Associate Professor of Biology Bill Pfitsch and his students knew that the population of wild blue lupine, a host plant for the endangered frosted elfin butterfly, was beginning to wane among the Rome sand plains. What they wanted to know was what was causing this decline and what could be done to reverse it.
In the summer of 2002, Pfitsch and his students began studying the ecology of the sand plains in relation to the lupine. Now, in the third year of the study, they are beginning to see some progress in their efforts, according to Mollie Wright and Ashley Kuenzi, both '05.
"We have some theories," Wright said. "We think it's being out-competed and shaded by the white pines in the area."
Last summer, the students cut down a number of white pines in order to increase the lupine's sunlight exposure. This year, they have seen a rise in the plant's population in the areas exposed to more sunlight, a clear indicator that a lack of sunlight was indeed playing a role in the decline of the lupine. However, Kuenzi and Wright both said that the lupine's problem is most likely not limited to competition with the pines.
According to Kuenzi, the students have taken 150 samples of the soil, and have been testing its pH and nitrogen levels. A change in the in the pH or the nitrogen level of the soil would mean that other plants are making the sand plains less habitable for the lupine. Kuenzi added that one of the plants contributing to an overabundance of nitrogen in the soil might be the lupine itself, a phenomenon she may make the subject of her senior thesis.
"I've always been interested in restoration ecology and protecting endangered ecosystems," she said. "It's something I hope to do more of after graduation."
Wright and Kuenzi said that there is no typical day of working on this project. Professor Pfitsch, they said, is constantly giving them small projects, which range from collecting and planting lupine seeds in the field to performing statistical analysis on campus.
Pfitsch said that he greatly enjoys helping students with their summer research and watching them figure things out for themselves. Summer research, he said, offers students the rare opportunity to develop as scientists because it allows them a greater amount of time to do field work than they would normally have during the academic year.
Wright is from Stevenson, Md., and Kuenzi is from Burnett, Wisc. Both are biology majors. Their research is funded by the Hansmann Fund, the Dean's Office Summer Research Stipend and the Nature Conservancy. Other students working on the project are Luke Thornblade and Jane Fitzgerald, both '07.
--by Jake Hartnett '05
