1) Title: “Selection on plant physiological traits in natural plant populations”
Researcher: Mark Sherrard, Ph.D. Candidate  Supervisor: Dr. Hafiz Maherali, Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph
Summary: Plant growth rates often vary across the landscape as do the availability of resources that are critical to plant survival.  Does natural selection act on physical traits in plant populations and if so, what physical traits have the strongest influence on reproductive success?  Is it possible to detect natural selection occurring in plants in areas where there is resource variability (i.e. variation over space)?  Mark is attempting to answer some of these questions with his study of Smooth Brome Grass at rare and at two other locations in Southwestern Ontario.  Mark will accomplish this by looking at the relationship between individual plant traits; such as photosynthesis and seed production, site characteristics; such as soil moisture and mineral content and the productivity of the surrounding plant community.  He will also look at how all these factors vary over time by conducting fieldwork over three growing seasons.  This will be one the first studies to look at natural selection across nutrient gradients in natural plant populations.

2) Title: “Planning for sustainable forest ecosystems in Waterloo, Ontario: a future radial radial-growth forecast of four significant tree species”
Researcher: Nigel Selig, M.Sc. Candidate  Supervisor: Dr. Roger Suffling
School of Planning, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Waterloo
Summary: Trees produce annual rings in their wood.  Valuable information can be extracted from these tree-rings: 1. the number of tree-rings is equal to a tree’s age, and 2. the width of any one tree-ring is determined by the local climate in the year that it was growing.  Therefore, the tree-ring records within trees can be used to reconstruct past climate.  Nigel Selig wants to find out if the reverse is also true.  For example, can tree-rings records be reconstructed from climate and therefore can we predict how some tree species will respond to forecasted climate change? Nigel will use the long tree-ring records available on rare property (from sugar maple, white pine and eastern hemlock) and the local historical climate data (collected at meteorological stations) to determine the relationship between tree-ring width and climate (i.e. are the tree-rings wider during hot years; or are they wider during wet years etc.?). He will then use this relationship and current climate forecasts to reconstruct how tree growth in the Waterloo Region will respond to climate change over the next 100 years.  These results will be valuable for those planning the effects of climate change in the region.

3) Title: “Assessing the consequences of gene flow between cultivated apples (Malus x domestica) and their wild relatives”
Researcher: Paul Kron, Research Associate     Supervisor: Dr. Brian Husband, Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph
Summary: Closely related species can sometimes reproduce to produce hybrid organisms.  Two such species are the domestic apple and the wild crabapple.  Paul is studying the complex genetic interactions between these two species. This involves several components. What is the genetic variability within the wild crabapple? What is the fate of hybrids in the natural environment; i.e. do they survive and reproduce? Over 25 saplings from each of five genetically different apple strains were grown from seeds collected on rare property (three crabapple variants plus two hybrids with the domestic apple) and planted in the alvar complex.  The fate of these individuals is being monitored over a ten-year period.  The genetic variation of pollen and seed from mature trees of both species will also be determined.  This will provide insight into the nature of the reproductive pathways that occur among these two species that lead to the production of fruits and seed.  This research will provide important information on the potential impacts of introducing genetically-modified organisms (organisms intentionally modified by humans) into the landscape.

4) Title: “Long-term restoration of tallgrass prairie”
Researcher: Dr. Andrew MacDougall, Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph
Summary: Tallgrass prairie formerly occupied 80,000 to 100,000 hectares in southwestern Ontario but less than 5% of that remains. Andrew plans to convert an agricultural field on rare property (most recently used to grow soybeans) into a native tallgrass prairie.  There are several main goals of this research.  The first is to determine the factors that ensure success in prairie restoration especially the ability of tallgrass prairies to resist invasion from non-target species; particularly exotic agronomic grasses.  The second objective is to determine the factors that influence the pattern of distribution of plant species in a tallgrass prairie.; i.e. are these factors environmental or. non-environmental?  The third objective is to restore a tallgrass prairie research site that will eventually look like a tallgrass prairie rather than a checkerboard pattern of research plots that will require constant maintenance.  This sampling design will help address the research questions but will also restore the function of this ecosystem for creatures such as birds, insects and small mammals.  The research project consists of a five-year building phase followed by a longer-term monitoring and manipulation phase.

5) Title: “Characterizing the role of rove beetles (Staphylinidae) in complementing coccinellid predation of soybean aphids”
Researcher: Adam Brunke, M.Sc. Candidate  Supervisor: Dr. Rebecca Hallett and Dr. Steve Marshall, Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph
Summary: Soybean aphids are a significant pest in the agricultural sector but spend a significant amount of nocturnal time on buckthorn; an invasive shrub found in most woodlots and agricultural hedgerows in southern Ontario. The predators of soybean aphids on buckthorn are unknown. Adam is studying a group of insects known as rove beetles who are only active at night and have been the focus of several aphid management studies in Europe where they have been found to be natural predators of cereal aphids. His goal is to identify the rove beetle species present in habitats at rare, compare their daily activity to the daily activity cycle of soybean aphids and determine the habitats with the highest densities of both groups of organisms. He will also compare the lengths of their activity periods and the timing of their first arrival on the sites as well as compare the relatively protected rare sites with other sites off the property.  This research could eventually lead to an alternate method of pest control that will allow farmers to reduce the volume of insecticides on their crops while maintaining crop yields.

