanic Garden

Today, the team began one final search for flowering Echinacea in remnants. We've named this task Demopup (Demography mop-up, or demo pup). Here are the leaderboard standings after day 1.

It's great to see Erin Eichenberger 🌱 continue her excellent work on Echinacea laevigata. Happy to feel that this rare species is in good hands.

Yesterday, our pollinator team completed the last round of emergence trap retrieval for MN ENRTF funded research investigating the impacts of fire on ground-nesting bees. Here are Jan and Luke processing the last specimen vial!

Celebrating our new CEO (Chief Echinacea Officer), Allen, with achene cupcakes and fancy top hats in the lab Chicago Botanic Garden today! Allen's promotion comes with his millionth achene counted. Read more about this achievement on the flog: echinaceaproject.org/meet-our-new-c…

We have a new paper in @PNAS exploring fire’s effect on plant reproduction! Fire encourages flowering in all populations, but does seed yield vary with population size? Find out here: pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn…

We have a new paper out in PNASNews! This 6-year study across remnant prairies in Minnesota investigates fire’s role in plant reproduction. Have you wondered how small & large plant populations respond to fire? Read our paper to find out! More info here: echinaceaproject.org/habitat-fragme…

Our new study published in PNASNews reveals fire’s effect on plant reproduction is not one-size-fits-all. Small populations in fragmented habitat do not reap the same fiery rewards! Check out the paper here: pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn…

Be cautious about driving at dawn or dusk. This is an interesting article about deer & daylight savings time. Also wolves! minnesotareformer.com/2023/11/01/rut…

K12 and community college educators: join our team in MN prairies this summer 2024! Develop a research project, collect data, and bring science to your classroom as a paid U.S. National Science Foundation RET participant. Applications open: echinaceaproject.org/opportunities/… National Science Teaching Association NAAEE 🎓🌎 Black In Environment SACNAS

We eagerly await the start of the #TCMC. Echinacea Project regularly takes the Empire Builder between GLN & MSP. wuwm.com/2023-11-07/sec…

Prescribed fires, pilot studies, and seeding, oh my! We had a successful trip to Minnesota to wrap up field work last week! Read about what we got done on the flog: echinaceaproject.org/back-to-dougla…

Last week we handed off pollen and nectar samples to Rahul Roy St. Catherine University! Collected over the summer as part of our MN ENRTF funded research on ground-nesting bees, we'll use these samples to understand fire's impacts on pollen and nectar characteristics.

Our lab Chicago Botanic Garden is bustling! With help from our hardworking students, volunteers, and Carleton College externs, we are exploring new questions and making lots of progress with data processing!

Do you miss summer as much as we do? We are currently posting updates on experiments from the 2023 field season! Reminisce with us here: echinaceaproject.org/category/updat…

Explore #prairieecology with us this summer! @Teamechinacea is now accepting applications for our summer 2024 field research positions! More info here: echinaceaproject.org/opportunities/ #ecology #conservation Chicago Botanic Garden