Thesiss

Root hemiparasites are green plants that tap into a neighboring plant’s water-filled xylem to acquire inorganic nutrients, which can lead to an accumulation of nutrients in hemiparasite biomass. I performed an observational field study at Nachusa Grasslands and Franklin Creek St…

Precarious paradise: Toolesboro, Iowa tells a tale of a very small but extremely significant place on a river bluff in southeastern Iowa, site of both 2,000-year-old Native American burial mounds and an ancestral farm dating back to early white settlement in 1835. Through poems,…

Extinction rates exceed any in recent history. Simultaneously, invasive species are invading new areas and increasing in abundance. The leading proposed drivers of biodiversity loss include habitat destruction, urban and agricultural development, climate change, and biological i…

Due to heavy threats to remaining global floral and faunal diversity, it is imperative we can identify species and quantify ecosystem health to find best practices for land management and conservation. The tallgrass prairies of the Northern Great Plains are one example of a heav…