​Steve Sentoff and Olympic Mathiaparanam presented to BioCommons students about opportunities in the Preserve for them and provided maps, information on volunteering, field trips and student grant opportunities. Steve also acquainted them with using iNaturalist to record observations in the Preserve. A small exhibit about the Preserve, and possibly a digital slideshow are planned for the display case in BioCommons, which was installed to honor Lillian Tong when she retired from WISCIENCe.

The BioCommons, located at UW-Madison's Steenbock Library, is a community space for undergraduates interested in the biological sciences. Here students find services tailored to their unique needs and get help navigating the wide array of biology options. Undergraduates from across campus come here to start projects, share ideas, or just hang out with the plants and fish and play a game with friends. The Friends efforts to acquaint students with the Preserve will bring them out into natural biological environments so close to them.

Community members met with UW–Madison program representatives — and even Bucky Badger — at the South Madison Community Partnership event held in Villager Mall on Sept. 12. The free, family-friendly event featured a complimentary cookout, live DJ, free scoops from UW–Madison’s retro ice cream truck, games, prize giveaways and a special visit from Bucky Badger. Representatives from more than 15 campus and community organizations were on hand. The event marks the fourth year of the UW South Madison Partnership, which currently attracts more than 1,100 visitors monthly and 35 groups annually. 

Olympia Mathiaparanam, Steve Sentoff and Lillian Tong of the Friends represented the Lakeshore Nature Preserve and distributed information materials. Their table exhibit, featuring natural objects for visitors to explore with magnifying glasses, received much attention. Even Bucky showed interest. Thank you to our exhibitors. Photos Steve Sentoff and Lillian Tong. Also see the news feature on Inside Wisconsin News

Despite cool fall weather, 26 people showed up to learn about insects in the Preserve from entomologist Tom Morgan. Tom, who worked as a technician with the USDA, has over 40 years of experience with insects. He shared his knowledge with an engaged group, and began the field trip with a varied display of insects and tools used to observe them. Participants enjoyed hearing anecdotes and descriptions that made in-depth subject knowledge accessible.
 
Some highlights included several grasshoppers, a katydid, Milkweed Tussock Moth and Isabella Tiger Moth (Pyrrharctia Isabella )caterpillars, milkweed bugs (Oncopeltus fasciatus), webworms, beetles, and more. A brightly colored Argiopespider also attracted attention, but we moved on past this arachnid in search of more insects. Friends host was Paul Quinlan. Photograph by Steve Sentoff.

​Eva Lewandowski, who coordinates Wisconsin DNR Citizen-based Monitoring projects, shared with the group of 19 participants about her important work. The DNR coordinates 20-25 projects and partners with about 20 others throughout the state. These projects help the public to participate in scientific research—the collection and analysis of data relating to the natural world, typically as part of a collaborative project with professional scientists.
 
Eva explained several projects that the Preserve lends itself to, such as the Wisconsin Bumble Bee Brigade, the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas, projects involving counting and photographing dragonflies and damselflies, Frogs and Toads, Turtles, or the acoustic echo counting of bats, and water quality monitoring. The Friends contribute to several of these projects.
 
An expert in Bumble bees and butterflies, Eva helped us identify the Common eastern Bumble bee, the Two-spotted bumble bee and Brown-belted bumble bee. She observed that bees are unusually small this year because of the lack of food early in the cold spring season. The number of queen bees, which alone of the entire colony survive into the next year, are declining in Wisconsin. People participating in the Bumble Bee Brigade project help collect important statistics on bee populations. 20 species of Bumble bees are found in Wisconsin. 

​While many outdoor enthusiasts enjoy the sights and smells of native Wisconsin, Eve Emshwiller experiences Wisconsin flora with her sense of taste too! On a fine Sunday afternoon, 16 eager novice foragers joined Eve to learn about the flavors that lie within the grasses and thickets of the Preserve. 
 
With a bucket of plant samples in tow, Eve highlighted many species of plants including lambs quarter, American black nightshade, wild ginger, creeping charlie, anise root, and wild sumac which could be relished in the forms of fresh greens for a salad, juicy berries, candied rhizomes, teas, licorice-tasting seeds, and lemonades respectively. 
 
A main takeaway was the importance of timing! While some plants were harmless to savor throughout their growth stages, other plants were only recommended to consume in the early growth stages (e.g. you should only eat the early solomon seal plants, when the stem and leaves are knee high and leaves are still curled) or only when fruit was completely ripe (e.g. this is true for elderberry and mayapple fruit). 
 
Eve also guided the group through the Preserve to point out plant species to wholly avoid eating. Some of these poisonous members included white snakeroot-- the culprit famously responsible for Abe Lincoln’s mother’s death (the toxins were ingested by cows, transferred into their milk, and lethal to the consumers) --, poison ivy, and the European high bush cranberry. 
 
Overall, the trip was truly a… treat! Eve provided some…  food for thought: a unique perspective and route for members to reimagine Wisconsin landscapes! Friends host and photos Olympia Mathiaparanam.

