The Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve is an
ecological research
Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps w ...
site located primarily in
East Bethel, Minnesota
East Bethel is a city in Anoka County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 11,786 at the 2020 census.
Minnesota State Highway 65 and Anoka County Road 22 are the main routes in the city. Highway 65 runs north–south, and County Road ...
in the counties of
Anoka and
Isanti on the northern edge of the
Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area.
Name
Originally the site was officially designated the ''Cedar Creek Forest'' which takes its name for Cedar Creek that winds through East Bethel. The bog where the site initially began was informally called by professors "
Decodon Bog."
The site was known as ''Cedar Creek Natural History Area'' until its change in 2007.
Description
Encompassing of native upland forests and prairie and lowland swamps and meadows, the site contains over 900 plots of long-term experimental research which evaluate plant competition and
biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity' ...
. The
herbivory
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthp ...
research division examines animal and plant relationships.
Led by prominent American
ecologist
Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
G. David Tilman, the University schedules more than 130 faculty, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, staff, and undergraduate researcher interns to the site as of 2006.
Several
citizen science
Citizen science (CS) (similar to community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is scientific research conducted with participation from the public (who are sometimes re ...
programs are located at the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, including a
Zooniverse
Zooniverse is a citizen science web portal owned and operated by the Citizen Science Alliance. It is home to some of the Internet's largest, most popular and most successful citizen science projects. The organization grew from the original Gal ...
project.
History
Established in 1942 by the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
, the site was designated a
National Natural Landmark
The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best ...
by the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government within the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of ...
in 1975 and 1980 under the
Historic Sites Act The Historic Sites Act of 1935 was enacted by the United States Congress largely to organize the myriad federally own parks, monuments, and historic sites under the National Park Service and the United States Secretary of the Interior. However, it ...
.
It received this designation in May 1975 from the
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natura ...
, giving it recognition as an outstanding example of the nation's natural history. The designation describes it as a
Relatively undisturbed area where three biomes meet (tall grass prairie, eastern deciduous forest and boreal coniferous forest), supporting 61 species of mammals and 259 species of birds. A nationally and internationally famous research center.
It was later designated by the
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...
as a
Long Term Ecological Research
The Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTER) consists of a group of over 1800 scientists and students studying ecological processes over extended temporal and spatial scales. Twenty-eight LTER sites cover a diverse set of ecosystems. It is pa ...
site in 1982. Minnesota ecologists purchased land parcels through 1929 until the University's acquisition in 1940. The site is currently operated by the University's
College of Biological Sciences in cooperation with the
Minnesota Academy of Science.
Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve is often considered to be the birthplace of the modern science of
ecosystem ecology
Ecosystem ecology is the integrated study of living (biotic) and non-living ( abiotic) components of ecosystems and their interactions within an ecosystem framework. This science examines how ecosystems work and relates this to their components s ...
. This claim is attributed to
limnologist
Limnology ( ; from Greek λίμνη, ''limne'', "lake" and λόγος, ''logos'', "knowledge") is the study of inland aquatic ecosystems.
The study of limnology includes aspects of the biological, chemical, physical, and geological characteris ...
Raymond Lindeman (1915-1942) who performed his PhD research on the ecological dynamics of Cedar Bog Lake located in the reserve. Linking
Sir Arthur Tansley's coined term "ecosystem" to field research, his studies were influential in forming modern ecosystem ecology. Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve also tested the first
radio collars for
animal tracking in the 1960s and developed
prescribed burning
A controlled or prescribed burn, also known as hazard reduction burning, backfire, swailing, or a burn-off, is a fire set intentionally for purposes of forest management, farming, prairie restoration or greenhouse gas abatement. A control ...
techniques for savannas.
See also
*
Martha Crone
References
External links
Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science ReserveLong Term Ecological Research: Cedar Creek (CDR)
Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve
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Protected areas of Anoka County, Minnesota
Protected areas of Isanti County, Minnesota
National Natural Landmarks in Minnesota