Summer research students Sarah Bertino '09 (Natick, Mass.), William Caffry '09 (Lyme, N.H.), Max Falkoff '08 (Stamford, Conn.) and Jenney Stringer '08 (Manlius, N.Y.) are working on projects related to lupine and butterfly populations in the Rome Sand Plains. Advised by Ernest Williams, the Leonard C. Ferguson Professor of Biology, and Associate Professor of Biology William Pfitsch, the team travels to the Rome Sand Plains several times each week to conduct field research and bring samples back to the lab.
The lupine and butterfly projects are interrelated. Lupine, a member of the pea family, is a host plant to the Frosted Elfin butterfly, which is a threatened species in New York. Hamilton students have spent the last few summers studying the Rome Sand Plains with hopes of increasing the amount of lupine in order to expand the habitat of the threatened Frosted Elfin. Several years ago white pine trees, an invasive species in the area, were cut down in nine plots of land at the Rome Sand Plains to see if increased sunlight in an area would increase the growth of lupine. The students count and measure the lupine plants in the cleared plots and in non-cleared plots in order to analyze how the lupine populations have changed. However, the data have not proved as optimistic as the students may have hoped. "There has been no dramatic increase in the lupine population with the increase of light," said Falkoff, who also worked on this project last summer.
Bertino, Caffry, Falkoff and Stringer have now turned their attentions to the soil and groundcover conditions. They are analyzing soil samples from different plots that have different groundcovers, including sand, moss and lichen, lupine and forest, to "see how the groundcover affects the nutrients underneath," explained Bertino. They are also using Hamilton's greenhouse to grow lupine with different soil pH levels to see how pH affects growth, as well as analyzing pH, organic content and nitrogen content from the cleared and non-cleared plots. The overall goal of this project is to find the optimum conditions for lupine growth.
In addition to studying lupine growth, Bertino, Caffry, Falkoff and Stringer are studying the activity of the butterflies themselves. They have observed the Frosted Elfin at the Rome Sand Plains and recorded flight patterns and times, where they lay their eggs, and male territories. They are currently studying the Pearl Crescent butterfly and its egg deposition by providing different plant extracts and recording where they choose to lay their eggs.
Falkoff is working on his own project as well. "The Rome Sand Plains groundcover is dominated by cryptogamic crust, which is [made up of] lichen and moss," explained Falkoff. He is studying whether this crust has allelopathic effects on lupine or soil microbes, meaning whether or not chemicals produced by the moss and lichen inhibit growth of lupine or other species.
While they are doing biology research, this team represents diverse academic interests. Falkoff is a chemistry and philosophy major, Stringer is a women's studies major and biology minor, Caffry is planning a biology and classics double major and Bertino is planning on biology. They agree that the chance to work outside on several different projects attracted them to this work. "I wanted to work outside and get to know some biology professors," said Caffry. Falkoff enjoyed the project last summer and wanted to return. "I'm interested in botany, but I don't have a lot of time for it during the year," he said.
In addition to academic pursuits, Stringer, who is pre-med, is involved with the Underground Café and intramural volleyball; Falkoff, also pre-med, is a member of HCEMS; Bertino is involved in the sailing club; and Caffry is on the ski team and plays intramural soccer.
-- by Laura Trubiano '07
