Manoomin – The Good Berry

Manoomin, or wild rice, is native to the rivers and lakes of northern Michigan and is an integral plant both economically and culturally. As part of the 2025 Summer Lecture Series at the University of Michigan Biological Station, Frank Zomer will discuss the importance of manoomin to Anishinaabe people, the history of manoomin in Michigan, reasons for its loss/decline across the state, and where we are now. He’ll provide many examples specific to his work as Inland Fisheries Biologist for the Bay Mills Indian Community and also talk generally about trends across the state.

Zomer leads the manoomin restoration program for the tribe. He also is active in the restoration of manoomin statewide as the co-chair of the Michigan Wild Rice Initiative which brings together all 12 Michigan Tribes and state and federal agencies to promote and protect manoomin in Michigan. Frank enjoys spending time outdoors in Michigan’s beautiful Upper Peninsula with his wife and three children.

The Long-Term Maintenance of Regenerative Agriculture Enhances Climate Resiliency and Supports Soil Biodiversity

Regenerative agriculture is often associated with restoring key ecosystem services such as nutrient retention, erosion prevention, and climate resiliency. There is also an expectation that regenerative agriculture will improve soil biodiversity, which has important implications for overall ecosystem functioning. Despite these expectations, there are several unknowns regarding the long-term maintenance of regenerative agriculture and how consistent management may impact soil carbon accrual, soil food webs, and climate resiliency.

As part of the 2025 Summer Lecture Series, Dr. Christine Sprunger will outline the case for integrating free-living nematodes into the soil health framework to better understand sustainability goals and climate resiliency within agroecosystems.

Sprunger is an associate professor of soil health at Michigan State University and is currently serving as interim associate director at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station (KBS).

In her talk at UMBS, Sprunger will explore how soil carbon and free-living nematode communities shift through time after almost 30 years of regenerative agriculture management. She will demonstrate how nematodes are critical bioindicators of drought events within agroecosystems, discuss the socio-ecological aspects of regenerative agriculture, and present ways to engage farmers on climate resiliency topics.

Sprunger is a faculty member in the Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences at MSU and is based at KBS. She also is a member of MSU’s Plant Resilience Institute. Her research focuses on the intersection of agriculture and the environment, where she investigates how climate change impacts crop production, nutrient cycling, soil food webs, and rhizosphere dynamics. In addition, much of her work addresses how crop diversity, perenniality, and reduced tillage contribute to important ecosystem services such as soil carbon sequestration and nitrogen use efficiency. Sprunger also conducts interdisciplinary research with social scientists to understand farmer perceptions of soil health and climate adaptation.

Sprunger holds a Ph.D. in crop and soil sciences and ecology, evolutionary biology, and behavior from Michigan State University, and she received both a B.S. in forest resources and a B.A. in environmental studies from the University of Washington with a minor in human rights.

A Little Looney: Lessons Learned as a Loon Biologist

The Common Loon is an icon of the northern wilderness as well as an indicator of the health and integrity of aquatic ecosystems. Giving the Hann Lecture in Ornithology during the 2025 Summer Lecture Series at the University of Michigan Biological Station, Dr. Jay Mager will provide an overview of the life history of the Common Loon, share insight into the past work considering behavioral mechanisms by which loons select and defend breeding territories, and discuss current conservation practices by scientists and citizens to preserve and protect loon populations, including more recent work considering the behavior of loons during the non-breeding season.

Mager is a professor of biological sciences at Ohio Northern University, where he teaches courses in biology, ecology, animal behavior, and ornithology. He received his Bachelor of Science in biology at Hiram College, his master’s degree in zoology at Miami University, and his Ph.D. in neurobiology and behavior at Cornell University. Trained as a behavioral ecologist, Mager is fortunate to have spent most of his career studying various aspects of the life history of the Common Loon and applying what he has learned to a number of conservation and management issues facing this species.

Mutualism: What Do We Know, and Where Do We Go From Here?

Mutualism is cooperation among different species. Giving the Pettingil Lecture in Natural History during the 2025 Summer Lecture Series at the University of Michigan Biological Station, Dr. Judith L. Bronstein will review the history of the study of mutualism, a field that has only coalesced in the past 20 years. She will identify six major research directions and present her own recent work on one pollination mutualism to show how these directions can be integrated to move our understanding forward. This is a particularly intriguing interaction because it appears to be exceedingly costly (the offspring of the pollinator moths are voracious herbivores on the same plants), making it an ideal test case for testing our understanding of how mutualisms arise and when they can persist. Bronstein also will discuss a few pressing issues surrounding mutualism that are likely to drive the field in the coming years.

Judith L. Bronstein is University Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona, with a joint appointment in the Department of Entomology.

She also is an alumna of the U-M Biological Station. She studied at UMBS in 1978.

Bronstein received her A.B. from Brown University and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan. She joined the University of Arizona faculty in 1989. Dr. Bronstein focuses on the ecology and evolution of interspecific interactions, particularly on mutually beneficial ones (mutualisms). Her career-long goal has been to build a solid conceptual foundation for the study of these poorly understood interactions. Her current projects focus on their intersection with other interspecific relationships, as well as with
intraspecific cooperation.

Bronstein has won numerous teaching awards and has served in leadership positions locally, nationally, and worldwide. She is associate editor of Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics and natural history associate editor of The American Naturalist; she has served as editor-in-chief of The American Naturalist and as president of the American Society of Naturalists. Bronstein is a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America and recipient of the American Society of Naturalist’s Distinguished Achievement in the Conceptual Unification of the Biological Sciences Award. In 2024, she was elected Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Agricultural and natural landscapes are shaped by plant-insect interactions, with cascading effects on ecosystem function.

As part of the 2025 Summer Lecture Series at the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS), Dr. Jared Ali will give a free, public talk exploring how cover cropping influences multitrophic interactions, soil traits, and pest suppression through plant chemical signaling. At the same time, we investigate how different milkweed species impact monarch butterfly flight, shedding light on the chemical cues that shape migration. By integrating chemical ecology across these systems, we bridge applied pest management strategies with conservation efforts, uncovering novel ways to support both agricultural sustainability and insect biodiversity.

Ali is the director of the Center for Chemical Ecology, acting director of Penn State’s Ecology Research Institute and associate chair of the Ecology Graduate Program at Penn State. His research explores plant-insect-microbe interactions, plant defense chemistry, and the ecological factors driving insect behavior. With a strong interdisciplinary focus, his work connects fundamental chemical ecology to real-world applications in pest management and conservation.