Introduction to the Bean Project

Hello, my name is Anna Hansen. I just finished my sophomore year at UW - Stout and I am very excited to be starting research this summer with the other Lakes Reu students and faculty. I am pursuing a degree in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science with a concentration in Business Management. I also have two minors, one in Spanish as well as one in Project Management. I am originally from Eau Claire, WI, and originally chose to go to Stout for Math Education and to play volleyball. In my free time, I like to be outside, play volleyball and spend time with friends and family. I was very interested in this opportunity as I will be using my math skills to find what amount of water is needed to grow the greatest yield of kidney beans as well as seeing how Chippewa Valley Bean operates from a business standpoint. 

Over the past two weeks, our team has been looking at articles to see what past researchers have done to solve similar problems. An article that we found very interesting is Tragedy of the Commons in Plant Water Use written by Zea-Cabrera et al. in 2006. In this article, they talk about the relationship between plant biomass and soil moisture. Soil Moisture and Plant Biomass are both modeled by these differential equations. 

We want to begin by looking at the differential equation for soil moisture. It is important to look at this equation first because you need the soil moisture to create biomass. 𝑑𝑆𝑑𝑡 signifies the change in soil moisture over the change in time, 𝑆$S$= Soil moisture, 𝑡$t$= time. We then look into the equation and see 𝐼= Rainfall 𝐾𝑠𝑆𝑐= Soil drainage 𝐵(𝛾[𝑠−𝑠𝑤]𝑘+[𝑠−𝑠𝑤])= Root uptake. These three factors, factor into the change in soil moisture over time. By looking at this equation, we can see that the soil moisture will be what is left from the rain fall, after some has seeped through the soil and some water has been taken into the roots by the plant. This will leave us with a number that is the remaining soil moisture in the ground.

The second differential equation talks about the change in biomass over the change in time 𝑑𝐵𝑑𝑡 where 𝐵= Biomass and 𝑡$t$= time. In this equation we see that there are two terms inside of the whole biomass term, these two terms are (𝛼[𝑠−𝑠𝑤]𝑘+[𝑠−𝑠𝑤])= Energy Production, and 𝛽 = Energy for Maintenance. By looking at this equation you can see how the plant is either growing or dying. If energy production is greater than the energy for maintenance, then the plant is growing. If the energy for maintenance is greater than the energy production, then the plant is dying because it is not able to maintain itself.

To analyze these equations, we looked at equilibrium solutions and well as graphed these two differential equations using python. In python we coded the two differential equations so we could visually see what they looked like. By using python, we can manipulate the variables to see what changes can be made to affect the graph.

In the upcoming weeks, we hope to find more equations from articles that are similar to these. We are also going to be trying to build new equations from these equations to help create an equation that will model how much water is needed to get the maximum kidney bean yield. We believe that the soil moisture and biomass equations will be helpful in the future as we are studying how water affects the total yield of kidney beans.

My first sources: Three nice deer

    When I was first applying to LAKES, one of things that stuck out to me most was how it takes an interdisciplinary approach to a problem that could easily be reduced to a biological process, phosphorus pollution. As someone studying Biology and Global Health, I have grown to appreciate the interlocking nature of biology, psychology, engineering, anthropology, and math. From these two weeks, it is already clear that to provide valuable solutions to these problems, there needs to be communication between all invested parties including farmers, conservationists, engineers, policy makers, and more. Learning about how best management practices can improve water quality is one thing but hearing from local farmers about what this means in practice added some much-needed context to understand the difficulties of implementation and why it’s not always an easy choice to make. It has been great to be working so closely with people from many different disciplines and learn about phosphorus pollution from several different dimensions.

    This summer, I will be on the anthropology team lead by Dr. Tina Lee. My focus will be researching the Colfax Red Cedar Preserve and Recreation Area, which is about a 25-minute drive from Menomonie. My aims are to figure out the history of this land, how people are engaging with this land now, and what visions people have for future land use. As a preserve along the Red Cedar River, upstream of Lakes Menomin and Tainter, this preserve is one of many conservation sites that could help reduce nutrient pollution at the watershed scale. By taking an anthropological approach to this issue, I am hopeful that the recommendations for land management and recreation that arise will balance the ecological and social needs of this area well.

