Salomon Barajas-Moreno spent his summer studying Nebraska woodlands and how the species within them affect one another — knowledge he hopes to apply to his future career in landscape architecture.
The junior landscape architecture major from Omaha assisted with research at the Niobrara Valley Preserve, learning how species respond to their environment and how landscapes can be managed to help them thrive. The research could give ecologists and conservationists more information to guide woodland management and support the survival of tree species.
The primary project he is working on examines how prescribed fires affect oak woodlands. The bur oak woodlands in the Niobrara Valley area are a threatened ecosystem, and the project is examining whether prescribed burns could help manage encroaching species.
Barajas-Moreno’s role, funded by the university's Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experience program, includes assisting with regular “survival census” surveys and measuring changes in the tree canopy before and after prescribed fires. The survival census involves visiting a site and marking tagged trees in the records as alive or dead, down to health status for alive trees and causes of death for the dead trees. This data is used alongside information from a tool called a densiometer that measures tree canopy cover.
“We want to see the if the prescribed fire opened the canopy for oak saplings to be more prominent,” Barajas-Moreno said. “We’ll compare to see if it increased the openness or caused a less suitable environment for oaks to survive.”
He also has assisted with research examining how changes in the water table affect trees in the area. Researchers use a piezometer to measure water table levels and a dendrometer to track changes in tree trunk diameter as the trees swell and contract with changes in moisture.
This background will be invaluable to him when he selects species as a landscape architect. Barajas-Moreno said the work has taught him a lot about the connections between an ecosystem or environment and what plants might thrive there, as well as what maintenance a plant might need in a given location in order to thrive.
“With the knowledge of seeing if human management is necessary, I could utilize that and my background to determine whether some variant of plant is not suitable for an ecosystem,” he said.
The work made Barajas-Moreno think more carefully about what various plants need from their environment and whether, in landscape architecture work, a different species might be a better fit for a different environment.
“We’re trying to optimize for oak saplings, and that requires an open canopy,” he said. “However, maybe in a different ecosystem, it might be a negative effect.”
Barajas-Moreno said the experience has helped him learn more about how to select species for a given setting, taking into account what other species it will be alongside and how much maintenance will be necessary in that environment.
“Sumac are beautiful species. They’re vibrant and look really neat, but they’re super competitive and love outcompeting other species,” he said. “If I were to plant a sumac in a low competitive environment, the sumac would overrun everything.”
Barajas-Moreno hopes to work with national parks in the future, and his experience in the Niobrara Valley reinforced his passion for caring for landscapes for the public to enjoy for years to come.
“Working in such a large space as the national parks and having people experience such an amazing feat entices me to work for a firm that really focuses on the bettering of the environment,” he said.
