How seeds from the past are saving a unique flower of the Great Lakes

  • Pitcher’s thistle photographed in Great Lakes Coastal dune habitat. ANDREW BOWKER/USFWS
    Pitcher’s thistle photographed in Great Lakes Coastal dune habitat. ANDREW BOWKER/USFWS
  • Noel Pavlovic is an ecologist with the Great Lakes Science Center at the Lake Michigan Ecological Research Station in Indiana.
    Noel Pavlovic is an ecologist with the Great Lakes Science Center at the Lake Michigan Ecological Research Station in Indiana.
    LANSINGMore than 30 years ago, a group of scientists planted 4,200 seeds of the rare Pitcher’s thistle in the sandy dunes of the Great Lakes. At the time, no one knew if the new populations would survive.Today, three decades later, the restored populations are thriving and spreading. This unexpected success became the foundation for a newly published study in An...

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