RESEARCH IN THE FIELD The Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin awarded Northland $1,100 for Assistant Professor of Natural Resources Erik Olson to oversee faculty-student research monitoring purple loosestrife on the Chippewa Flowage. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ The University of Wisconsin-Madison granted a sub-award to Northland for $16,690 for Assistant Professor of Natural Resources Erik Olson to oversee faculty-student surveying of the status of American martens in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. The prime funder is the US National Park Service. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ The City of Ashland granted the Center for Rural Communities (CRC) at Northland $17,230 for CRC Director of Research Programs Ana Tochterman to oversee a city-wide housing study. The project will employ student research assistants to look at demographic and housing characteristics and trends and identify housing needs. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ The Wisconsin Coastal Management Program awarded the Mary Griggs Burke (MGB) Center for Freshwater Innovation at Northland $29,250 for MGB Co-Director Randy Lehr to work with Northland students to develop decision support tools for local governments for sustaining water quality in Lake Superior. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources awarded the Mary Griggs Burke (MGB) Center for Freshwater Innovation at Northland $49,630 for MGB Co-Director Randy Lehr to work with Northland students to develop management plans for Upson and O’Brien lakes in Iron County. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ The Ohio State University granted a sub-award to Northland for $4,000 for Associate Professor of Natural Resources and Biology Sarah Johnson '02 to oversee an intern to inform fire management approaches across three on-going projects in a Great Lakes barren ecosystem. The prime funder is the US Bureau of Land Management. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ The US Fish and Wildlife Service awarded Northland, in cooperation with the Office of Applied Learning, $22,940 to employ four natural resource interns through its Ashland office. In addition, Northland contributed approximately $6,000 in work-study cost-share funds to help employ the interns. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ The Town of La Pointe awarded Northland, in cooperation with the Office of Applied Learning, $2,260 for an outdoor education student to design and implement a summer recreation program for Madeline Island youth. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ The University of Wisconsin-Superior granted a sub-award to Northland, in cooperation with the Office of Applied Learning, for $4,530 for a Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve Rivers2Lake program internship. The prime funder is the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ The National Collegiate Athletic Association awarded Northland a oneyear $26,660 Division III Ethnic Minorities and Women’s Internship grant to help employ an intern in the athletics department and enhance gender and ethnic minority representation in intercollegiate athletics administration.
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Flying Squirrel Photobomb Leads to New Discovery A photobombing squirrel helped a Northland College student document the highest recorded observation of the gray tree frog in northern Wisconsin. As part of a larger study of old and large white pine canopies, senior Madison Laughlin of Edmonds, Washington, documented the tree frog almost seventy feet above the ground—more than double the highest previously on record. Her findings were published in the May issue of the scientific journal, Ecology. “This frog appears to be able to weather sun during the day in the canopy by finding shady and cool spots,” said Laughlin, who studies natural resources and geology. The John C. Bock Foundation provided funds for a multiyear grant in 2015 for a canopy survey that included this student research. As part of the study, Laughlin and her tree-climbing professors set up three motion sensitive cameras in three white pines to observe life at the tops of the trees. They have already identified seventeen species of animals—squirrels, birds, mice, and tree frogs—as well as a mushroom species, a variety of insects and many lichen species particular to this special habitat. “This is research that is literally being done in our backyard,” said Assistant Professor of Natural Resources Erik Olson. “That is one of the beautiful things about science—we don’t have to go to
the ends of the Earth to make new insights into our world.” In this case, capturing frogs in unexpected places. Tree frogs are small and similar in temperature to their environment so they do not set off the motion sensitive cameras. However, flying squirrels do. And on four different occasions, flying squirrels have exposed tree frogs up high. Laughlin says there is a gap in what we know about tree frogs—oddly, there isn’t much research on tree frogs in trees. “Most of the research is about their breeding, which takes place in ponds,” she said. “This research is helping open the door to the vertical dimension of habitat.” These images suggest a higher level of habitat usage in the tops of trees than previously thought. “I love forestry and forest ecology,” Laughlin said. “And I’ve never thought about the three-dimensional aspect of habitat—there’s a lot going on up there.” Additional work is underway to describe the habitat usage of other animals high in the trees and to begin to answer the question of why tree frogs go so high. “We’re not surprised that the canopy is an important habitat, but we are surprised how many and what species are up there and how often they visit,” said Assistant Professor of Forestry Jonathan Martin who is codirecting the research. “The combination of the scale and growth patterns of these trees, as well as the habitat surprises, gives me a renewed appreciation for the complex processes occurring high off ground.”
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