Kansas Biological Survey & KU Field Station

2018 Annual Report

● To conduct world-class research that deepens understanding of human impacts on natural systems in Kansas and beyond;

● To educate students, teachers and the public about the diversity, ecology and natural history of biological and natural resources;

● To inform decision-makers on the status of and perils to biological, land and water resources.

Our mission

2018 Review | Kansas Biological Survey

We invite you

Sara Baer, Ph.D., Director

Opposite: Helen Alexander, Prof. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, with public school students at the Field Station’s Kaw Valley Overlook, on the

Rockefeller Prairie Tract. Cover: Baldwin Woods Forest Preserve.

The Kansas Biological Survey was initiated at KU in 1911. It involved the departments of botany, zoology and entomology, and focused primarily on inventory of biological and other natural resources in the state. 

Today, the Bio Survey holds the status of a KU Designated Research Center and houses more than 50 researchers, support staff and students. Faculty and associated scientists at the Survey conduct externally funded basic and applied research in the realms of terrestrial and aquatic ecology, surface water quality and disease vector monitoring, landscape mapping, and biodiversity inventory. The Survey fosters scientific discovery, provides outreach to the community and responds to natural resource‐related issues in Kansas and beyond.  

The Survey is a highly collaborative environment. We work with faculty and students across campus and at other universities, partner with non‐government organizations (including The Nature Conservancy and The Land Institute), and team up with government agencies to advance understanding of the natural world and seek solutions for current and future environmental issues.  

We invite you to use our resources for research, teaching and planning. The Survey is housed in Takeru Higuchi Hall in the West District. Our 3,700‐acre KU Field Station is located just a 15‐minute drive north of Lawrence and contains vast infrastructure for research, as well as meeting facilities amenable to strategic planning. We also invite you to use our public trail system to explore many tracts of natural areas donated to KU and managed as part of the KU Field Station. These sites capture a diversity of habitats, plants and wildlife in northeastern Kansas. 

In this review, we provide a snapshot of our most recent accomplishments to give you a better understanding of how we are achieving our mission. 

2018 Review | Research support

The Kansas Biological Survey conducts research that addresses concerns not only for the state but for the region, the continent and areas outside North America. 

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is consistently our largest grantor. More than 60 percent of our grant funding came from NSF in 2018, and several of our projects funded by multiple sources included support from NSF. Twenty different projects received NSF funding in 2018, including major studies of river systems, grassland biodiversity and management, and the ecology of abandoned farmland.

Though state funding makes up a relatively small percentage of the total, this does not de‐emphasize concerns crucial to the state but rather reflects the much lower travel and infrastructure costs associated with in‐state research. 

$13.58

$2.18

$2.10

$1.62

$1.54

$1.00 $0.10 $0.02

Active grants in 2018 in millions of dollars

NSF 61.3%

Regional government 9.9%

Private sources 9.4%

Multiple-source grants 7.3%

Agencies in Kansas and other states6.9%Other federal funding 4.6%

Douglas County .04%

KU .03%

TOTAL $22.1 Figures do not total 100% because of rounding.

Top: With funding from a $450,000 McDonnell Foundation grant, Survey scientist Dan Reuman studies the impact of climatic changes on complex environmental systems across space and time. Above: Survey scientists work with researchers from The Land Institute, based in Salina, to study ways to restore fungi historically present in native tallgrass prairie—with the hope of making farming viable for the long-term future.2

Ted Harris, assistant research professor, monitors samples taken from Milford Lake during a harmful algal bloom episode.

2018 Review | Programs and projects

Aquatic Research Group The Bio Survey’s aquatic researchers study issues related to surface water quality and aquatic ecology, with a focus on the status and condition of Kansas reservoirs, wetlands and streams. The group includes:●The Reservoir Research Program, which provides critical information concerning the status and conditions of Kansas reservoirs, including the quantity and quality of surface waters.●The Central Plains Center for BioAssessment, which conducts research on freshwater ecology and water quality issues. ●The Invertebrate Zoology Laboratory, which conducts mosquito population monitoring in support of mosquito borne disease; monitors aquatic macroinvertebrates; and studies the evolutionary biology and systematics of freshwater and terrestrial crustaceans.

