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Grassland Project
• Principle investigators
– Dr. Ned Fetcher (ecosystems ecology)
– Dr. Kenneth Klemow (plant ecology)
– Dr. Michael Steele (small mammals)
– Dr. Jeff Stratford (birds)
[email protected]
What are grasslands? These are
grasslands but not the type we study
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Beltzville State Park
SGL119: Francis Walter Dam
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Nescopeck State Park
Eastern PA grasslands
• Isolated
• Temporary!
– Left alone would convert to forest
– Require disturbance
• Fire (new, last state to allow prescribed burning!)
• Mechanical
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Bobolinks
Why grasslands?
Grasshopper Sparrow
Loggerhead Shrikes
Golden-winged Warbler
Why grasslands?
• Isolated: easily defined unit of study
• Unique
• Important
– Biologically
– Social (hunters)
• Many warm season grasses have special
properties
– C4 photosynthesis
– One extra step = big consequence + useful tool
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Stable Isotopes
• Carbon
– C4 grasses accumulate heavy carbon more than other
species of plants
– This signature goes up the food chain based on the
principle of “you are what you eat”
• Nitrogen
– Heavy nitrogen accumulated moving up the food
chain
– Possible to estimate the trophic level of any organism
• Plants are 1, Herbivores are 2, Predators of herbivores are 3
and so on
What to do with stable isotopes in
grasslands
• We can ask
1. do restored grasslands create communities?
2. what do these communities look like?
• Food web topology (who eats who)
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Questions we must answer
Given state funding to answer these questions
• What drives avian species richness and
abundance at sites
• What mammals are there
• What drives plant productivity (growth rates)
• Are important invertebrates there
• Food webs at 5 sites
Deliverables and more
• Report to the state
– 2015: Drivers of grassland biodiversity
– 2016: Effects of fire on grassland biodiversity
• Senior research projects
– You develop a project that will help us answer these
questions
• Independent research projects
– You develop a project that will help us answer these
questions
• Posters at meetings (WOS [Newfoundland], AOU, ESA
[Baltimore])
• Publications
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How to be an author
• Technicians
– Carry out the technical aspects of the project
– Learn about the project
– Get important skills
• Authors
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Carry out the technical aspects of the project
Learn about the project
Get important skills
Contribute to the intellectual development of the project
• Writing, analysis, modify the project that improves the study
design
Linkages
• Bring together faculty and students
• Ask interesting questions
• Room for independent research and senior
research
• Example
– Plant productivity and bird diversity
– Plant diversity and insect diversity
– How does soil influence plant
diversity/productivity
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