Funded Projects

Principal Investigator

Rebecca Montgomery

Co-principal Investigators

Marcella Windmuller-Campione

Industry Partner

Mississippi Park Connection; US Forest Service

Graduate Student

Catherine Glenn-Stone

Problem

The Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) encompasses over 2,600,000 acres and supplies essential ecosystem services including clean drinking water to millions of people, critical habitat for more than 40% of all North American waterfowl and shorebirds, and billions of dollars in economic revenue through shipping. Currently, high levels of tree mortality and limited regeneration characterize much of the forested tracts, especially those above pool 10 near the Minnesota-Iowa-Wisconsin border. Due to lack of research, managers are left with more questions than answers in how to maintain and restore floodplain forests in a changing environment. While there are many key areas of uncertainty, one of the biggest is the lack of a mechanistic understanding of how the dynamic nature of the floodplain (e.g. seasonal flooding and drought) influences juvenile tree growth and survival.

Solution

Our proposed solution is to advance understanding and information on effective practices to maintain and restore floodplain forest in the face of current stressors. We use a flexible framework of diverse actions and pathways offered by the Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) network consisting of four management approaches: resistance, resilience, transition, and no action. We will use the biological infrastructure afforded by the Crosby Farm ASCC project located in St. Paul, MN and developed through a manager-scientist workshop that included researchers and managers from the region. With MnDRIVE seed grant funding, a graduate student will lead research on the physiological response of planted tree saplings focusing on key times of stress that can lead to tree mortality: spring flooding and late summer dry periods.

Impact

Our proposed work is critical to developing active restoration and climate adaptive management, the lack of which will likely result in loss of UMRS floodplain forest ecosystems. Our partners have prioritized maintaining forest cover and tree plantings are widely implemented; however, many fail due to the lack of research on the mechanistic basis of successful approaches. Thus, information from our project will have an immediate impact on planning successful future restoration and climate adaptive management. Further, restoring and maintaining floodplain forests will have wide ranging effects on nature’s benefits to people given their importance for clean water, wildlife habitat, recreation and transportation.

Principal Investigator

Seth Thompson

Co-PI

James Cotner, Trinity Hamilton

Industry Partner

Miles Lawson, Secondary Curriculum and Gifted and Talented Coordinator Independent School District 197

Postdoc

Hailey Sauer

Problem

Lakes are important regulators of the global climate system, yet we still lack a mechanistic understanding of the controls of carbon sequestration within lake systems. Specifically, the role of freshwater bacteria in producing hard to degrade organic molecules and how this process is being impacted by increased nutrient pollution is understudied.

Solution

Using a community-engaged research framework, we will test how carbon and phosphorus concentrations impact the production and composition of DOM produced by aquatic bacteria by working with a local High School partner to build an authentic research partnership with students. We will work with students through both a classroom-based research project model (fall) as well as a smaller number of students through an intensive semester-long research internship program (spring). Together, we will advance our understanding of aquatic carbon burial by determining how microbial interactions alter DOM structure and degradation under differing nutrient regimes at small (e.g., co-culture ) and large (e.g., natural community) scales.

Impact

We anticipate producing 3 primary research products: a peer reviewed manuscript describing the impact of nutrients on microbial community structure and DOM production; a peer reviewed educational research paper on the impact of authentic research experiences on the development of science identity in High School students; and a set of scaffolded curricular materials aligned to the new Minnesota State Science standards.

Principal Investigator

Sarah Hobbie

Co-PI

Emilie Snell-Rood

Industry Partner

Dan Shaw, Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources

Graduate Student

Lauren Agnew

Problem

Minnesota’s Habitat Friendly Solar Program helps solar site owners install and manage pollinator-friendly habitat within a solar field by suggesting seed mix and management recommendations. This program aims to support pollinator biodiversity by increasing pollinator habitat throughout the state. However, a lack of funding to conduct habitat restoration assessments at these sites to determine if current seed mix and management recommendations are effective means that the establishment success of these pollinator plantings and their ability to support pollinator biodiversity has not been determined. The presence of solar panels alters the environmental conditions within a habitat, impacting the ability of plants to establish and support pollinators, and we need further site assessment to refine current seed mix and management recommendations to be suited for unique solar habitats.

Solution

Through conducting habitat restoration assessment at sites enrolled in the Habitat Friendly Solar Program, we can record the plant community composition, management activities, and pollinator communities present within the installed habitat. We can compare the seeding rate of the habitat with the observed plant community composition and management activity to identify which plants seem to thrive in solar habitats, and which cannot tolerate the altered environmental conditions. Pollinator community composition will help us identify which species are not supported by the current habitat installations. All of this information will be used to refine the pollinator seed mixes and management guidelines to be specifically suited for solar habitats, increasing the ability of solar habitats to support pollinator biodiversity.

Impact

Refining these habitat standards will help support pollinator biodiversity throughout the state by ensuring habitat installations provide maximum conservation benefits. Minnesota is a leader in pollinator-solar habitat installation, acting as a model for 17 other states, so the results of this project have the potential for a national impact. Additionally, further refinement of these standards and guidelines to cover the increasing variety and scale of solar habitats will broaden the scope of the program, resulting in increased pollinator habitat installation and biodiversity conservation across the state.

Principal Investigator

Marcella Windmuller-Campione

Industry Partner

Steve Mortensen, Division of Resource Management Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe

Problem

Climate change, biodiversity loss, maintaining resilient ecosystems are considered “wicked” issues that will require collaboration, co-learning, and co-development utilizing multiple ways of knowing. However, the process for navigating the hierarchies can be extremely opaque, limiting the potential collaboration. Additionally, if an individual or individuals within the collaboration leave, there can be a loss of knowledge on how to navigate the hierarchies and logistics.

Solution

We are proposing to use our newly formed collaboration that is working to build a summer internship experience center Tribal Youth to explore and document hierarchies and logistics within and across organizations and Tribal Nations. We will use a network analysis approach to document and visualize how top-down, bottom-up, and intermediate level pressures and opportunities can influence our collaboration. Additionally, we will document the hierarchical structures and logistical opportunities and challenges in working collaboratively.

Impact

There are 11 federally recognized Tribal Nations within what we now call the state of Minnesota. Tribes were, are, and will continue to be stewards of forest ecosystems. However, the number of individuals who identify as Native American are underrepresented within forestry, silviculture, and natural resource management. Collaborative opportunities exist across organizations and Tribal Nations to consider new ways of approaching natural resource education that centers Tribal Voices.