Notes from part 1 of Feb. 12, 2016 PSH meeting at Matthaei Botanical Gardens

1)Examples of current student-practitioner collaborations (or practice-driven student projects)

  1. Basic ecology research: Sheila Schueller – NRE 509 intro grad student projects (over 35 research questions addressed every fall – quality/accuracy may be low, but with repetition could be citizen science data quality)
  2. Restoration Ecology – Restoration Management Plans (Jacqueline Courteau – undergrad & Bob Grese grad projects)
  3. Con Bio service learning - Katy Greenwald (EMU): “address authentic needs that those partners might have” e.g. NAP South Pond monitoring (herps, etc); Leslie Science ed/outreach—new signage; Split grad/undergrad, so lots of possibilities. Planned to be taught every other summer, but likely every Fall. Looking for community partners, happy to talk to anyone
  4. Others possible if involve more EMU and UM (SNRE, EEB, Pite) faculty

2)The value of student projects: Practitioners agreed that time/resources too limited to actually implement the plan, BUT

  1. good info for future; Aha! moments—idea generation, fresh eyes, and perspectives; “hugely valuable because we all walk in our own little bubbles”; gave info (e.g. use of Ebird data), guided us to look at things we weren’t looking at.

3)Ways of sharing data/ Facilitating opportunities for new collaborations

  1. Bob: UMMBGNA funding to set up database or open source structure to deposit & access data (e.g. Radrick forest long-term data). Wouldn’t have to be restricted to UM properties. One of goals: take the old studies, do comparative studies to today
  2. Establishing more deer exclosures, permanent forest plots in UM and other properties– good for long term and comparative research

4)Apparent that two different types of projects/data and different ways to collaborate

  1. Individual partnerships to answer/address specific practitioner needs – work closely to refine frame question (balancing needs feasibility – research-education-practice overlap); Share these individually, not using data management/sharing system
  2. 3-5 measures that we could compare across all sites – tracked in a shared system. Sks: Use an existing app (like MISIN) with group designation so can share key indicators efficiently and with high accessibility!!
  3. % shrub and tree cover(Mike Kost): would give density and composition- sp. that can id – esp. native vs. non-native) using line intercept (1m x 10 cm strip, stratified random sampling) – Just need to teach students a couple of plants & develop a common protocol; can be done uplands, wetlands, anywhere

Suggested research and indicators(from meeting follow-up survey)

RESEARCH IDEAS
Kris Olsson / Statistical analysis of field assessment data
Testing detention ponds/waterways for coal tar
Salt run off
Waterways downstream of dog parks
stormwater benefits of natural areas/features (smaller natural sites) and if those benefits change depending on percent native vs. invasive cover
Properties who have had field assessments done – if they want to do any restoration, they could be class projects
DanaWright / Seed viability within the soil strata is quite interesting. How much top soil needs to be removed to remove all the invasive seeds? What is the viability of seeds as you go further down into the soil?
Using decay rates to determine how old the soil is in a particular ecosystem can shed light on using soil removal as a management technique in some ecosystems.
CatieWytychak / 1. Do rain gardens accumulate toxins?
a. Miller vs Stone School rd rain gardens
b. Can use EMU’s soil testing service
2. Is rain water from roofs use-able in vegetable gardens?
a. Can sample a variety of roof types/locations
b. WC Environmental Health has a water testing lab
3. What is the difference in infiltration rates between a rain garden and a similarly shaped turf area?
a. Two comparison sites: Easy St and off of Jackson Rd
4. Average infiltration rate for residential rain gardens?
5. How different is water quality in two creeksheds with different percent impervious areas?
6. What is the difference in water quality upstream and downstream of the Mary Beth Doyle wetland/detention basin?
INDICATOR IDEAS
Kris Olsson / % invasive cover
Diversity? (with caveat mentioned about some ecosystems not being diverse but still important). Species number?
Depends on what you are measuring - ecological quality? Ecosystem benefits?
I’ve attached our field assessment worksheets just to see what was gathered as key measures for that project.
Catie W (WC Raingarden Prog) / I liked the conclusion that forest composition, structure and percent invasive cover are representative of terrestrial ecosystem health.
Being on the water side of things now, I would add in water quality indicators like DO, pH, phosphate, nitrate, temperature, coliform bacteria and macro invertebrate health.

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