Wild rice grows in several quiet backwaters in Pool 8. It provides shelter and food for waterbirds and is an important source of food for waterfowl during fall migration. We monitor wild rice by interpreting aerial photography and by associated ground-truthing. During spring floods, monitoring tree seedfall on floodplain forest plots usually located on dry land can be logistically challenging. A ladybug investigates a flower of purple loosestrife for small insect prey.
Purple loosestrife is an exotic emergent that has invaded from Europe.
It has no food value for most North American wildlife and displaces plants that do have food value. Field station personnel monitor purple loosestrife by interpreting aerial photography and by associated ground-truthing.