Due to concerns about population declines and habitat destruction, secretive marsh birds (SMBs) are of high conservation concern at state, regional, and national levels. Gaps in research on SMB habitat pose barriers to conservation and wetland restoration efforts.
Pollination is a reproductive necessity in the majority of the world’s flowering plants. Pollen limitation threatens plant reproduction, particularly in self-incompatible species. Although assessing pollen limitation usually requires pollen supplementation experiments, alternative methods support the findings of traditional pollen supplementation experiments.
Two experiments were conducted to assess the germination, growth, and survival of Cirsium pitcheri Torr. ex Eaton T & G in the Chicagoland region. The first experiment involved growing seeds from various native populations to determine tolerance for the current Chicagoland climate. The second experiment tested three of the populations...
Hybridization is an important evolutionary pathway to genetic diversity, fitness, and ultimately to the emergence of new species. In contrast, hybridization between a native and an introduced species can lead to a loss of locally adapted gene complexes and ultimately to the extinction of the native. In the last decade,...
Once widespread throughout southern Wisconsin, Quercus savannas are now one of the most endangered communities due to fire suppression and increasing landscape fragmentation. These plant communities are also highly susceptible to invasions by nonnative, exotic species. Understanding the mechanisms of exotic species invasion has been the focus of numerous studies....
Trees in urban areas offer ecosystem services like carbon sequestration, storm water attenuation, reduction of energy used in buildings and wildlife habitat. Cities invest substantial funds and resources to maintain a healthy urban forest, and much research has been done to improve its resiliency and sustainability. Studies have been done...
Pollination is a reproductive necessity in the majority of the world’s flowering plants. Pollen limitation threatens plant reproduction, particularly in self-incompatible species. Although assessing pollen limitation usually requires pollen supplementation experiments, alternative methods support the findings of traditional pollen supplementation experiments.
Fire is an agent of ecosystem change that has played a critical role in shaping the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Periodic prescribed fire maintains the prairie by removing woody and invasive plant species, and stimulating growth of native herbaceous species. Fire’s beneficial effect on the tallgrass prairie aboveground community, in terms...
The underutilized tropical fruit tree, “cempedak” (Artocarpus integer (Thunb.) Merr. , Moraceae), is a major crop in Malaysia but the distribution of genetic diversity in the crop and its putative wild progenitor, “bangkong” (Artocarpus integer var. silvestris Corner), have not been studied. To investigate the diversity and origins of cempedak,...