Intern will assist in several ongoing projects investigating three milkweed species (Ascelpias spp.) across life stages and along climatic gradients. Early life stages will be examined through laboratory germination trials at Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG) and a field germination experiment at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. A second year of monitoring data will be collected from a reciprocal transplant study investigating differences in urban and rural genotypes of common milkweed. Lastly, variation in phenology among genotypes of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) collected along a latitudinal gradient will be studied in a common garden experiment at CBG.