Ripples 9/10/20

Posted on by September 11, 2020

Written by summer intern, Kennedy Zittel

Have you ever seen a bird drink from a cup? I have, but the cup was made out of leaves, and it was attached to one of my favorite native plants: the Cup Plant. This plant really has it all, it is an excellent water source for birds and insects, it has beautiful flowers that pollinators love, and it thrives in Wisconsin weather! The Cup Plant, Silphium perfoliatum, is a perennial plant that is native to eastern and central North America. This plant can grow three to eight feet tall. That is one tall flower! The stem of this plant has large leaves that form a little cup against the stem where rainwater collects in (hence the name Cup Plant). This little cup of water is a great drinking source for birds like goldfinches, frogs, bees, and other pollinators.

Speaking of goldfinches, this plant’s seeds are also a favorite food of goldfinches and other small birds. If you are looking to attract more birds to your yard this plant can help as it provides both food and water for various songbird species. The large leaves of this plant provide small birds with cover from predators and shade during the hot summer days. With food, water, shelter, and shade this plant seems like a perfect bird cafe setting. 

During the summer months, the Cup Plant has yellow flowers that bumblebees and various pollinators love. These sunflower-like flowers make for a beautiful addition to anyone’s garden or yard. I have also gotten countless photographs of cute pollen covered bees around these plants, so if you are an aspiring nature photographer looking for a good backdrop to bring in the cute bees, these plants are for you. 

Besides being a pretty- to- look- at drinking fountain and pollen source, these plants are also great for Wisconsin growing conditions. The Cup Plant is able to endure some pretty extreme weather situations. During the winter months the dormant roots can survive temperatures as low as -22 degrees Fahrenheit (-30 degrees Celcius) Brr! The Cup Plant favors a growing temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celcius), so it really does love the Wisconsin weather. 

These adaptable plants are also disease resistant. Coming from someone that has dealt with the pickiest of plants, these plants would be a dream to care for as they really thrive in this kind of climate that we have in Wisconsin. 

The more the merrier. Having more Cup Plants planted together provides support to the other Cup Plants to keep standing upright and not tilt down. Watch out if you only have a small space to plant your butterfly garden though as these plants take up a lot of space and can spread over time. Starting in July when the butterflies begin to visit these flowers, to midsummer when the bumblebees gather pollen, to fall when songbirds feast on the seeds, these plants provide a valuable food and water source for various creatures. I am a bit biased as I really enjoy these flowers, but based on their many perks, the Cup Plant sure is one good native plant to have.

photos by Kennedy Zittel

 

Ripples 9/4/20

Posted on by September 4, 2020

A Woodland Dunes Ghost Story  by Kennedy Zittel, Woodland Dunes summer intern

Given that my birthday is on Halloween, I have always loved a good ghost story.
The scarier the better! However, the story I am about to tell you is no made-up story.
There really are ghosts at Woodland Dunes! 

photo of ghost pipe in the preserveOne day this summer while the other  interns and I were conducting research off of Yellow Birch trail the sky grew dark and the fog rolled in. As we got deeper into the woods, not a bird nor squirrel could be
heard. As we crept around the bend in the path there it was. A ghost! We did
not run in fear, actually, we all thought it was pretty cute. Sadly, this is not a very scary
ghost story after all. Boo-lieve it or not, there really was a ghost though, a whole group
of them at that. The ghosts we saw are called ghost pipes. The scientific name being
Monotropa uniflora, also known as a ghost pipe or ghost plant. 
The name derives from the Greek word Monotropa meaning “one turn” and Latin
word Uniflora meaning “one flower” describing how they grow in single stalks with a
small turned flower on top of the stem. Ghost pipes are herbaceous perennial plants
that are white and waxy looking with occasional pink coloration that grows 4-8 inches
tall. How boo-tiful! These plants are unique in that they do not contain any chlorophyll
(hence the lack of green coloration). Since they cannot make their own food by using
photosynthesis, they parasitize other plants to get the nutrients that they need. Ghost
pipes are a special kind of parasitic plant known as a mycoheterotroph where the host
plant is a fungus that is getting its food through a symbiotic relationship with
photosynthetic trees. So, the ghost pipe is feeding off of fungi that are feeding off of
trees (talk about mooching the system). 