Aquatic scientists:Debbie Baker, LeeAnn Bennett, Amy Burgin, Ted Harris, Don Huggins, Terry Loecke, Christopher Rogers, Jim Thorp

PROJECT PROFILEBeginning with extensive sampling and testing of waters from Milford, Tuttle and Marion reservoirs, Survey scientists are conducting studies to learn about the conditions that lead to harmful algal blooms (HABs), which make water unsafe for drinking and recreation, and can cause deaths in wild and domestic animal populations. Milord and Marion are prone to HABs, and state authorities are forced to issue advisories for these lakes for much of the season in some years.

Researchers took algae samples from these reservoirs and inoculated test ponds at the KU Field Station with them. Under controlled conditions, they now are studying the growth of the blooms. They also collected sediment cores from in Milford, Marion and Sebelius reservoirs to understand and evaluate harmful algal bloom occurrence and associated reservoir conditions from impoundment (date the reservoir was completed) to the present.

Longear sunfish at Bradshaw Creek,

Anderson County Prairie Preserve 5

Researchers from KU and Ball State University take fish samples in the headwaters of the Little Bighorn River

in the Bighorn National Forest, Wyoming.

2018 Review | Programs and projects

Ecosystems Research Group This consortium of faculty members, postdoctoral researchers and graduate students seeks to understand how terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems around the world function. They explore Earth's vegetation, soil, water and climate using diverse approaches, particularly in the context of climate change and land use.

Ecosystem scientists:Sara Baer, Jim Bever, Sharon Billings, Amy Burgin, Bryan Foster, Shyamolina Ghosh, Liz Koziol, Terry Loecke, Terra Lubin, Rondy Malik, Tom McKenna, Dan Reuman, Caleb Robbins, Peggy Schultz, Tanya Semenova, Lawrence Sheppard, Ben Sikes, Jim Thorp, Maggie Wagner, Guangzhou Wang

PROJECT PROFILEScientists in the River Ecology Lab of Prof. Jim Thorp continued work on a $4.2 million NSF-funded study of major river systems in the U.S. West and Mongolia. The study, which involves nine universities, covers 18 river systems and is the largest-scale research project of its kind. Thorp is the lead investigator.

In a series of expeditions taking place over four years, researchers are testing the chemistry of the rivers and studying plant and animal species. The goal is to learn how to better manage rivers. Circumstances affecting rivers on the two continents differ, with temperatures in Mongolia increasing three times as quickly as the northern temperate zone, which includes the U.S. In North America, many rivers are dammed and carry non-native fauna and invasive species, while Mongolian rivers are relatively pristine. Learning about what is happening in each system can contribute to understanding of how to mitigate the effects of coming change on each continent.

Long-term prairie restoration

research plots 7

The Southern Great Plains Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool is a spatial model used to designate and prioritize areas for

lesser prairie chicken conservation activities and industry development.

2018 Review | Programs and projects

Kansas Applied Remote Sensing (KARS) programSatellite imagery is a key source for the interactive mapping tools developed by the Survey’s KARS program—tools involved in monitoring land use, rangeland and forest characterization, soil conservation needs assessment, surface mined lands inventory, mapping of irrigated lands, urban area analysis and much more.

The KARS program was established by NASA and the State of Kansas in 1972. Since 2001, it has worked in cooperation with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism, providing resource managers with custom mapping and access to the most current geospatial technologies.

KARS works to facilitate technology transfer of a variety of products and services derived from remote sensing technologies to commercial, governmental and other end users. A wide range of users, from farmers to policy makers, relies on the program’s maps, databases and natural resource models—such as the Kansas Natural Resource Planner and the Green Report—to make key land-use decisions as they seek the balance required for sustainable natural resource use.

Remote Sensing scientists:Mike Houts, Jude Kastens, John Lomas, Dana Peterson, David Weekley, Jerry Whistler

PROJECT PROFILEThe lesser prairie chicken, a symbol of the prairie’s history and seasonal rhythms, can also bring to mind conflicting land-use needs. But a multistate plan encourages voluntary industry cooperation with an effort to conserve habitat for this species of conservation concern, whose largest population is in Kansas.

