Ecology Field Trip

Friday we took a short field trip across Friends School Road to learn about the Ecology research project that is happening over there. We were met by Aspen Reese, an ecology doctoral student and she told us about the project that is looking at patterns of succession as a grassy field turns into a forest over time. They have six study sites of which this is one. The other sites range from Florida to upstate New York. They are looking at similar grasses that grow in each site and golden rod (Solidago) and they are growing them in different types of soil that are various mixtures of sand and topsoil. In order to control their experiments they are doing everything in kiddie pools. Kinda like giant flower pots. They will plant trees next year to continue the study.