6) Title: “Monitoring butterfly abundance and diversity along an urban gradient in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario: using butterflies as biodiversity indicators in a changing landscape”
Researcher: Jessica Grealey, M.Sc. Candidate  Supervisor: Dr. Steve Murphy, Department of Environment and Resource Studies
Summary: It is expected that dramatic changes in land-use have a noticeable impact on butterfly abundance and diversity. The goal of Jessica’s research is to provide detailed base-line data on current butterfly abundance and diversity in the Region of Waterloo with a comparative analysis of changes in species composition along an urban gradient.  The information collected will provide valuable information on the health of the ecosystems within the Region and allow for the prediction of how different land-use activities are potentially affecting butterfly diversity. It has the potential to identify centers of diversity, rare species, and/or unique communities or habitats within the Region which can help to guide conservation and land-use planning. Additionally, information collected during this study may provide important insights into Regional Policy Planning and assess the effectiveness of designating environmentally sensitive areas to protect species diversity.

7) Title: “Evaluation of bud, flower, and seed infection of Butternut (Juglans cinerea) by the butternut canker pathogen Sirococcus clavigignentijuglandacearum and the role of infected seed in disease dispersal”
Researcher: Dr. Kirk D. Broders and Dr. Greg J. Boland, Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph
Summary: Butternut has been listed as an endangered species in both Canada and the
United States, largely as a result of mortality from infection by the butternut
canker pathogen Sirococcus clavigignenti-juglandacearum (SCJ). The Butternut
recovery plan has focused on finding potentially resistant or tolerant trees,
collecting seed, and then distributing this seed for planting them around the
province to re-establish butternut. However, it is unknown as to whether these
seed harbor SCJ, and if dispersal of the
seed is a means of disseminating the pathogen. The objective of Kirk and Greg’s research is to determine the point at which seed may become infected starting with the leaf buds and following the progression through flowering and finally the development of the seed. This research will address the following important aspects for improvement of butternut recovery; i) at what point in seed development does SCJ initially infect the host, ii) the frequency of infection at the different developmental stages, and different canopy heights iii) and the potential of seed dispersal of the pathogen.

8) Title: “Monitoring stream network extent in agricultural headwater streams”
Researcher: Rashaad Bhamjee, M.Sc. Candidate  Supervisor: Dr. John Lindsay, Department of Geography, University of Guelph
Summary: Running water is one of the most important contributing factors to shaping the terrestrial environment. Running water can be broken down into two main categories: 1) overland flow; the general flow of surface water down the slope of a land surface, and 2) streamflow; the channelized movement of flow. Streamflow pattern is fairly stationary on a large-scale over short periods of time but on a small scale, streamflow networks can be very dynamic. Rashaad is interested in determining how stream networks expand and contract on a fine-scale which has been difficult to measure in the field until now.  To this end, he has developed a network of small sensors that can be placed in small channels that will record the date and timing of the onset of flow. This will be the first fine-scale spatial and temporal study of ephemeral streamflow in Southern Ontario. His research will determine how stream networks behave under various conditions and this behaviour will allow for an assessment of the potential for the movement and fate of pollutants from agricultural fields.

9) Title: “Monitoring pollinators: examining the efficacy of Citizen Science observations”
Researcher: Heather Andrachuk. M.Sc. Candidate   Supervisor: Dr. Steve Murphy, Department of Environment and Resource Studies, University of Waterloo
Summary: Canadian ‘citizen science’ programs like FrogWatch, PlantWatch and PollinatorWatch allow non-scientists to record data on natural phenomena using a simplified sampling protocol that is easy to understand but is hoped will provide meaningful data on these phenomena from across the country. Unfortunately, the accuracy of the data collected from citizen science programs is unknown. Heather’s research focuses on PollinatorWatch and has two main objectives: 1) to determine the diversity and abundance of bees found in various habitats at rare, and 2) to determine the efficacy of citizen science observations of bees through PollinatorWatch. Bee diversity at rare will be determined using a plot design along which blue, yellow and white pan traps will be placed out on the property in various locations and along which flowers will be sampled using sweep nets. Citizen science participants will be trained to collect data using the PollinatorWatch protocol. The various data sets will be compared and the results will contribute to the long-term monitoring of bees throughout Canada.

If you are interested in researching at rare please contact: Peter Kelly, Research Director, rare Charitable Research Reserve, 1679 Blair Road, Cambridge, ON  N3H 4R8 or at 519-650-9336 x126 or at pekelly@raresites.org.