The Kansas Biological Survey has a key role in this win-win effort, known as the Lesser Prairie Chicken Range-Wide Conservation Plan, put in place by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. Through a five-year, $2.2 million grant from the association, the Survey provides central GIS and database support, tracking development projects affecting habitat, as well as mitigation projects. Working with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism, along with agencies from four other states, the Survey developed the Southern Great Plains Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool, a multilayered, interactive online map for assessing lesser prairie chicken habitat.

9

Heritage Program staff held meetings in Lawrence, Baldwin City, Eudora, Lecompton and Marion Springs Township

to gather input from Douglas County residents.

2018 Review | Programs and projects

Kansas Natural Heritage Inventory The Heritage program collects and disseminates information about the biological diversity of the state, emphasizing the plants, animals and natural communities that are sensitive, threatened or endangered. Data are made available to a wide variety of users to provide early notice of potential natural resource conflicts, to guide public and private land use decisions, and to develop conservation priorities.

The Heritage program is among more than 80 members of the NatureServe network, which comprises natural heritage programs and conservation data centers throughout the Western Hemisphere. This network was initiated by The Nature Conservancy in 1974 and transferred to NatureServe in 1994.

Heritage program and plant communities scientists:Jennifer Delisle, Craig Freeman, Kelly Kindscher, Jennifer Moody

PROJECT PROFILEThe Heritage Program continued work on a $105,000 grant awarded by the Douglas County (Kansas) Heritage Conservation Council to identify potential natural and cultural resource sites in the county. The project’s goal is to identify a portfolio of potential project areas where high-quality prairies and forests can be protected, with an emphasis on those that occur at or near historic buildings and structures. Researchers hope to develop detailed plans to link multiple project areas through habitat corridors, trails and parks.

Through a series of public forums and other events, project leaders gathered information from county residents on priority areas. The project also will draw upon the Heritage Program’s 30-year dataset on native prairies and forests in the county.

Mead’s milkweed, listed as federally threatened 11

At the Field Station’s Dimensions in Biodiversity research site, KU scientists and students monitor the prevalence of individual prairie plant species

in test plots maintained under a variety of conditions.

2018 Review | Programs and projects

KU Field StationThe Field Station was founded in 1947 with the 597-acre tract now known as the Fitch Natural History Reservation, on land bequeathed to KU by the state’s first governor, Charles Robinson, and his wife, Sara Robinson. Today three sites make up the 3,700-acre Field Station: the Core Research and Operations Area north of Lawrence, the Baldwin Woods Forest Preserve, and the Anderson County Prairie Preserve, which is owned by The Nature Conservancy. Some 70 research projects take place at the Field Station each year, conducted by KU faculty, postdoctoral researchers and students, as well as visiting scientists.

The Biological Survey has managed the Field Station since 1995, expanding the Armitage Education Center, and adding new facilities and high-speed internet, as well as public trails and the Native Medicinal Plant Research Garden site. The Survey opened the Field Station to study beyond the natural sciences and has welcomed KU classes from more than 50 different courses. Annual student visits through classes range from 300 to 1,000 depending on course schedules.

PROJECT PROFILE In 2018, Kansas Biological Survey staff developed a highly complex 10-acre site at the Field Station to support a specific National Science Foundation-funded research project. The five-year, $1.7-million Dimensions in Biodiversity grant examines the role of soil microbes and precipitation in maintaining plant diversity and productivity in tallgrass prairie systems.

A five-member team worked with scientists and outside contractors to develop infrastructure supporting a variety of grant-specific tasks. The team took extra steps to create a site that would be available for future studies with similar needs. They designed rainout shelters and irrigation systems, integrating existing reservoirs at the Field Station. They also propagated plants for experiments and established more than 700 test plots for planting native species.

Public tour, Native Medicinal PlantResearch Garden 13

2018 Review | Student engagement 

As a research center, the Biological Survey conducts daily research activity in both the lab and the field, and students are involved in virtually every grant funded. Survey scientists and staff engage students through:

● classes on campus taught by Survey scientists holding faculty positions;● work in Survey labs at Higuchi Hall via fellowships or grant funding;● paid employment in Survey offices at Higuchi Hall and at the KU Field Station;● field courses and field work led by scientists or graduate students at the KU Field Station or elsewhere;● assisting students in obtaining grants for field research outside the state and the U.S.;● assisting students in developing posters and presentations for conferences;● mentoring students doing their own research;● student assistance with faculty research at the KU Field Station.

