Science CORPS

Summer 2023

Lana Bolin — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 21:40:37 +0000

The Science CORPS 2023 cohort once again repeated the test of the Enemy Release Hypothesis in their unique set of sites, which expanded to include Michigan in addition to Indiana and Illinois, and explored a brand new question in urban ecology: Does seed predation differ between paved and unpaved environments?

Just like the first year Science CORPS cohort, they found no difference in seed predation between native and exotic plant species. However, they found that seed predation was greater on paved surfaces than on unpaved surfaces, suggesting that urban environments may alter seed predation patterns.

Check out their amazing poster, which they presented at the Indiana Academy of Sciences Meeting!

Macey and Winta presenting their poster at the Indiana Academy of Sciences Meeting in March, 2024.

Two other students coauthored the poster, and 12 others contributed to the research.

The post Summer 2023 appeared first on Science CORPS.

Summer 2022

Lana Bolin — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 23:10:15 +0000

The Science CORPS 2022 cohort built on the work of the previous summer, repeating the test of the Enemy Release hypothesis and the urban-rural gradient in seed predation while also asking new questions.

They did not find support for the Enemy Release Hypothesis, just like last year. Instead, they found a trend for greater predation on invasive seeds rather than native seeds, the opposite of what is expected under enemy release! They hypothesized that seed predators may have instead been attracted to novel food sources.

They also found that lighter colored seeds were predated more than dark colored seeds, which was their own novel research question.

Check out their poster below!

Dylan, Cieara, and Hannah presenting their Science CORPS research at the Indiana Academy of Sciences Meeting in March, 2023.

One other student co-authored the poster, and 16 more contributed to the research.

The post Summer 2022 appeared first on Science CORPS.

Summer 2021

scadmin25 — Sun, 24 Oct 2021 17:11:28 +0000

Our first Science CORPS distributed experiment combined emerging ideas from urban ecology (how species interactions shift across urbanization gradients) with classic ideas from invasion ecology (the Enemy Release Hypothesis, which posits that invaders escape many of their enemies during the invasion process).

Each student was mailed a science kit containing everything the needed to construct their seed depots and measure seed predation in their back yard or neighborhood park. Students put five seeds of each species into their seed depots and counted the number of remaining seeds six days later.

By including both native and invasive species seeds, the students could answer the question:

Do seed predation rates differ between invasive vs. native species?

Because students lived across Indiana and Illinois, by combining their data they could also ask:

How do seed predation rates vary across rural/urban gradients?

And the exciting results? Science CORPS students found that seed predation was stronger in rural environments than suburban environments, and that seed predation rates did not differ between native and invasive species, which is inconsistent with the Enemy Release Hypothesis.

Check out their poster below!

The post Summer 2021 appeared first on Science CORPS.