2009 LTER All Scientists Meeting - KNZ

Grazing alters grassland sensitivity to more extreme precipitation regimes in tallgrass prairie

Sally Koerner — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:52:50 +0000

Poster Number:

376

Presenter/Primary Author:

Sally Koerner

Co-Authors:

Scott Collins

Co-Authors:

Alan Knapp

Co-Authors:

John Blair

Co-Authors:

Melinda Smith

Little information exists on how climate variation may interact with trophic controls on annual net primary production (ANPP), and even less is known about how these interactions will affect community structure. Understanding how communities respond to climate variation and grazing will be crucial for managing grasslands with abundant large herbivores. We conducted a simulated grazing experiment in the Rainfall Manipulation Plots (RaMPs) at Konza Prairie Biological Station, Kansas.

Konza Environmental Education Program's Schoolyard LTER: Teaching Science Through Ecology

Annie Baker — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 02:40:36 +0000

Poster Number:

366

Presenter/Primary Author:

Jill Haukos

Co-Authors:

Annie Baker

Konza Prairie Biological Station established its education program in 1996 for visitors and students interested in learning about the tallgrass prairie. With the Schoolyard LTER supplements (1998), programs for school children were developed to parallel the long-term ecological research on site and also to add information useful to scientists. Teachers participate in annual professional development workshops to learn about the prairie ecosystem, experience the protocols of several long-term scientific activities and choose one or more of these activities to add to their curriculum.

Patterns and Processes of Fragmentation Near Konza Prairie LTER

Tom Prebyl — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:32:35 +0000

Poster Number:

322

Presenter/Primary Author:

Tom Prebyl

Co-Authors:

John Harrington, Jr.

Co-Authors:

Milan Shrestha

Co-Authors:

Sainan Zhang

Fragmentation of natural habitats, driven by urban growth and other land use modifications, acts to decrease the amount of core habitat as well as the connectivity among core areas. As a result, landscape fragmentation can have negative impacts on the ecological communities, ecosystem services, and metapopulation dynamics.

Student Poster:

Yes

Hydraulic Conductivity and gas exchange vary along the length of individual grass blades

Troy Ocheltree — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 22:26:02 +0000

Poster Number:

306

Presenter/Primary Author:

Troy Ocheltree

Co-Authors:

Nippert, JB

The hydraulic architecture of parallel veined monocots is fundamentally different from the branched networks of dicot leaves. The functional significance of this difference on leaf level gas exchange is not well understood. In order to investigate how the hydraulic architecture of monocots affect gas exchange we measured the axial hydraulic conductivity and leaf level gas exchange from the base to tip of 7 grass species. Stomatal conductance (g_s) and photosynthesis (A) increased but hydraulic conductivity (K_h) declined along the length of the blade.

Student Poster:

Yes

Impacts of increasing woody vegetation in herbaceous dominated systems: Understanding the role of fire.

John Briggs — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:31:04 +0000

Poster Number:

293

Presenter/Primary Author:

John Briggs

Co-Authors:

John M. Blair

Co-Authors:

Alan K. Knapp

Co-Authors:

Gene Towne

Increased woody plant cover in grasslands is a global phenomenon and a critical threat to conservation of grasslands and their biodiversity. Changes in land management, such as reduced fire frequency, can increase woody plant abundance, while other factors such as increased CO₂ concentration, N deposition, and habitat fragmentation might be contributing factors.

The EcoTrends Project: preview of the book and introduction to the web site

Debra Peters — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:46:43 +0000

Poster Number:

274

Presenter/Primary Author:

Debra Peters

Co-Authors:

Christine Laney

Co-Authors:

Ariel Lugo

Co-Authors:

Scott Collins

Co-Authors:

Charley Driscoll

Co-Authors:

Peter Groffman

Co-Authors:

Morgan Grove

Co-Authors:

Alan Knapp

Co-Authors:

Tim Kratz

Co-Authors:

Mark Ohman

Co-Authors:

Bob Waide

Co-Authors:

Jin Yao

Co-Authors:

Mark Servilla

The EcoTrends Project began in 2004 as a joint collaboration among the LTER Program, USDA Agricultral Research Service, and the USDA Forest Service with two goals: (1) to create a book illustrating trends in long -term data and showing the value of long-term data across a network of sites in addressing continental-scale questions, and (2) to make long-term biotic and abiotic data easily accessible through a common web interface with a focus on derived or aggregated data to allow cross-site analyses to be made.

Konza Prairie LTER Program: Grassland Dynamics and Long-Term Trajectories of Change

John Blair — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:41:17 +0000

Poster Number:

200

Presenter/Primary Author:

John Blair

Co-Authors:

Walter K Dodds

Co-Authors:

David C Hartnett

Co-Authors:

Anthony Joern

Co-Authors:

Jesse Nippert

The Konza Prairie LTER Program (KNZ) is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary research program designed to provide a mechanistic and predictive understanding of ecological processes in mesic grasslands, and contribute to synthesis and conceptual advances in ecology. Konza LTER also offers education and training at all levels (K-12 to postgraduate) as well as public outreach, and contributes ecological knowledge essential for addressing land-use and management issues in grasslands.

Stream ecosystem response to woody vegetation encroachment

Alyssa Riley — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:59:06 +0000

Poster Number:

178

Presenter/Primary Author:

Alyssa Riley

Co-Authors:

Walter K. Dodds

Woody vegetation encroachment threatens remaining native tallgrass prairie streams. Kings Creek is a prairie stream that was historically a mostly open canopy stream with little surrounding woody vegetation. Many reaches in Kings Creek have been subjected to woody expansion and now have a closed canopy. Closed canopy reaches receive less sunlight for primary producers and receive more leaf and wood material. Woody vegetation was removed from two 35 m reaches in order to determine the impact of woody expansion on stream ecosystem structure and function.

Student Poster:

Yes

Long-Term Effects of Climate Change on Grassland Soil Systems: A Reciprocal Transplant Approach

Steven Rostkowski — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:54:38 +0000

Poster Number:

176

Presenter/Primary Author:

Steven Rostkowski

Co-Authors:

John M. Blair

Altered precipitation patterns are predicted to accompany climate change and are likely to impact grassland soil communities and nutrient cycling processes, which are dependant to a large extent soil water content. While short-term responses of soil communities and nutrient cycling to changes in precipitation amounts and soil water availability have been documented, very few studies have examined the long-term effects of these changes. A long-term reciprocal transplant experiment, initiated in 1993, provides a unique opportunity to address the long term response of soil communities (e.g.

Student Poster:

Yes

Suspended Solids in Streams as Influenced by Land Management on Tallgrass Prairie

Kyle Winders — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:12:39 +0000

Poster Number:

168

Presenter/Primary Author:

Kyle Winders

Co-Authors:

Walter Dodds

Co-Authors:

Eric Banner

Suspended solids in streams are important to monitor and manage because high levels of suspended solids have been shown to affect the primary and secondary production of a stream. The loading rate of total suspended solids (TSS) can greatly be influenced by the land management of a stream site’s catchment area. A computer-based geographic information system (GIS) was used to assess what land cover/land use variables were highly correlated to high levels of TSS in Kansas Flinthill streams on a long-term data set collected by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

Student Poster:

Yes