Pop quiz: What kind of natural habitat is increasing in urban areas? This is not a trick question. Rather, the answer offers a slice of good news on a planet that has been increasingly turning from green to gray. Green roofs are on the rise in cities, according to Kelly Ksiazek-Mikenas, Ph.D., who has a … Continue reading Green roofs grow up: Creating native prairies in city skylines
Home gardeners can sympathize: not every seed that is planted grows. This truth extends to restored prairies that are grown from seed mixes, according to Rebecca Barak, Ph.D., who completed research this year examining the success of individual species within seed mixes, and their combined potential to power up to the diversity level found in remnant prairies. … Continue reading Powering Up the Prairie
It’s time for a visit to the Dixon Prairie to savor late spring flowers and the pollinators visiting these plants. A standout plant, looking almost like a small shrub, is white wild indigo (Baptisia alba). This is the white-flowered cousin to blue wild indigo (Baptisia australis); this plant, not native to the Chicago region, was historically … Continue reading Prairie Blooms Beckon
Becky Barak is a Ph.D. candidate in Plant Biology and Conservation at the Chicago Botanic Garden and Northwestern University. She studies plant biodiversity in restored prairies, and tweets about ecology, prairies, and her favorite plants at @BeckSamBar. A dark, stinky plume of smoke rising from a nature preserve might be alarming. But fire is what … Continue reading 60-Second Science: Prairies Need Fire
While summer blooms elsewhere are winding down, the Dixon Prairie is still alive with many fall flowers. Asters, sawtooth sunflowers, gaura, and goldenrod are going strong. All of them are abuzz with bees and other insects. Grasshoppers dance from plant to plant. Butterflies fuel up for a last fling or long journey. Grasses, some with … Continue reading Fall on the Prairie
