Lars Brudvig

A structural equation model explaining oak savanna groundlayer plant diversity based on management, soils, and aspects of ecosystem structure

New from the group:

Across 100 oak savannas and five states, we show how management structures groundlayer plant diversity by modifying canopy openness, with context dependent effects based on spatial scale and soil attributes

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

A graph showing how prairie plant responses to seeding density treatments vary along a soil water holding capacity gradient

New paper led by former post-bac researcher Isabelle Turner, with @chriscatano.bsky.social:

Seeding density alters the role of soil moisture in structuring plant abundance during prairie restoration

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Postdoctoral Fellowship - Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior

Apply to become the next MSU EEB Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow!

These are two year positions with research stipend, working with 2+ MSU EEB faculty. Applications due 10 November 2025. More here:

eeb.msu.edu/initiatives/...

@martin-nunez.bsky.social - so sorry, I just realized I tagged the wrong Martin Nuñez! Better late than never and I can also now relay an update. I enjoyed your book, have used the chapter on AI in a lab meeting, lent out my copy to a student, and bought a copy for another student.

A gulf fritillary visiting pinkscale blazingstar

Palamedes swallowtail

A grasshopper visiting pinkscale blazingstar

Pinkscale blazingstar

Pinkscale blazing star (Liatris elegans) is blooming in the SRS Corridor Project experiment and attracting many visitors

A view within the SRS Fragmentation Experiment

A sea of pink pin flags marking herbaceous plants

Liatris squarrulosa

Great day today, working in the SRS Fragmentation Experiment. We're conducting our 19th field season, to understand long-term consequences of fragmentation for populations of longleaf pine savanna groundlayer plants species

#demography #fieldwork

Liatris squarrulosa

Amazingly, this is one of the species I was working with today! Part of a long-running study into habitat fragmentation effects on ground layer herb populations

Interesting - sounds like spots around the oak openings (near Toledo) and Allegan (western MI). Thanks for these tips - I'll have to do some looking!

Cool find. I'll have to keep an eye out for this one in my neck of the woods. I've not seen it before, but there's an herbarium record from within a couple km of my house

Dearth under earth: Understudied plant-soil-fire feedback as drivers of forest mesophication and oak regeneration failures Regeneration of drought-tolerant and fire-adapted (pyrophytic) trees like oaks (Quercus spp.) is broadly limited by mesophication – a positive feedbac…

New paper: Dearth under earth: Understudied plant-soil-fire feedback as drivers of forest mesophication and oak regeneration failures

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Holding a book: A Pocket Guide to Scientific Writing and Publishing, by Martin Nuñez

Hey @martinnunez.bsky.social - guess what arrived arrived today? Looking forward to reading and sharing with students!

New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), gray goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis), and black-eyed Susan

New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)

Gray goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis)

Black-eyed Susan

New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), gray goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis), and black-eyed Susan, starring together in the front yard pocket prairie

A field of goldenrod with t-posts in it

Another year of NutNet in the books @kelloggbiostn.bsky.social

An oak savanna

Tall coreopsis (Coreopsis tripteris)

Oak savanna, with lots of tall coreopsis (Coreopsis tripteris) in bloom - at the Chipman Preserve, near Kalamazoo, MI

Michigan State University is hiring a new Director of our herbarium!

This is an open rank, tenure-stream faculty position, with research focus in plant or fungal systematics, ecology, and/or evolution

Please consider applying and help spread the word!

plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu/job-postings...

I'll send you an email, Mark - thanks!

Thanks - it's a past student's research plot and I'm happy to have it here!

Thanks, Tom

That would be awesome!

Thanks, Mark! I'm glad you were able to visit...and sorry I missed you, when you did (if I remember right, I was on vacation at the time, myself, visiting Door County!)

Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

Blue vervain (Verbena hastata)

False boneset (Brickellia eupatorioides)

Stiff goldenrod (Solidago rigida)

Lots blooming right now in the front yard pocket prairie, including black-eyed Susan, blue vervain, false boneset, and (just coming online) stiff goldenrod

😀

P.S. I don't usually do field work on the weekend, but yesterday was a (mostly) off day for me, so playing catch up today!

An oak savanna plot receiving prescribed fire and tree thinning management

An oak savanna plot receiving prescribed fire and tree thinning management

An oak savanna plot receiving prescribed fire management

An unmanaged oak savanna plot

Today I wrapped up the 16th year of vegetation sampling in our oak savanna restoration experiment!

In this study, we are testing the long-term ecological consequences of prescribed fire, fire with tree thinning, and no management, within fire suppressed oak savannas at the MSU MacCready Reserve

Monarch (Danaus plexippus) nectaring on butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Monarch (Danaus plexippus) nectaring on butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Purple coneflower, big bluestem, etc in a prairie reconstruction at Kellogg Biological Station

Yellow coneflower, big bluestem, etc in a prairie reconstruction at Kellogg Biological Station

Yellow coneflower, big bluestem, etc in a prairie reconstruction at Kellogg Biological Station

Today we wrapped up the 10th summer of vegetation surveys in our KBS prairie restoration (reconstruction) experiment, testing how the geographic origin and species diversity of seeds used to initiate restoration affects long-term ecological dynamics

@kelloggbiostn.bsky.social @kbslter.bsky.social

A bumblebee on purple coneflower

An ambush bug on lance-leaved coreopsis

A dragonfly

An ambush bug on blue vervain

Lots of insect activity in our front yard pocket prairie this evening, including bumblebees, ambush bugs, and dragonflies

An oak savanna plot receiving prescribed fire and tree thinning management

An oak savanna plot receiving prescribed fire management

An oak savanna plot receiving no management

Today was the first day of vegetation surveys in our oak savanna restoration experiment for the year

This is our 16th annual census of permanent vegetation transects, comparing plots receiving repeated prescribed fires, with or without canopy tree thinning, compared to unmanaged controls

😬 indeed

Hartwick Pines old growth forest

Hartwick Pines old growth forest

Hartwick Pines old growth forest

Hartwick Pines old growth forest

Hartwick Pines #OldGrowth forest; white and red pine, Eastern hemlock, and sugar maple