Urban botany - an essay on survival

Botany is today\u27s most needed urban science. It deals with life and with objects which man can understand, for which he reaches and with which he feels comfortable. The technological and economic problems of the city are horrendous—transportation, waste disposal, air pollution, and housing to name a few

Research in plant ecology at UWM - 1965 to 1984

Ecological research on plants and plant communities has been an active program at UWM, Involving several faculty, many undergraduate and graduate students and the UWM Field Station. Aquatic and urban environments, forests and wetlands have received most attention although prairie and landscape ecology and endangered species have not been neglected. Descriptive, theoretical and applied studies are Included spanning the spectrum from the autecology of a single species to examination of entire landscapes. Over the period of 20 years, 54 M.S. theses, nine Ph.D. dissertations and numerous published papers and reports have resulted. University-sponsored research serves several purposes: discovery of new and specific knowledge, the application of this knowledge and of research skills to problems of society, and, not least, the training of new generations of scientists. Programs may be oriented narrowly toward the specific Interests of the senior researchers or they may be directed toward a more varied interest of successive groups of students and toward the evident needs for basic Information. The availability of travel funds, supplies and equipment may also influence the choice of research problems. Worldwide, ecological research began of necessity with descriptive studies of communities and autecology of species. Research moved from description of what was present to why and how -- delving into function in relation to environmental factors, into species interactions and eventually various aspects of community development and plant and animal relationships. More recently, ecologists have begun to examine the interrelationships between ecosystems and the influence of human activities upon these relationships. Our work at UWM spans the entire range from community description and function and species-environment interactions to landscape ecology. Descriptive studies are particularly well-adapted for master\u27s research; they provide the student with an opportunity to explore and see for himself the complexity of plant communities and ecosystem function and to accomplish this within a reasonable time. More complex, descriptive studies and those concerned with function and complex Interrelationships, generally building on earlier descriptive work and on theoretical work from elsewhere, require experience and time, hence are better suited for Ph.D. dissertations. Since 1965 there have been 54 master\u27s theses and nine Ph.D. dissertations completed in plant ecology. Twelve authors of M.S. theses have continued on to the doctorate, either at UWM or elsewhere. Research in plant ecology at UWM has been largely under the direction of faculty members Philip 8. Whitford and Peter Salamun (now retired), John Blum and Forest Stearns. In addition to graduate student and faculty research, many undergraduate research projects have provided valuable information on the local flora and plant communities. Over the years our ecological research has developed in many directions, including studies of aquatic communities, wetlands, forests and urban systems, and, more recently, endangered species. Earlier emphasis on prairies resulted from P. B. Whitford\u27s interest and early training. Most ecological research has been centered in southeastern Wisconsin, although several studies have been conducted elsewhere in and outside of Wisconsin. The International Biological Program (1967 to 1974) placed strong emphasis on productivity of ecosystems. and productivity studies of Wisconsin ecosystems were carried out at UWM in cooperation with UW-Madison (Stearns et al. 1971, 1973). The former manager of the UWM Field Station, Paul Matthiae, cooperated in several of these studies. Financial support has come from organizations as diverse as the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, The Wisconsin Coastal Zone Program, the UW College Sea Grant Program, the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Park Service, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy. A benchmark site still active today was established at the Field Station in 1970 in cooperation with the U.S. IBP Phenology Program. Many research projects have been done by students utilizing their own resources or with very moderate amounts of University support. Alphabetical lists of theses and dissertations are appended and thesis advisors are indicated. Theses are cited by name only. Summaries of many of these theses have appeared in the Field Station Bulletin. Other pertinent references listed by author and cited with the date will be found in the Literature Cited list. The first UWM doctoral degree in Botany was awarded in 1968 to Thomas Grittinger for a study on vegetational patterns and edaphic relationships in the Cedarburg Bog; much of our understanding of the plant communities of the bog is derived from that study. The late Professor A. L. Throne deserves much credit for initial work in plant ecology. His efforts to establish a UWM Field Station led to its final acquisition in 1964 with the financial support of the Wisconsin Chapter of the Nature Conservancy. During the early 1970\u27s three major research thrusts began to develop broadly - forest, wetland and urban ecology. Our emphasis on urban ecology began with a national workshop in Austin, Texas, which was organized at UWM, sponsored by the Institute of Ecology and funded by the National Science Foundation (Stearns and Montag 1974). In 1970 a team of plant ecology graduate students and faculty surveyed 17 potential national landmark sites in Wisconsin and Michigan. One result of that survey was the designation of the UWM Maple-Beech Woods and the Department of Natural Resources\u27 Cedarburg B09 as National Natural Landmarks. Recently, in cooperation with Norman Lasca (UWM-Geology) and his students, a theme study was completed for the Superior Upland Physiographic Region (Stearns et al. 1982a), and this year three prairie sites were evaluated for the Park Service

