Senior Research
During my senior year of college I completed a full-year independent reseach project on Garlic Mustard, an invasive plant species. I gave several presentations and received honors at the culmination of my project.
During the spring 2016 semester I ran a greenhouse study to test competition between Garlic Mustard and Japanese Stilt Grass and Japanese Honeysuckle, two other invasive plants in this area. Both experiments grew for 10 weeks in the greenhouse. I found that Garlic Mustard was able to inhibit the growth of Japanese Honeysuckle. Japanese Stilt Grass seems to be able to inhibit Japanese Stilt Grass.
Research in the Field and Greenhouse
Field Research
During the fall semester, I conducted an observational field study to determine how low, medium, and high densities of Garlic Mustard impact other understory species. I conducted my research along the Conodoguinett near Mechanicsburg, PA. I used ANOVA to test if the data were significant. I found that Garlic Mustard did not significantly impact the abundance and percent cover of understory species, however trends could be observed. I found that some species seemed to show a positive relationship with Garlic Mustard, some showed a negative relationship, but most should no clear relationship. One of my clearest findings was that Garlic Mustard did not have any impact on the understory diversity - which is a measure of the number of species present and their relative abundances. The observed results might have been because of un-accounted for environmental factors, that Garlic Mustard has become naturalized in the area, or that Garlic Mustard densities were not high enough to cause negative impacts.
Collecting data in the field.
Greenhouse Experiment
Presentations
I gave several presentations about my research. At Dickinson, I presented my results at the end of the fall and spring semesters in 10-15 minute presentations to a general audience. I also presented my research in a more informal style to my peers in the Baird Sustainability Fellowship.
Professionally, I presented my research at the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Ecological Society of America in April 2016.
Garlic Mustard and Japanese Stilt Grass in the greenhouse.