melissa youngquist spends her springs and summers walking alongside wetlands overtaken by invasive species. she documents their restoration into “hotspots” of plant and animal life.

youngquist, 38, is the lead researcher on the chicago shedd aquarium’s “amphibian response to habitat restoration” project, where she has worked since 2019. youngquist works on experimental sites across la grange park woods and salt creek woods nature preserve, each about 30 minutes west of the aquarium, located in chicago’s south loop. 

over the past several years, she has worked with the shedd aquarium in chicago; the chicago park district, which oversees more than 600 parks in chicago; and the forest preserves of cook county, which oversees over 70,000 acres of land in chicago and the chicago-area suburbs, to transform these degraded areas into flourishing savannas and wetlands to welcome frogs and other amphibians. she analyzes how this restoration can help native species thrive.

it’s a battle between fighting off the dense, shadowy “wicked witch of the west” woods to restore the budding “cinderella” woods, with increased sunlight and biodiversity, said krystyna kurth, shedd’s coordinator of conservation action, who leads restoration at the skokie lagoons, a man made site roughly 45 minutes north of chicago’s downtown.

“in addition to the ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, holding water and mitigating drought and flooding, all the birds, all the mammals, all the amphibians, all the reptiles, the insects, they are all relying on these habitats that only hold water for a few months every year,” youngquist said. “[ephemeral wetlands] are little hidden gems that have an outsized role in our well-being.”

laying the groundwork

currently, youngquist is examining the adverse effects of invasive species on wetlands and the native species that inhabit them. 

when youngquist started, she focused on removing buckthorn, an invasive shrub that grows in a dense monoculture, she said. a monoculture is when one shrub excels and pushes out all the other plant species, affecting the biodiversity of the habitat. buckthorn’s berries act as a laxative, so when animals eat them, the plant spreads everywhere, kurth said.

native to eurasia, buckthorn was brought to north america in the 1800s as an ornamental plant but has since infiltrated the wild. the dense buckthorn creates shading over wetlands, which affects the water temperature and blocks the sunlight necessary for algae to grow — a crucial food resource for tadpoles, including chorus frogs and toads, and insects, youngquist said. other species, such as invasive cattails, have similar effects. 

“with shading, you get colder water, and [the amphibians] grow slower, so there’s a higher risk that they won’t make it out before the pond dries,” youngquist said.

she added that buckthorn also contains a chemical called emodin, which can contaminate the wetlands and lead to deformities in tree frogs’ and other amphibians’ eggs and even prevent them from hatching. those that do hatch can suffer liver damage as tadpoles.

after graduating with a b.s. from pacific lutheran university in washington, youngquist went on to pursue her ph.d. in ecology, evolution and environmental biology at miami university. there, she found a project studying amphibian communities and agricultural landscapes, supporting her lifelong love of amphibians and reptiles, and has pursued research on amphibians ever since, she said.

she focuses on nine ponds across la grange park woods — removing invasive species at 15, 10 and zero meters from the ponds’ edges, and salt creek woods nature preserve — where all buckthorn has been removed — to see various effects of restoration on habitats for amphibian and plant life.

“the idea … is to figure out, if you only clear a very small area of buckthorn, does that have a measurable effect right on the plants and animals,” youngquist said.

she said at 15 meters of restoration, grasses and flowering plants make a prominent return. at 10 meters, there is less biodiversity restoration due to shade from the buckthorn.

invasive species are also altering the physical structure of the wetlands, youngquist said. restoration is important so that these wetlands, especially the manmade skokie lagoons, north of the city, can properly manage water.

“wetlands are really important for flood management and water control, keeping water on the landscape during drought years, and also managing water during very wet years when you get flooding,” she said. “by having a properly structured and functioning wetland, you’re helping people with that water management as well.”

taking action

the negative effects of buckthorn go beyond youngquist’s experimental site and the skokie lagoons, which are under jurisdiction of the forest preserves of cook county. four sites in the southeast side of chicago, under jurisdiction of the park district, suffer degradation as well.

the southeast side parks allow youngquist’s team to further monitor amphibian response to the removal of invasive species as well as their response to installation of water control structures and regrading shorelines, said cassi saari, a project manager for the chicago park district. like youngquist’s experiment, these changes help restore biodiversity in wetland habitats.