Phenology - the layman\u27s science

Phenology is embedded in human folklore and culture but it is also a science--a science of the relationships between biological events and environmental changes, chiefly those of season and weather. As a science phenology is closely related to ecology, physiology, meteorology and genetics. Agriculture, forestry and game management are among the applied sciences that depend heavily on phenological knowledge

Volunteer urban vegetation of Racine, Wisconsin

We have only meagre knowledge of the composition and the functions performed by vegetation in Wisconsin cities. The records of the U.S. Government Land Survey conducted in the 1830s provide information on the presettlement vegetation. Likewise, the notes and letters of settlers and early residents speak of the plants they found here, or brought with them. We know less about the vegetation now growing in our cities

Primary production in wild and cultivated cranberries

Cranberries grow in many Wisconsin sphagnum bogs. One of the two species, the large cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon Alt., is among the few American fruit crops in cultivation. Most of the cultivated cranberries have been derived by selection from wild, and more recently from cultivated clones. Like the large cranberry, the small cranberry, Vaccinium oxycoccos L., is native to Wisconsin bogs and it, too, provides wildlife food, though it has not been selected for cultivation. This study examined the primary productivity of wild and cultivated cranberries (Wahlstrom 1979)

Influence of forest openings on climate

Data presented in this paper were obtained during a five year study by the U.S. Forest Service (Ringger, 1972). This study, done in a hardwood stand in Forest County, Wisconsin sought to determine the effect of opening size upon temperature and moisture. Stations were chosen under a complete forest canopy and in openings ranging from single tree size to those large enough to behave as open fields. Hygrothermographs provided continuous records of temperature and humidity

Microorganisms in Milwaukee rivers

Fecal coliform bacteria have long been used as indicators of water pollution (Standard Methods, 1976). However, factors that influence the coliform population in natural water bodies may alter the relationships between the coliform bacteria and fecal pollution and hence the usefulness of the organisims as indicators. This study examined the volunteer, non-native vegetation of urban Racine. Various sites were examined, some stable, others subject to continuous disturbance; plant communities were characterized and compared

Land use changes in Southeastern Wisconsin: The landscape pattern project

Since settlement began in the 1830\u27s, the native forest, wetland and prairie vegetation has been replaced by pasture, cultivated fields, highways, towns and cities. Fragmentation of the forest into smaller and smaller isolated patches influences the biological diversity of the remaining patches, as well as species replacement patterns and dispersal of seed and other propagules. This drastically alters the integrity of the regional system. This study documents changes in patterns of land use and forest vegetation and investigates factors influencing these changes and the effect of the present pattern on ecosystem maintenance. This work is part of a larger study examining many areas throughout the Deciduous Forest biome

Productivity and energy storage

Net annual production of plant communities is traditionally determined by measuring or estimating dry matter accumulation at the end of the growing season. Published records list crop or forest yields, i.e. the bales of hay, tons of silage, bushels of grain or cords of wood harvested. The yield represents only a portion of the organic matter produced. Each year a tree forms leaves, twigs and bark which are not harvested, and each year an entire new corn plant-roots, stalks and leaves-must develop to produce the bushels of grain. Primary production is the entire amount of growth for the year. For many purposes, the accumulation of organic matter (on a dry weight basis) is an adequate measure of production; however, total dry matter production maybe misleading as a measure of the energy actually stored