Associate Professor Edewood College Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Abstract: The recent arrival of beech bark disease to Wisconsin forests is expected to initiate marked changes to ecosystem structure and function over the coming decades. These ecosystem changes, in turn, will impact the ecosystem services derived from Wisconsin forests. Our initial results show that beech bark disease is transitioning from the advancing front of the disease into the killing front, and is present throughout most hardwood forests of Door County. However, we have documented wide variation in the soil chemistry, phytosociology, and land use history among forests containing the American beech (Fagus grandifolia) host that is expected to influence ecosystem response to the disease. Furthermore, the human-forest relationship and desired ecosystem services are different in the two main areas of Wisconsin where beech is abundant. In Door County with it's many parks and conservation areas, cultural, regulating, and supporting ecosystem services are prime concerns. In Menominee County, provisioning services are also crucial to the Menominee Nation in addition to these other three. As the disease progresses, we will test a series of hypotheses derived from our unique geographical and geological setting on the far western edge of the range of beech, as well as the differences in desired ecosystem services among our diverse human communities. This scenario provides rich opportunity for undergraduate research in both the field of ecology as well as the field of environmental studies, and this presentation will describe an approach to mentored undergraduate research that leverages this unique opportunity at a small primarily undergraduate teaching college. Our project demonstrates that students from diverse backgrounds and interests across all areas and scales of ecology can successfully collaborate on undergraduate research that is done both by and for inclusive communities.
