Lillian Anderson Arboretum SIPs
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Item New Invaders to Hardwood Forests: Discovering Jumping Worms (Amynthas) at the Lillian Anderson Arboretum(Kalamazoo, Mich. : Kalamazoo College, 2023) Rock, KatherineEarthworms are considered beneficial in gardening, farming and composting but can have devastating effects on forest ecosystems. All earthworms in the Great Lakes area are nonnative originating from Europe or most recently Asia. Earthworms in forests can rid areas of nutrients by eating through all the organic matter. Replacing native flora and fauna. Jumping worms (Amynthas) are a new concern due to spreading rapidly, reproduction and having no natural predators. The purpose of this research is to find the diversity, abundance and distribution of Earthworms in the Lillian Anderson Arboretum. Looked into the differences between Amynthas genus and Lumbricus genus of worms by testing litter depth and type, soil pH, soil moisture, and soil temperature.Item New Invaders to Hardwood Forests: Discovering Jumping Worms (Amynthas) at the Lillian Anderson Arboretum(Kalamazoo College, 2022-11-01) Rock, Katherine E.; Fraser, Ann M., 1963-As detritivores and soil aerators, earthworms can be beneficial for gardening and composting. Alongside these benefits, earthworms can negatively impact forest ecosystems by ridding the soil of organic matter and nutrients. In the Great Lakes region, all earthworms are nonnative but jumping worms (genus Amynthas) are recent invaders that are spreading rapidly and impacting soil health. I mapped the abundance and distribution of earthworm types at the Lillian Anderson Arboretum (LAA) in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and recorded soil characteristics in sampled plots. I documented six different types of earthworms. Amynthas was found in one area of human impact and was associated with deeper litter depths than was Lumbricus, the most common genus; no other soil variables (litter type; soil temperature, moisture, pH; abundance of macroinvertebrates) differed between plot where the two genera were found. The presence and expansion of Amynthas should continue to be monitored to determine if and how it is impacting forest ecosystems.Item Catalog of Bee Abundance and Diversity at the Kalamazoo College Lillian Anderson Arboretum(Kalamazoo College, 2019) Funke, Erik Thomas; Fraser, Ann M., 1963-; Wollenberg, Amanda C.Bees play a critical role in maintaining balance within many ecosystems through pollination. Without bees, modern agricultural systems and the natural pollination of many different plant species could not function in the way that they presently do. Recently, many bee species are being negatively impacted by environmental changes, exposure to pesticides, and adverse habitat alteration. These alterations in abiotic and biotic factors to the bee’s surrounding ecosystems is resulting in a reduction of the abundance and biodiversity of bees; If this is to be controlled more research needs to be done on advantageous ways to alter an environment, and surveys of bee abundance and diversity must be conducted before and after and alterations. Recently, funding was received for a pollinator habitat enrichment project at the Kalamazoo College Lillian Anderson Arboretum, along the Powerline Trail. This project will involve seeding with native plant species to provide food resources for bees and other pollinator populations. The purpose of this study was to compare abundance and diversity of bees inhabiting the Powerline Trail of the arboretum prior to habitat alteration, and compare it to Old Field plot in the arboretum where no habitat alteration is planned. Bee captures were compared using two different sampling methods—vane traps and cups— with two different painting treatments used on the vane traps. We found that there is no a significant difference in the abundance of bees (p= 0.52) or diversity of bees (p=0.16) between the Powerline Trail and the Old Field, although a few genera were captured at only a single plot. Cane traps captured significantly more bees (p= 0.002) more bee genera (p< 0.0001) than did cups. Lastly, there was no significant difference in the abundance (p=0.25) and diversity (p=0.34) of bees captured by painted and unpainted vane traps. This research provides a better understanding of bee abundance and diversity at the Lillian Anderson Arboretum and a baseline sample of local bees before any alteration is to take place. Combining bee captures from this study with other collections from 2018, 2017. 2014, and 2008, we assembled a comprehensive catalog of bees for the Lillian Anderson Arboretum.Item The Arboretum App : Building a Virtual Trail Companion Guide(2016) Smalley, Griffin G.; Cutter, Pamela A., 1970-The author spent this past summer building a mobile application that will serve as a “trail companion guide” for the Lillian Anderson Arboretum in Oshtemo Township, Kalamazoo, Michigan. Essentially, the app enhances visitors’ experiences by showing trail maps, suggesting interesting or seasonally unique natural sites, and showing information about many of the Arboretum’s flora and/or fauna while the user is on-site. To complete this task, the author had to learn a number of new technologies/languages/mobile platforms either from scratch or from a limited database of knowledge. These include iOS, Swift, mobile databasing and networking, geolocation data, and others. This paper discusses the goals for the project, the technologies learned in the process of building it, and a reflection of the experience as a whole.Item Carbon Sequestration in the Lillian Anderson Arboretum(2010) Cooper, Benjamin• Now more than ever it is necessary to explore the potential for forests to play a major role in local and international policies aimed at mitigating carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. • The role terrestrial ecosystems, more specifically forests, play in the global carbon cycle is of particular interest and importance because these systems are net sinks that sequester carbon in woody biomass and soil organic matter. • This study was commissioned and funded by Kalamazoo College through the Presidents Climate Commitment Fellowship program with the objective of producing an estimate of the total amount of organic carbon sequestered in, as well as to produce baseline for future annual sequestration estimates of the College’s Lillian Anderson Arboretum located in Oshtemo Township, MI.