No abstract

Invasive wetland plants are the primary targets of wetland management to promote native communities and wildlife habitat, but little is known about how commonly implemented restoration techniques influence nutrient cycling. We tested how experimental mowing, herbicide application, and biomass harvest (i.e., removal of aboveground biomass) treatments of Typha-invaded mesocosms altered porewater nutrient (NO 3 -, NH 4 ? , PO 4 -3 ) concentration and supply rate, vegetation response, and light penetration to the soil surface. We found that while herbicide application eliminated the target species, it also reduced native plant density and biomass, as well as increased porewater nutrient concentration (PO 4 -3 , NO 3 -) and supply rates (N, P, K) up to a year after treatments were implemented. Because herbicide application promotes nutrient enrichment, it may increase the likelihood of reinvasion by problematic wetland invaders, as well as cause eutrophication and deleterious algal blooms in adjacent aquatic systems. Our data suggest that biomass harvest should be considered by managers aiming to reduce Typha abundance without eradicating native diversity, avoid nutrient leaching, as well as possibly utilizing biomass for bioenergy.

This paper describes the results of a preliminary project conducted by a team of DePaul University undergraduate students and staff from the Gary Comer Youth Center located on Chicago's South Side. The team assessed soil quality on 116 samples collected among four abandoned residential lots adjacent to the Comer Center. Soil quality data will be used in a follow-up study to determine the suitability of each lot for green infrastructure implementation. Green infrastructure may be a useful approach for providing ecosystem services and mitigating food deserts in inner-city communities. Soil quality on all lots was poor. All soils had pH >8.0, low biological activity, and low N mineralization potential. The soils were rich in available P and had mean total Pb concentrations above the USEPA threshold (400 mg kg) for children's playlots. Mean bioavailable Pb on the largest of the four lots was 12% of total Pb, indicating that most of the total Pb is not bioavailable. This result is encouraging because high bioavailable Pb concentrations are linked with negative health effects, particularly in children. All lots had NO-N concentrations below those considered to be appropriate for plant growth. On the other hand, no significant differences in mean concentrations of the other analytes were found. The poor soil quality in the four lots presents an opportunity to use green infrastructure to enhance ecosystem services, improve community and environmental health, and provide more equitable access to green space.

Globally, thousands of institutions house nearly three billion scientific collections offering unparalleled resources that contribute to both science and society. For herbaria alone - facilities housing dried plant collections - there are over 3,000 herbaria worldwide with an estimated 350 million specimens that have been collected over the past four centuries. Digitization has greatly enhanced the use of herbarium data in scientific research, impacting diverse research areas, including biodiversity informatics, global climate change, analyses using next-generation sequencing technologies, and many others. Despite the entrance of herbaria into a new era with enhanced scientific, educational, and societal relevance, museum specimens remain underused. Natural history museums can enhance learning and engagement in science, particularly for school-age and undergraduate students. Here we outline a novel approach of a natural history museum using touchscreen technology that formed part of an interactive kiosk in a temporary museum exhibit on biological specimens. We provide some preliminary analysis investigating the efficacy of the tool, based on the Zooniverse platform, in an exhibit environment to engage patrons in the collection of biological data. We conclude there is great potential in using crowd‐sourced science coupled with online technology to unlock data and information from digital images of natural history specimens themselves. Sixty percent of the records generated by community scientists (citizen scientists) were of high enough quality to be utilized by researchers. All age groups produced valid, high quality data that could be used by researchers, including children (10 and under), teens, and adults. Significantly, the paper outlines the implementation of experiential learning through an undergraduate mathematics course that focuses on projects with actual data to gain a deep, practical knowledge of the subject, including observations, the collection of data, analysis, and problem solving. We here promote an intergenerational model including children, high school students, undergraduate students, early career scientists and senior scientists, combining experiential learning, museum patrons, researchers, and data derived from natural history collections. Natural history museums with their dual remit of education and collections-based research can play a significant role in the field of  community engagement and people-powered research. There also remains much to investigate on the use of interactive displays to help learners interpret and appreciate authentic research.