Top left: Students and postdocs from the Burgin Lab at the Governor’s Water Conference. Top right: Undergrads help maintain the research plots at the Field Station Dimensions site. Bottom: An Environmental Studies class visits the KU Field Station’s Cross Reservoir.

Jacob Hopkins, doctoral student, holds a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to investigate the relationship between fire and the way fungi

and plants in pine savannas support each other.The fellowship provides $34,000 per year plus a $12,000 cost-of-education allowance over three years. His advisor is Ben

Sikes, Survey associate scientist and KU associate professor of microbial ecology..

2018 Review | Student engagement cont. 

One of the ways the Biological Survey provides direct support for student research is through the KU Field Station Student Research Awards. These annual awards, supported through KU Endowment funds, provide crucial assistance for field study necessary for students’ original research. The list of 2018 recipients and their projects provides a sample of the diversity of research conducted by students at the Field Station.

In spring 2019, the awards program was named in honor of W. Dean Kettle, longtime research director of the KU Field Station, upon his retirement.

2018 KU Field Station Student Award recipients

Emma Hauser, doctoral student in ecology & evolutionary biology, received the Mari F. Pesek Graduate Research Award, which honors the memory of a KU graduate student. Project title: “The economics of plant nutrition: Variation in carbon allocation with depth and land use.”

Seven other students received general Field Station Student Awards:

James Coll, doctoral student in geography & atmospheric science. Project title: “Mapping terrain: The effects of resolution.”

Soudeh Ghasemian, doctoral student in ecology & evolutionary biology, for her research of tree-rings to determine how trees have responded to different environmental and anthropogenic changes across centuries.

Award recipient Ligia Souza (right) at the Baldwin Woods Forest Preserve with her advisor, Sharon Billings, Dean’s Professor of Ecology

& Evolutionary Biology and a senior scientist at the Biological Survey.

Theo Michaels, doctoral student in ecology & evolutionary biology. Project title: “Living on the edge: Soil ecosystem edge interactions between prairie patches and land use matrices.”

Ligia Souza, doctoral student in ecology & evolutionary biology. Project title: “Phosphatase activity in soils as a biogeochemical indicator of past land use.”

Morgan Okeson, graduate student in geography & atmospheric science. Project title: “Elucidating the control of hillslope hydrologic connectivity on mineral weathering in soils exhibiting shrink-swell properties.”

Thomas Johnson, senior double-majoring in ecology, evolution & organismal biology, and German studies. Project title: “Testing for conserved sequences on the Lepidopteran sex-determining W chromosome.”

Rena Stair, senior in molecular, cellular & developmental biology. Project title: “Changes in nutrient acquisition strategies by trees and microbes through a soil profile.”

Award recipient Theo Michaels at her research projectsite at Anderson County Prairie Preserve.

2018 Review | Educational outreach

The Survey engages in several broad categories of educational outreach activity, working in Lawrence, in Douglas County and throughout the state to provide information to people of all ages. These activities represent direct contact with several thousand people each year, with extended contact through teacher training and information sharing. Some key outreach activities include:

● conducting surveys of land and water bodies for specific species of plants and animals at the request of individuals, private companies, municipalities and agencies in Kansas and beyond;● working with public school teachers and students to provide grant-funded training or lessons in the classroom or the field, including the KU Field Station;● holding public guided tours at KU Field Station sites, primarily the KU Native Medicinal Plant Research Garden and the Baldwin Woods Forest Preserve;● maintaining the public trail system at the Field Station’s core research area, with amenities including interpretive signage, parking, restrooms, drinking fountains, seating and shelters;● giving presentations to area groups and the public on a wide variety of environmental topics;● sharing at information booths and through talks at statewide water and natural resource conferences;● opening the Field Station’s Armitage Education Center to KU groups for planning, meetings, retreats and donor events.

