Aaron Semington (he/him)
Bio:
I have been digging in (and eating) dirt since I was able to walk. I have always been outside exploring the natural world around me. I knew I was going to keep exploring that for the rest of my life, minus the eating dirt part. I am from Edina, Minnesota and I got my B.S. in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from the University of Minnesota, win Cities. During undergrad I worked in the department of agronomy and plant genetics studying wild rice. I specifically looked at gene markers for seed shattering, which could help identify pollen drift from cultivated rice to natural stands. During my summers I worked outside with plants, two of the places I worked at were: the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and the University of Minnesota’s North Central Research and Outreach Center. Outside of school I am a potter, I have been doing ceramics for about 8 years now and I want to keep that hobby, despite grad school! I also am always looking for new spots to hike and camp.
Research:
I am studying the effects of climate change regime on prairie ecosystems across ND and MN. Specifically, I am examining how arbuscular mychorrizal fungi (AM fungi) generalists may effect the adaptive ability of certain species of prairie plants. I have chosen a few plants to represent a sample of this effect. The plants I am using are blanketflower, and prairie clover. With these plants I will examine the predicted moisture regime and temp regime of test plots in these areas and create climate change models of this on site.
