As in past years, we had two wonderful interns join us in restoration work this summer. In addition to helping us with all sorts of horticulture and restoration tasks, Hannah Merwin and Sam Kilgore each completed an independent research project.

Hannah Merwin came to us from Minnesota, having graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College this spring. Her research project this summer focused on the effects of prairie edges on bird nest predation. Edges are places where two or more different habitats come together and tend to be places where a number of nest predators (e.g., raccoons, opossums, crows, etc.) and parasites (e.g., cowbirds) live. Many natural areas are fragments that have more edge area than interior, so it is important to understand how all these edges affect different species.

Hannah wanted to find out whether the likelihood of eggs in ground nests being predated (eaten by other animals such as snakes, raccoons, opossums, etc.) would be different depending on whether the prairie was next to woodland, lawn, or another prairie. She put 24 chicken eggs in different places in the north and south prairies to see if she could find a pattern in which ones would be eaten. After 12 days, only one of the 24 eggs had been eaten, so she couldn’t draw any conclusions about edge effects and nest predation in the prairies at LREC. Although she followed the methods used by others when studying nest predation, it is possible the hot weather, a bit of rain, or other factors contributed to only one egg being eaten.

For more details on Hannah’s research, you can read her paper or look at her presentation slides (Edge Effects Presentation).

Even though the results of her research project were a little disappointing, Hannah took it all in stride as part of the scientific process. We greatly enjoyed having Hannah with us this summer, and we wish her all the best! Look for an article in the next newsletter on the research Sam Kilgore did during his time at LREC.