The purpose of our Photo Gallery is to allow visitors to our website to quickly learn about the research activities that Prairie Biotic Research helps to make possible.

Notice, please, the variety of research sites, the varied topography of prairies. Most surviving prairies are on steep slopes, or on poor soils, or in places with limited rainfall, or so close to bedrock that tillage is impractical. A few survive as accidental reserves along railroad rights-of-way or in pioneer cemeteries. Many prairie remnants are very, very small. Prairie restorations come in all sizes, from small rooftop plantings to landscape scale projects. Every prairie is different and every site offers interesting research opportunities to the curious as well as great beauty, at different scales, to any observer who takes time to appreciate it.

Notice the varied species that these researchers are studying, and the lengths they often must go to in order to answer rather basic questions. Notice the beauty of these living things!

Notice that the frontiers of science are not all on Sumatra, or on Mars, but are quickly reached right here in the wild places remaining or being recreated. Often, all it takes is patient, focussed observation. Discoveries new to science can be made right by the roadside, if only we would be more observant.

Notice the researchers themselves: many are students, some are faculty, some are independent researchers. Often our small grant of $1,000 or less not only helps to support a researcher's work but also allows several assistants to get out into the field, which is a catalyst to learning and appreciation of nature for all involved.

Notice that the researchers seem fully engaged and are enjoying what they are doing. For some of us, studying nature is essential to our happiness. This is not derivative entertainment provided by the media but genuine personal engagement with nature. Prairie Biotic Research fosters curiosity!

Summits, ridge, and western-facing slopes of the Loess Hills at Turin Preserve in Monona County, Iowa. We set a line of 80 traps along this ridge and captured 2 plains pocket mice (Perognathus flavescens perniger) on 9 June 2011. A plains pocket mouse (Perognathus flavescens perniger) after release at Turin Preserve in Monona County, Iowa. The late Richard Clinebell, outstanding in his field, at a research site in Missouri, where he studied pollination biology. Researcher Tracey Johnson in a moment of repose on Zumwalt Prairie in Oregon, where she studied grazing regime and nesting grassland birds in her PhD research. Photo by Eve-line Rodriguez. This is the spotted color morph of the federally "Threatened" delta green ground beetle (Elaphrus viridis). Researcher Adam Clause studies this beautiful animal at Jepson Prairie Preserve, in Solano County, California. Photo by Adam Clause. These mating skippers are the imperiled Polites mardon, subject of Erica Henry's MS thesis, available here. Researcher Kyra Krakos on a study site near Norman, Oklahoma. Photo by research assistant Scott Fabricant. Wendy Phillips at Kinston Prairie, in Oregon. Photo by researcher Wendy Phillips. Researcher Tim Vargo led a citizen science study of the state "Threatened" Butler's gartersnake (Thamnophis butleri) in the floodplain of the Milwaukee River, in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo by Jesse Hill. Scott Meiners is a faculty researcher who, with several students, evaluates the vigor of plants grown from seeds collected at prairie remnants of different sizes. Are seeds from larger founding populations better for use in prairie restorations? Illinois researcher John Tooker studied the effects of prescribed burning on populations of insects living inside the stems of compass plant and prairie dock. These are larvae of the wasp Ancistrophus rufus inside a stem of prairie dock. Photo by John Tooker. Adult of the tiny cynipid wasp Ancistrophus rufus that develops inside the stems of prairie dock, Silphium terebinthinaceum, in Illinois. Photo by researcher John Tooker.

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