Erin F. Snyder |
I'm a master's student in the Plant Biology and Conservation program at Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Garden, where I'm co-advised by Dr. Becky Barak and Dr. Andrea Kramer.
I'm interested in restoration ecology, applied research, seed collection and production, plant traits, novel ecosystems, and community science. |
Could former industrial sites provide new habitat for dolomite prairie plants?
In the Calumet region of northeastern Illinois, historical slag fill (a byproduct of the steel production process) created novel environments with shallow, rocky soil and abnormally high pH. These conditions are reminiscent of dolomite priaires, an extremely rare Illinois habitat. Ecologists working with these slag sites think that dolomite prairie species might do well here, but we need to try growing these species in slag first and see how they respond.
My research explores whether slag could provide refuge for native plants that grow in dolomite prairies, including conservative, threatened, and endangered species. |
My project examines variation in seedling emergence, establishment, and traits. I grew dolomite prairie species from two different seed sources in slag and topsoil. I used above and belowground traits that we know impact how plants survive to test whether traits varied based on where seedlings came from (seed source) or where they were grown (soil type).
I'm grateful to be working with Chicago Park District ecologists and restoration practitioners who are managing slag sites within park land. |
We collected slag soil and topsoil from Big Marsh Park in fall 2021.
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Greenhouse trials testing wild-collected seed bank and commercial seed sources in the two soil treatments kicked off in spring 2022.
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Seedling harvests and data collection continued throughout summer 2022.
I used RhizoVision Explorer to process scanned images of root systems and measure root traits.
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I will defend my thesis in early 2024.