Konza Prairie Biological Station NEON / KONZ

Konza Prairie Biological Station (KONZ) is a terrestrial NEON field site located in the Flint Hills region of Kansas just 10 km (6 mi.) south of Manhattan, KS. The 34.6 km² (8550 acre) site at the Konza Prairie Biological Station is hosted by The Nature Conservancy and Kansas State University. The surrounding region consists of grasslands, forests, and agricultural land cover types and includes the largest remaining areas of unplowed tallgrass prairie in North America. KONZ is part of the NEON Prairie Peninsula Domain (D06), which stretches from Kansas through Nebraska and Iowa to southern Minnesota, and moves east to encompass Illinois and most of Indiana. The Domain hosts four other NEON field sites: two aquatic and two additional terrestrial, all of which are located in Kansas. KONZ is located just 5 km (~3 miles) east of the KONA terrestrial site. The two sites provide a contrast between more pristine prairie at KONZ and heavily impacted agricultural land at KONA within the same area. Land use and land use management are key grand challenge themes for this Domain. [4]

KONZ is located within Riley County, which is in the eastern half of Kansas and has a continental climate characterized by warm, wet summers and cold, dry winters. The average annual temperature is 12.4°C (54°F).The average annual precipitation is 870 mm (34 in.) and is sufficient to support woodland or savanna vegetation. The region is known for intense summer storms brought on by moist air from the Gulf of Mexico coming up from the south and colliding with the cold, dry air coming down from the north. Large rainfall events can cause flooding of roads and fields as the rivers overrun with water. Other large weather events common in the area are wildfires and tornadoes. [3] [6] [25]

Konza Prairie is part of the Chase group, a geologic group from the early Permian laid down in the Gearyan stage. It is composed of cherty limestone and green or red shale. Chert is another term for flint, meaning a sedimentary rock composed of quartz. It is this “flinty” limestone that gives the Flint Hills, home of the Konza Prairie, its name. [13] [14] [15]

The dominant soil series is Benfield-Florence complex, a silty clay loam, with 5-30% slopes. The second most dominant is Clim-Sogn complex, a clayey soil weathered from limestone and shale, with 3-20% slopes. The soil at KONZ has a low water capacity but is well drained. Bedrock is 0.89 - 0.99 m (2.9 - 3.2 ft.) deep but can be much shallower. [5] [6]

The Konza Prairie is separated into 50 watersheds, each draining a tributary of King’s Creek which ultimately drains into the Kansas River. [16] [17]

The Konza Prairie is characterized by native tallgrasses able to withstand the rocky soil and the ferocious winds that whip over the hills. There are over 600 plant species found on the prairie, dominated by big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). Woody buckbrush (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus) and smooth sumac (Rhus glabra) are common as well. [4]

The Konza Prairie is home to a wide diversity of native fauna, from large ruminants such as bison (Bison bison) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) to the smaller carnivores like coyotes (Canis latrans) and racoons (Procyon lotor). The greater prairie chicken (Tympanuchus cupido) has breeding grounds on the Konza Prairie and is a special sight to see during the spring when males gather in leks, or booming grounds, and display for the females. Species of notable conservation concern in eastern Kansas are the eastern spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius), which is federally threatened, as well as the southern bog lemming (Synaptomys cooperi) and Franklin’s ground squirrel (Spermophilus franklinii), listed by the state of Kansas as Species in Need of Conservation. NEON provides data on five types of wildlife at KONZ: birds, ground beetles, mosquitoes, small mammals, and ticks. [9] [10] [19] [20]

The Konza Prairie was once part of a wide-ranging tallgrass prairie that stretched across Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and the Dakotas. The Kansas region of the prairie is home to the Kaw Nation, also known as the “People of the Southwind.” During the eighteenth century, white settlers made contact with the Kaw Nation. The settlers referred to the Kaw Nation as the “Kansa” or “Kanza.” After the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the American government took the land, and from 1872 to 1930 it was owned by C.P. Dewey for use as a ranch. It was grazed and burned periodically, but never plowed.

In 1956, almost a hundred years after it was founded, faculty at Kansas State University began the search for land to be used as a prairie field station. They felt the need for an ecological research area that would complement the already ongoing rangeland research in the nearby prairie areas. Their grand plans encountered several setbacks with unsuccessful bids to secure land in the Flint Hills.

In 1971, The Nature Conservancy used funds from an anonymous donor to purchase 916 acres of land for KSU. The donor, Katherine Ordway, remained anonymous until her death but asked that the land be named for its native people. To avoid confusion with the state of Kansas, an alternate spelling was chosen.

Since its inception, scientists have collected ecological data and published over 1680 scientific papers. In 1980 was one of the first of the initial six Long-Term Ecological Research sites chosen by the National Science Foundation. KPBS and Konza Prairie LTER are still a force in prairie research today with over 1600 papers published. [1] [2] [4] [7] [18] [24]

The Konza Prairie Biological Station is co-owned by The Nature Conservancy and Kansas State University and operated as a field research station by the University’s Division of Biology. Their mission is to promote "long-term ecological research, education and prairie conservation." The KPBS is a member of the Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS) and the Association of Ecosystem Research Centers and is a National Science Foundation Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site.

Currently, there are over 100 research projects ongoing in the Konza Prairie in addition to the NEON program. Many of our field sites are within KPBS’s own replicated watershed-level experiment, studying the effects of fire, bison, and cattle on the grassland ecosystem. Each watershed is manipulated by fire frequency via controlled burns and by grazing done with native bison or domestic cattle. Their aim is to understand the abiotic and biotic factors that shape grassland communities and ecosystems. [1] [11] [12]

Site characterization and plot establishment for KONZ were completed in 2015 and terrestrial sampling began in February 2016. The distributed plots were allocated at KONZ according to a spatially balanced and stratified-random design. The NEON flux tower, which stands 8 m (26 ft.) tall and has four instrument levels, began sampling in August 2016. The plots located in the Konza Prairie watershed experiment area are periodically burned according to their specific treatment. Our tower plots are burned every two years, and our scientists remove sensors and then use heat shields to protect the equipment left in place. [4]