The hours passed quickly!  In this bird-banding session, we saw a number of common yellow throat warblers (several of them very young!), several types of sparrows, a fly catcher, chickadees, three species of wren (marsh wren, sedge wren, house wren). I was glad our 13 visitors got to experience this process and I hope this description entices others to attend future bird-banding “field trips”. I highly recommend this to people of all ages, but particularly to parents with young children. I was told, however, that the mist nets don’t always catch as many birds. We were lucky today with 22 birds- last week they banded 48, but sometimes there are only a few. The 7 volunteer bird banders are an impressive group, and Jackie is a wonderful leader and educator!  ​Report by Friends Host Lillian Tong. Photos by Lillian Tong and Arlene Koziol.

On this beautiful cool Sunday morning, UW Arboretum naturalist Susan Carpenter met the group of 7 Friends who gathered for her Pollinator Tour at the entrance to Picnic Point. She prepared us for our observations of these important pollinators by reviewing the life cycle of a bumble bee colony.  I was fascinated by her description of the hardworking queen bumblebee, who emerges in the spring from her solitary underground hibernation, collects nectar from flowers and sets up a nest nearby. Working alone, she lays her first batch of eggs, fertilized in the previous summer, and sits on them to warm them. The queen has to leave the nest to gather more nectar and pollen to feed the hatched larvae which mature into adult female worker bees. As the season progresses, the queen lays unfertilized eggs which develop into haploid males that leave the nest in search of other queens to fertilize. Susan gave each of us a laminated copy of the Bumble Bee Brigade Field Guide to Females and Males of 21 bumblebee species. She also gave us a Rusty Patched Bumble Bee Midwest Plant Guide to native plants that will attract most of the other bumblebee species, too.  

Susan encouraged us to take our own photos of bees and submit them to the Wisconsin DNR’s Bumble Bee Brigade, wiatri.net/inventory/bbb.  As the insects' territory is squeezed by climate change, and they face threats from pesticide use, loss of habitat and disease, the DNR and the Xerces Society can use our observations to guide their bumblebee conservation efforts.  
Bumblebees sighted today:
Bombus auricomus       black and gold
Bombus bimaculatus    twospotted
Bombus griseocollis      brownbelted
Bombus impatiens        common eastern
Bombus vagans            half-black
The federally-listed-as-endangered bee that we were hoping to see, but did not:
Bombus affinis        rusty patched
​
​Many thanks to Susan for her very engaging and informative tour. Report by Doris Dubielzig and Friends host Steve Sentoff, Photos by Glenda Denniston, Doris Dubielzig, Seth McGee, Steve Sentoff

​On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Professor Glen Stanosz shared his knowledge of trees with five enthusiastic guests. As attendees strolled through the shaded paths near Picnic Point, Glen identified ash, oak, red pine, and white pine trees among other woody species. 
Each tree species was paired with a remarkable tale of conquest by fungal or insectivore invaders… occasionally intertwined with hopeful twists of perseverance as researchers discover some tree species are beginning to develop resistance against their pesky assailants:

• Ash trees face adversity from two fronts: emerald ash borer (EAB) insects and the Candidatus fraxinii bacteria which can harm ash trees’ ability to store and transfer water and nutrients, respectively. Glen noted that most ash trees in the Preserve have succumbed to the forces of Candidatus fraxinii, displaying the characteristics of Ash Yellow disease (a sparse crown, with leaves that exhibit a “cupped” shape as you look at higher branches of the tree, and a “witches broom” in newer branches) which reflect the consequences of a failing root system. However, the future of ash trees is not necessarily bleak according to Glen, as new research indicates that ash trees are developing resistance to both EAB and Candidatus fraxinii. 

 

• Oak trees commonly fall victim the coordinated acts of the Bretziella fagacearum fungus and their sap beetle accomplishes. The Bretziella fagacearum fungus can colonize in wounds of oak trees and create a mat of sweet-smelling spores under the oak bark to attract sap beetles. Fresh oak tree wounds also release a sweet smell and attract sap beetles— so sap beetles can effectively spread the Bretziella fagacearum fungus from oak tree to oak tree if as they alternate visits to alluring sweet-smelling fungal pads and equally appealing oak wounds. Researchers have discovered that sap beetles can detect oak wounds just 15 minutes after a wound is created— an impressive skill, but extremely problematic in the eyes of scientists who want to mitigate spread of oak wilt disease. Once established in the oak tree, Bretziella fagacearum spreads through the root system of the tree until it ultimately kills the oak.

While trees face incredible feats against fungal and insect invaders alike, Glen described how this harassment is a result of trees’ tempting design. Trees are made of two main components: cellulose and lignin… in other words, trees are made of sugar and glue! So, if trees have the audacity to grow tall and advertise their sweet composition to the decomposers in their ecosystems, that must mean trees have some secret defenses of their own. Indeed, Glen skillfully pointed out trees using their defensive ability to compartmentalize their trunks; these trees created a seal that trapped an invading fungus on the interior of the trunk, allowing the living outer region of the trunk to service the tree unharmed. 
 
Finally, Glen referenced a non-fungal threat to forests: climate change. With observed warming trends in Wisconsin, Glen said it is possible that the composition of forests may change over time. Glen hypothesizes that Wisconsin may lose its maple and conifer trees, but retain hickory trees as hickory trees can be found in southern/warmer regions of the US. ​​Report and Photos by the Friends' host Olympia Mathiaparanam.