Since the plants do not require sunlight needed
for photosynthesis, they can grow in very dark environments such as the dense
understory of woods. The ability to get nutrients without any sunlight means that these
plants can grow in areas where other plants would struggle to survive.
If you want your spirits to be lifted by seeing one of the ghosts of the woods, they
can be seen from June through September throughout Wisconsin (they actually occur
over most of North America, parts of Asia, and South America). No worries if you do not
like ghost stories though as they are not as scary as the name suggests, in fact, they
are pretty cute plants! As for this ghost tale, it has a pretty good ending. The ghosts at
Woodland Dunes are only scary to the fungi that they feed upon. For us nature lovers,
they are a cool and unique looking plant with an even cooler story of survival. Occurring
where the ghosts in the stories that I love occur, these little white plants grow in the
darkest areas of the woods where they use creative adaptions to survive.

Photo- ghost pipe at Woodland Dunes by Kennedy Zittel

Ripples 8/27/20

Posted on by August 27, 2020

I remember a reference from the Bible in Exodus 8, where the Lord instructs Moses and Aaron to invoke a plague of frogs from the Nile that came up and covered the land.  It was apparently something you didn’t want if you were an Egyptian at the time, but, eventually Aaron convinced the frogs to return to the Nile.  It must have been considered a minor plague, as it took a lot more to convince the people of Egypt of Moses’ and God’s resolve in the matter.

Well, in the summer of 2020 it almost seems like Biblical Times around the East and West Twin Rivers.  At Woodland Dunes, its hard to walk on Willow Trail or around our nature center building without being afraid to step on a leopard frog.  They are abundant in grassy areas for the second year in a row.  We also have to be very careful when mowing, as we really don’t want to hurt them, photo of leopard frog on fencebut they are incredibly numerous.  People have called, wondering why there are so many, worried about squashing them in their driveways or on roads.

Leopard frogs are a native species of frog that has always been found in this area.  Actually, there are a number of species of leopard frogs- ours is typically the northern leopard frog, Lithobates pipiens.  The pickerel frog is less common in Wisconsin, and there are dozens of other species of leopard frogs in other States.  They typically have greenish bodies covered with spots to varying degrees- there is a lot of variation even within our northern leopard frog population.

Leopard frogs are hunters, and they spend a lot of time on land moving around looking for food.  They need to keep their skin moist, and are most likely to be out roaming in grassy areas when it is damp, often moving after a rain.  When it’s dry they find ponds and puddles to hang around until another wet spell comes along.  They are very good at locating even man-made water sources- there are always leopard frogs basking in the Dorothy Star garden water feature here at the nature center.  

Like all our frog species, leopard frogs mate and lay eggs in water in the spring.  A female may lay up to 5,000 eggs which hatch into tadpoles and transform into frogs in late summer.  The adults go to ponds and winter under the water in the mud, needing very little oxygen to survive in the cold of the season.  They emerge in April around here, and move to ponds where the males give forth a snoring type of call that sounds like someone rubbing on a balloon with a wet finger.  

Leopard frogs are important members of our local ecosystem, and also indicators of environmental quality.  Like all frogs they absorb substances directly through their skin, and don’t do well if their surroundings are heavily contaminated by chemicals.  So rather than a plague, I see them as watchdogs, and find their presence reassuring.  They also eat a lot of insects, which we humans usually see as beneficial.

If you think about the last couple of springs, there has been an abundance of water around here.  I have the hunch that there have been many more wet places for leopard frogs to lay their eggs, and those places remained wet long enough for the tadpoles to develop into adult frogs.  The last two summers there have been an abundance of leopard frogs, I think as a result of this wetness.  I would expect their numbers to stay high as long as it is so wet, and fall if we have drier years.  For now, I’ll have to continue to take care when mowing- I don’t mind slowing down for them a bit.  They belong here as much or more than I do.

photo- leopard frog by Nancy Nabak from Woodland Dunes


Ripples 8/20/20

Posted on by August 27, 2020

Written by Woodland Dunes intern, Sydney Herman

At the beginning of my internship at Woodland Dunes, I made a few goals of skills I wanted to improve upon and topics to photo of water scorpionlearn about. I decided to explore the critters that live in the ponds at Woodland Dunes. In between programming and other duties, I tried to visit the pond at least five times throughout the summer and researched the specimens I caught.  