    Of course, in order to do this research, I wanted to see the preserve. On Friday on week 1, I drove to the preserve with my two other anthropology team members to check it out. It was a very quiet and peaceful place with a lot of obvious signs of care. On the welcome board, there was a list of all the wildlife that had been spotted on the preserve recently. While I haven’t started interviewing for my project yet, we had the pleasure of encountering a group of three deer walking along the Red Cedar River and I chatted with them for a bit.

Deer mom with her two kiddos taking a walk along the Red Cedar River

    While this is an intensive program, there have still been plenty of opportunities to get out and explore the area. On the first night I arrived, the LAKES folks went out to dinner at Lucette, where we had amazing pizza. Then, on Tuesday, I went to my first pie and ice cream night at Wilson Park. It was lovely to sit on the grass and listen to some tunes while eating pecan pie. Best of all, when it was over the pie sellers had a lot of treats left over so they were giving them away for free! Me and some of the other REU students were happy to take back a few boxes of pie, cookies, and muffins to share with the rest of the dorm. Over the weekend, there was also time to take a trip to The Bottoms, a nearby beach. It was so nice to spend time outside with folks and see another spot that’s a local favorite. I look forward to attending many more community events and learning about all the hidden gems that this area has to offer.

A Summer of Pie, Live Music, and Intensive Research

                                                           A view of Lake Menomin at sunset  

     Arriving at the airport on June 13th, I didn’t quite know what I was getting myself into. Spending two months doing intensive research with other students and living 2,000 miles from my home was daunting to say the least. However, I arrived with an open mind, and ready to learn from my mentor and peers in a new location. I was also excited to see whether the rumors about Midwestern hospitality and friendliness were true (they are).  On my first day in Menomonie, I was introduced to the other students in the LAKES program, the mentors, and our program coordinator over a pizza dinner. While exhausted from my flight, I appreciated how genuinely interested everyone was in my background and interests. When exploring Menomonie over the next few days, I was surprised by how empty the town felt without the presence of UW-Stout students, but happy to notice how engaged the townspeople were in community events. From pie and live music at the park to brewery events and a vibrant farmers market, I have yet to feel bored of activities happening in town. I have also been pleasantly surprised by how interested townspeople are in the work that I am doing this summer with LAKES.  

For the next 8 weeks, I will be working on Dr. Tina Lee’s anthropology team with 3 other students. There are also teams of students working on biology, engineering, and psychology projects. While we are all working on different projects, we are united in studying Lakes Tainter and Menomin in the Red Cedar Watershed. These lakes are eutrophic, have cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CHABs), and have been designated “impaired waters” by the EPA. These CHABs create an anoxic lake environment, alter food webs, and produce toxins that can be harmful to humans and pets. Runoff from agricultural sources which are high in soluble phosphorus feed these algal blooms.   

The goal of my project is to understand the policies, rules, and regulations around nutrient pollution in the Red Cedar Watershed. Because my project is policy-focused, my first task was to write up a policy landscape detailing federal, state, and local laws and regulations regarding nutrient pollution. This activity will help me during the interview stage so that information doesn’t go over my head when talking to policy professionals in the area. I am also hoping to identify a “need” within the community regarding these policies. For example, past projects have cited that many community members aren’t aware of the different county or state initiatives addressing the pollution in the watershed. Community members may also not be aware of how effective these policies have been at reducing phosphorus levels. How might I identify this need, quantify the effectiveness of these policies, and present this information in a way that is accessible to townspeople? I am currently in the data collection stage, and recently started interviewing members of local government, NGOs, and community advocacy groups. So far, I have conducted two interviews and attended a meeting of community advocacy groups and a meeting of an environmental committee. I also worked with the psychology team to include questions in a survey for local farmers about their satisfaction with local government and their understanding of policies and permits related to cleaning up the watershed. As I continue to conduct interviews, I expect my research focus to narrow further. I’m excited for the next 8 weeks!