When I was seven years old, I raised my first monarch butterfly. I was instantly captivated by this miraculous animal, and
was inspired to learn how to protect them. As I learned more about the problems facing the monarchs, I learned about other environmental challenges as well. This sparked my passion for protecting the environment, and I decided to dedicate my career to studying wildlife.
My Monarch Project
During my undergrad at Ohio State I completed a research project investigating the potential of green infrastructure to serve as reproductive
habitat for monarch butterflies in urban areas. I studied specialized rain gardens called bioretention cells, engineered for stormwater management,
to see if monarchs would lay eggs in them. My results indicated that monarchs used the bioretention cells in a similar manner to how they use natural milkweed patches.
This means that these rain gardens can provide critical reproductive habitat for this near-endangered species in an urban landscape where such habitat would
otherwise be hard to find. My research shows that bioretention cells with milkweed in them can be an excellent way for cities to integrate monarch habitat into our own human infrastructure,
helping the monarch populations recover. The project lasted three years, and I was awarded funding from the Ohio State Student Sustainability Grant. I had the privilege of presenting my results at the
American Ecological Engineering Society conference in June of 2023 in Tampa, Florida. My results were also used by the City of Columbus to guide future management of
installations of Blueprint bioretention cells. You can read my poster presentation here,
and view my slides from my AEES presentation here.