Although often overlooked, ponds are home to a diverse assortment of aquatic plants and animals. The surface of a pond can be covered in duckweed, elodea, and various species of algae and bacteria. Hiding in or around the vegetation are macroinvertebrates and vertebrates. The animals that visit, or are found in ponds with vertebrae, are limited to birds, muskrats, mink, small fish, tadpoles, and frogs, while there is a massive diversity of invertebrates.

Ranging from crayfish to aquatic beetle-like creatures, there is no shortage of macroinvertebrates roaming the ponds. On an average day that I went scooping for pond life, I would catch dragonfly larva, giant water bugs, orb snails, the occasional backswimmer, and many other small creatures. Without prior knowledge or experience with this activity, it can be difficult to identify what you catch, so try finding resources such as a pond life dichotomous key to determine the names of your specimens. 

My personal pond dipping experiences helped me lead and assist portions of family pond programs and a pond themed Nature Time Tuesday hosted by Woodland Dunes. I instructed the groups how to properly scoop their nets into the water and search them for small moving critters. Pond dipping is very popular among our young participants, so it was fun to watch them get excited about sifting through their nets for small fish and other creatures. One of my favorite moments was when a very young participant unknowingly scooped up two water scorpions. These aquatic invertebrates resemble the herbivorous walking stick; however, they are carnivorous, and their tail is used as a snorkel for breathing at the surface.

It is so easy to be distracted by larger ecosystems that we forget about habitats right under our noses. I’m reminded that even the smallest corners of a pond yield minuscule living things. If you are interested in learning more about the invertebrates living in ponds, all you need is a bucket and a net. 

Image: Water Scorpion image from UW-Milwaukee Field Station

Ripples 8/13/20

Posted on by August 13, 2020

Written by Jenna Brandl, summer intern for Woodland Dunes

Honeysuckle, horrendous? I wouldn’t have believed it a month ago either. As a Woodland Dunes Land Management intern I often interact with honeysuckle. The Tartarian and Bush honeysuckle, aka Lonicera sibirica tatarica and Lonicera sibirica latifolia, are two of the most common subspecies found in Wisconsin. These shrubs can range from three to fifteen feet tall which can make them look more like a tree than a shrub. 

How you can identify honeysuckle:  look to see if the leaves are 1-2 ½ inches long with an oval shape at the stem that leads to photo of honeysuckle with berriesan abrupt pointed end. Their stems and branches are: grayish brown, have broad grooves, and are thornless. May through June, these shrubs produce white or pink flowers that start to yellow as they age. In September and October, they produce red juicy berries in groups that usually occur at the leaf axil (where the leaf meets the twig). These elegant flowers are what some may say “easy on the eyes,” so why are these intricate shrubs so dangerous to our delicate ecosystems?

Surprisingly, they are actually an invasive species that cover a broad range of habitats including roadsides, lakeshores, open woods, forest edges, and old fields. Countless people continue to plant these invasive shrubs, especially the Eurasian Bush honeysuckle, as ornamentals in their yards that lead to the spread. Birds are no help either. By eating the berries and flying from place to place, numerous species of birds spread honeysuckle twice as quickly. This makes the process of controlling their spread extremely difficult and why we typically find these plants at the bottom of trees that birds perch in. 

Honeysuckle is also hazardous for plants such as tree seedlings and wildflowers because they are known to alter the habitat around them by decreasing light sources, soil moisture, and nutrients. According to the Wisconsin DNR, it is also possible that L. tatarica releases allelopathic chemicals that prevent the growth of other plants around them. Does this affect the growth of trees as well? Hopefully, new research might arise to help solve this mystery alongside my own investigation at the Woodland Dunes Preserve. 

It might leave you flabbergasted to learn that honeysuckle is not your typical plant but an invasive to our wetlands, temperate forests, and prairie ecosystems in Wisconsin. Now you may be wondering, “How do I control this invasive plant?” The best way is the process of cutting the shrub stems and applying a herbicide treatment. It may be a tedious task to cut down the entire shrub, but it is the most effective way to kill the honeysuckle due to its multiple stems and large growth radius. In order for this treatment to be successful, all stems must be cut and treated with herbicide so no new growth is allowed to occur. After a month of combating these hellish shrubs, it’s my hope that others will begin to recognize and take steps to prevent the spread of honeysuckle.

photo: honeysuckle in berrying stage by Jenna Brandl