Selected outreach events in 2018

Public forums: Douglas County Natural Areas and Historic Sites, four locations, Feb. 15, Feb. 20, March 3, March 10

Donor event/Friends of the Spencer Art Museum, Armitage Education Center, March 21

Annual public summer tour, Native Medicinal Plant Research Garden, May 26

Ecosystems of Kansas Summer Institute for secondary science teachers, an outreach project of NSF EPSCoR $20M grant, “Microbiomes of Aquatic, Plant, and Soil Systems across Kansas (MAPS),” June 4-8

Kansas Association of Biology Teachers fall meeting, Armitage Education Center, Sept. 22

Monarch Watch Tagging Event, Baker Wetlands, Sept. 22

Great Plains Limnology Conference, Armitage Education Center, Oct. 5-6

Public presentation: “Science, Education and Water Quality on the Kaw, ” Armitage Education Center, Oct. 7

Prairie Acre Open House, main campus, Oct. 24

First public fall tour of Baldwin Woods Forest Preserve, tracts added in 2016, Oct. 29

Third biennial Mari Pesek Memorial Fun Run/Walk, for the Mari F. Pesek Memorial Student Research Award, Field Station, Nov. 10

Governor’s Conference on the Future of Water in Kansas, information booth, Manhattan, Kan., Nov. 13-14

Above right: More than 200 visitors came to the first public tour of the Field Station’s Baldwin Woods Forest Preserve after the announcement went viral. Opposite: Eleven high school teachers from across Kansas were selected through an application process to take part in the Ecosystems of Kansas Summer Institute, a weeklong training with KU faculty in terrestrial and aquatic science, GIS (geographic information systems) work and education. 19

2018 Review | Kansas Biological Survey

Private gifts

Private contributions from individuals and organizations provide key support for Kansas Biological Survey research and the outreach associated with it. We invite you to support this work with a gift made through KU Endowment, the University’s private fundraising foundation. Visit www.kuendowment.org or call 785-832-7400.

Our scientists and staff carry out top-flight research in a wide variety of areas. The Survey also manages the 3,700-acre KU Field Station, which serves as a resource not only for scientists but also for faculty and students in the arts, humanities and professional schools. In addition, we maintain educational areas of the Field Station that are open to the public year-round. Much of our work must be initiated or accomplished without the support of research grants, which fund narrowly specified activities related to particular studies.

Our work, by its nature, requires us to meet constantly shifting circumstances, especially during the field season. Therefore, our most crucial need is for endowed funds that provide broad support for research, education and outreach. Every gift makes a difference, and 100 percent of the gift benefits the Survey directly.

Copyright 2019, Kansas Biological Survey. Photos: Cover, Baldwin Woods Forest Preserve, Edward Robison III; Sara Baer, page 1, Amanda Rothert; Little Bighorn River, page 6, Rachel Murray; Lesser Prairie Chicken, page 8, Dreamtime stock; Dimensions site, page 12, KU MarComm; KU class on Cross, and students at Dimension site, page 14, KU MarComm; Jacob Hopkins, page 15, Joshua Faylo; Billings and Souza, page 16, KU MarComm; Baldwin Woods, page 19, Jerry Jost; this and facing page, KU MarComm; all others, Kansas Biological Survey staff. Text and design: Kirsten Bosnak.

Three keys areas of giving are:

● the Kansas Biological Survey Director’s Fund, which provides for the most urgent needs of the Survey, including support for students and for research site preparation;

● Friends of the KU Field Station, which provides general support for Field Station research and educational facilities, student projects and public outreach;

● the Baldwin Woods Conservation Fund, which supports conservation and expanded research at this portion of the KU Field Station.

Above and opposite: The KU Field Station is part of a network of sites in the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), a 30-year, continentwide project initiated by the National Science Foundation to study climate change, land use change and invasive species.

During the field season, NEON research staff and technicians visit the Field Station regularly to take samples and maintain its sensor-equipped tower and array.

Kansas Bio Survey 2018by the numbers

www.biosurvey.ku.edu | biosurvey@ku.edu

Active grant funding: $22.1 million

Active grants and contracts: 82

Peer-reviewed publications, books and scientific reports: 40

Faculty and staff scientists: 28

Postdoctoral fellows: 11

Administrative staff, research technicians & Field Station staff: 14

KU grad students with thesis or dissertation committee members holding Bio Survey appointments: 53

KU grad students working in Bio Survey faculty research labs: 17

KU undergraduate students being mentored or working as research assistants or employees in Bio Survey labs: 43

KU students who took classes from faculty members holding Bio Survey appointments: 390

Environmental databases, interactive maps and online tools maintained by the Bio Survey: 35

Current number of active research projects at the KU Field Station: 60