Home > Research & resources > Research

Research at Adkins Arboretum

Native Orchids

Cypripedium acaule

Although many people are familiar with the tropical orchids grown indoors and used in flower arrangements and corsages, not so many realize that native orchids thrive in neighboring bogs and woodlands. At Adkins Arboretum, there are at least five species of native orchids, three of which can be readily observed along the Arboretum’s paths. These include the cranefly orchid, Tipularia discolor, the downy rattlesnake plantain, Goodyera pubescens, and the pink lady’s slipper, Cypripedium acaule.

Staff and volunteers at Adkins Arboretum monitor populations of pink lady’s slipper orchid for the number of plants, flowering and seed set. This orchid has beautiful pink flowers in spring, but often fails to set seed due to poor pollination. Orchids appear to flower more readily when there is more available light, so staff trims trees around the orchid populations to promote flowering.

Meadow restoration

Andropogon virginicus, a native grass

One of the Arboretum’s meadows is being overtaken by a native vine, trumpet vine, Campsis radicans. Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage is working with Adkins Arboretum to control trumpet creeper and other woody plants and will be planting sections of the meadow with different mixes of grasses and native wildflowers in the spring.  The planting mixes and maintenance techniques will be monitored to see which one is most successful.

Campsis radicans flower

Project Owlnet

Northern Saw-whet Owl

Adkins Arboretum has been a site for banding Northern Saw-whet Owls as part of Project Owlnet since 1998. The Northern Saw-whet Owl, Aegolius acadicus, is a very small owl, less than 10 inches in length and weighing less than 4 ounces. This nocturnal owl principally feeds on mice and voles. For detailed information about Northern Saw-whet Owls, please visit The Owl Pages Web site.

Project Owlnet participants research the migration patterns of the saw-whet owls and other owl species in North America. David Brinker, an ecologist at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, created the project and has been studying owls for more than twenty years. At Adkins, volunteers from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and other organizations set up mist nets nearly every night in October and November and measure, band and release birds caught. This data is used along with data from other banding stations to create a picture of owl migration patterns. For more information please visit the Project Owlnet Web site.

Female Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)

Eastern Bluebird Research

The Arboretum has maintained a bluebird trail of 23 boxes for several years. The Arboretum’s meadows provide ideal nesting habitat for bluebirds.

Internships

Adkins Arboretum offers summer internships in environmental science and public horticulture. See Internships for more information.

Research Stipends

Adkins Arboretum has supported advanced undergraduate and graduate research projects related to the Arboretum’s mission of conservation of native plants. Projects funded have included:

• Lichen flora of the Virginia coastal plain
• Deer browse and competition in the management of the invasive herb Alliaria petiolata
• Comparative ecology of an invasive perennial Rubus phoenicolasius and the native Rubus argutus
• Reproductive consequences of low density in plant populations
• Quantifying successional dynamics within the context of a reclamation plan for maritime forest
• Differences between native and introduced populations of Phragmites australis on Maryland’s eastern shore
• The effects of alien plants on native ecosystems: a comparison of insect herbivory on native and exotic plant species
• Polyploidy and genetic diversity of invasive populations of Phragmites australis by population comparison

For information on research support by Adkins Arboretum, contact Sylvan Kaufman, 410-634-2847, ext. 24 or email her at .