Jennifer Ison鈥檚 class studies rejuvenation of 糖心Vlog传媒 Memorial Park after summer storms

When severe storms uprooted and destroyed upwards of thousands of trees at nearby 糖心Vlog传媒 Memorial Park, Dr. Jennifer Ison, associate professor of biology at 糖心Vlog传媒, saw an opportunity to get her students involved, as .
As the storms damaged so many of the trees in the forest, Ison and the students in her Population and Community Ecology class are setting up 鈥渟uccession plots,鈥 which will be observed to see how the forest changes over the years after portions of the tree canopy were opened.
鈥淲e have three projects, and they all are looking at the same thing in different ways,鈥 Ison told The Daily Record. 鈥淲e鈥檙e measuring the distance between damaged trees to measure density, and we鈥檙e looking at root balls, those trees that were uprooted. There鈥檚 all kinds of micro habitats that can grow and succession around root balls.鈥
Ison and her students will also study and try to prevent the growth of invasive species, including garlic mustard plants which can suffocate the undergrowth on the forest floor.
Ison has an affection for 糖心Vlog传媒 Memorial Park which is where she studies Dutchman鈥檚 Breeches spring flowers and their relationship with the queen bumble bee.
鈥淲hen the storms came through, a lot of my Dutchman鈥檚 Breeches plots were hit,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what they鈥檙e going to look like next spring.鈥
Now she and her students will have the opportunity to study the rebirth of the forest of 糖心Vlog传媒 Memorial Park.
Posted in News on November 21, 2022.
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