A typical association of plants of pine barrens at Moquah Barrens in northwestern Wisconsin: Comptonia peregrina, Vaccinium angustifolium, Calystegia spithamea and Prunus pumila.
Photo by Paul Hlina

Researcher Rachel Fendrich finds the first ornate box turtles of the year at Hawkeye Wildlife Area, Iowa.
Photo by Neil Bernstein

Montana ranch kid poised to release a spiny softshell turtle.
Photo by Kayhan Ostovar

Translocated greater prairie-chickens being let out of release box in Wah'Kon-Tah Prairie in Cedar and St. Claire Counties, Missouri.
Photo by Kaylan Kemink

Bullsnake
Photo by Joshua Kapfer

Researcher Rebecca Trubitt holding a hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) captured in 2016 at the Mirror Pool Wildlife Management Area in eastern North Dakota.
Photo by Josiah Nelson

Ratibida pinnata, a successful pioneer in young prairie restoration plantings.
Photo by Kathryn Yurkonis

The late Richard Clinebell, outstanding in his field.
Photo by Richard Clinebell

Weighing the catch. Jackrabbit trappers at work during the daytime.
Photo by Irma Tapia

The lovely Mojave Rattlesnake, Crotalus scutulatus, in Arizona.
Photo by Travis Fisher

An Arkansas home of the declining crawfish frog, Lithobates areolatus, in Washington County.
Photo by Chelsea Kross

Researcher Neal Jankowski extracting nectar from flowers of Monarda fistulosa.
Photo by Karen Holding

A swift fox survey site on the Oglala National Grasslands in Nebraska.
Photo by Lucia Corral

Student research assistants on a steep hill prairie in eastern Iowa, overlooking the Mississippi River. When not watching their footing, they were studying native bees.
Photo by Stephen Hendrix

Student research assistants explore the Weston Cemetery Prairie, in Illinois.
Photo by Diane Byers

Downy gentian, Gentiana puberulenta, an Autumn treasure in Wisconsin
Photo by Amy Alstad

Konza Prairie LTER in Kansas, an iconic prairie research landscape, is one site where Adam Rollins collected slime molds.
Photo by Adam Rollins

Snails!
Photo by William Heyborne

Spiny softshell turtle upon release makes its way back to the river through a screen of young tamarisk, an alien plant that may negatively affect nesting beaches.
Photo by Kayhan Ostovar

This is Salt Alkaline Lake in Kidder County, North Dakota. At times this lake is as salty as a coastal estuary, and it contains many algae similar to what are found in coastal habitats. This particular backwater area was especially productive during a late summer collecting trip.
Photo by Josh Stepanek

Prairie conservationist Shelly Wiggam of Kansas.
Photo by Shelly Wiggam

One of Scott Chamberlain's research pollinators is this female Megachile deflexa. Female bees in this genus collect and carry pollen from flowers among the hairs on the underside of their abdomens. They use pollen to provision the cells in which they lay their eggs and in which the larval bees of the next generation develop. Without pollen, these bees cannot reproduce.
Photo by Scott Chamberlain

A temporary water body in Oklahoma. Although rapidly-developing frog species may be able to make it out of the pond before it dries up, fish wouldn't fare as well. As a result, tadpoles reared in these wetlands do not experience the threat of fish predation during development, as a tadpole in a permanent pond or lake would.
Photo by Lynne Beaty

This is the plain color morph of the delta green ground beetle (Elaphrus viridis).
Photo by Adam Clause

Bison may be beneficial for native bees, for example, by wallowing and creating areas of bare loose soil that may be nesting sites for bees. The spouse of researcher Bethanne Bruninga-Socolar is here included for scale.
Photo by Bethanne Bruninga-Socolar