“a lot of these sites have an industrial pass … where it’s just a street with a steep drop off, and so there’s very limited habitat between aquatic ecosystem and the terrestrial ecosystem. so we’ve been regrading shorelines to make it a much more gentle slope,” saari said. “that allows a huge variety of plants that could grow in that slope area, compared to if it’s just a steep drop off.”

youngquist also collaborates with community volunteers organized through shedd’s “action days” program. volunteers remove buckthorn around ponds in the winter so that the area is clear for youngquist to do her research in the spring and summer months.

kurth leads restoration and recreational programming that takes places outside of shedd. “action days,” devoted to sites such as the skokie lagoons, encompass the largest program. 

kurth, 27, said many of the volunteers do not have a background in science, rather they range from young adults to retirees wanting to get involved in the work in their own backyard. she added that she believes aquariums appeal to a wide audience and offer a “cool gateway opportunity” for volunteering.

“our team works really hard to build a dedicated volunteer community from the sites that we’re working out,” kurth said.

some volunteers are fairly new. allison witek began volunteering with the forest preserves in the fall as part of a class project. she graduated from chicago’s roosevelt university in december with a degree in sustainability studies. volunteering has inspired her to pursue a career in fieldwork, rather than behind a desk, and she hopes to turn her commitment into a more permanent role.

others are more seasoned. phillip stalley, a professor of political science at depaul university in chicago, has been a part of this volunteer community for three years. volunteering not only feels great, he said, but also makes small steps to calm his “ecoanxiety” about the state of the planet.

 “to be out here and be part of the solution is great for mental health,” stalley said.

kurth has worked at the shedd’s skokie lagoons site just north of the city since 2019. she also assists youngquist at la grange park woods and salt creek woods nature preserve. this has allowed her to apply her learnings from the experimental site to the skokie site and copy and paste some of the work youngquist is doing, kurth said.

the restored “cinderella woods,” otherwise known as woodland savannas, are home to massive oak trees, spread out to allow sunlight through, restoring the biodiversity of grasses and shrubs, kurth said. they are also better at carbon sequestration, the process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, making small contributions to combat climate change.

increased biodiversity also makes habitats more resilient in the face of climate change.

“having more diverse animals and plants gives you this idea we would call ‘redundancy,’ so that if one species is lost and the role that species plays in the environment is lost, another species is doing the same thing and can replace it,” youngquist said. “that creates that resiliency by having lots of different species all kind of overlapping in their sort of ecosystem role and services.”

restoration and revival

kurth said the skokie lagoons took “extra muscle” to bring back to life. figuring out what seeds can be replanted and thrive naturally in a man-made area is a very fine-tuned task. in their restoration efforts, researchers are planting hyper localized seeds — from no more than 20 miles away.

kurth first replants “weedier natives,” such as goldenrod, that are able to fight back against the buckthorn resprouting. then, she can thin out the heartier natives and plant more sensitive ones to thrive without the threat of buckthorn.

“as we remove these invasives, we’re putting back these awesome, diverse natives that not only help the amphibians, but the whole food chain there,” kurth said.

despite restoration of plant diversity, youngquist has yet to see effects in amphibian and insect populations. climate change is altering precipitation patterns and leading to droughts in some areas. the rain is coming in the summer, despite the amphibians needing it in the spring, which affects breeding, she said.

“having that drought effect from climate change and extreme events is kind of overshadowing the only buckthorn effect that we have,” youngquist said.

despite the last five dry springs, youngquist said she hopes the next few years bring rain so that she can better observe the effects of buckthorn removal and restoration on amphibian populations. she wants to continue examining the wetlands across la grange park woods and salt creek woods nature preserve for the next decade or so in order to see the full effects of climate change and restoration efforts on such a crucial habitat.

“hopefully, it’ll be a decade or two of data, so we can really see how weather and climate are impacting amphibians across a large area,” she said.