A recent CIRCLE Seed Grant from MSU brought together a team of local K-12 teachers and KBS LTER researchers to develop a replicable schoolyard experiment. Scientific discovery is often associated with remote field sites or specialized laboratories, but it can also begin in familiar places - like schoolyards. At the KBS LTER site, researchers study ecosystems using a combination of observation, experiments, modeling, and synthesis. Equally important is how this work is conducted: through long-term collaboration. As 1 of 26 LTER Network sites across the country, KBS LTER scientists
KBS grad student earn awards for national energy research for harnessing soil microbes
Brandon Kristy, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Integrative Biology and a member of the Evans Lab at the Kellogg Biological Station, will go to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, or LLNL, to study the "unseen" partners of sustainable bioenergy.Kristy’s specialty is plant science for sustainable bioenergy, where he investigates how soil microbiomes can help crops like switchgrass thrive without relying on excessive chemical fertilizers. Kristy's work underscores how MSU graduate students are leveraging national resources to turn fundamental scientific inquiry into real-world s
Thirty years of data reveal major declines in lady beetles and their pest-fighting power in Midwestern farmland
Long-term monitoring at the Kellogg Biological Station Long Term Ecological Research site (KBS LTER) shows both native and introduced predators are declining, potentially weakening a key natural defense against crop pests. A new study, led by researchers at Kent State University and Michigan State University, finds that populations of lady beetles, important natural predators of crop pests, have declined substantially over the past three decades in a Midwestern agricultural landscape. The research, published in PNAS Nexus, analyzed 31 years of insect monitoring data collected at
MiSTRIPS program sparks new research and stronger community partnerships
Researchers at the KBS LTER have leveraged the MiSTRIPS partnership network to launch new grant-funded projects and field studies that may not have been possible without the program. The MiSTRIPS Program at the KBS LTER has become a springboard for new research, helping scientists secure grants and expand studies in sustainable agriculture. Its impact now reaches well beyond installing native prairie species in cropland. In addition to supporting farmers and adding 50 new acres of prairie across Michigan, MiSTRIPS sites also provide valuable field locations for researchers to
Graduate research from the KBS LTER highlights the role of drought in altering plant-environment interactions
Through an experiment that simulates future climate change conditions within the KBS LTER, researchers found that drought strongly affects the chemical compounds released by goldenrod, suggesting that climate change could significantly influence how ecosystems function. Though you might not be able to see it with the naked eye, plants are constantly interacting with their environment. One way they do this is through the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) – chemical signals that help them communicate and react to both living and non-living factors around them. These VOCs form the
Graduate research from the KBS LTER reveals how nematodes contribute to soil food web stability in droughts
Using the Rainfall Exclusion Experiment (REX) within the KBS LTER, researchers found that nematode communities are more stable in early successional landscapes than agricultural ones during drought. This study highlights the importance of plant diversity for resilient soil ecosystems under environmental change. As farmers adopt new strategies to cope with increasingly extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and droughts, understanding the mechanisms behind resiliency in agricultural systems is critical. While it’s well-established that drought harms crop production, less is known about h
Sprunger receives TAP Award, recognized as changemaker in global food security
W.K. Kellogg Biological Station faculty member and part of the KBS LTER Executive Committee, Christine Sprunger, is one of 39 visionaries named to the 2025 Top Agri-food Pioneers, or TAP, list by the World Food Prize Foundation. Now in its second year, the TAP list honors individuals driving bold and innovative solutions to the most pressing challenges in global food security. This year’s honorees span 27 countries and one territory and range in age from 20 to 79, representing a powerful cross-section of experience, geography and expertise. “The 2025 TAP list showcases th
Nature-based climate solutions are a powerful tool to reverse the warming caused by deforestation
Deforestation has intensified global warming, but a new study out in Nature Communications Earth and Environment finds restoring forests and adopting sustainable land-use practices can reverse the damage while benefiting both people and nature. A new study published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment reveals that when land managers implement nature-based climate solutions, they can significantly counteract the climate-warming effects of past deforestation. The research, led by ecologists and climate scientists at Michigan State University’s Department of Plant, Soil, and Micr
New research leverages long-term treatments in novel ways to study plant biotic interactions
Researchers in Kadeem Gilbert’s lab are using experimental treatments within the KBS LTER to look at how leaves regulate their external pH conditions, which may impact how they interact with insect herbivores and microbes. For almost 40 years, researchers at the KBS LTER have studied interactions among plants, microbes, insects, management, and the environment to learn how agriculture can provide both high yields and environmental outcomes that benefit society. One might assume that after all that time, every hypothesis has already been tested! Yet, we continually find there are fresh p
Graduate research from the KBS LTER reveals the value of soil microbe diversity for sustainable agriculture
Researchers leveraged the unique land management gradient available at the LTER to better understand how microbe diversity impacts nitrogen fixation rates in the soil. They looked at an understudied group of soil microbes, diazotrophs, which are responsible for a key source of nitrogen in agricultural soils. Increasing aboveground biodiversity is known to promote beneficial ecosystem services. However, less is known about the benefits of biodiversity in the soil, particularly in the microbe communities that facilitate critical nutrient cycling. New research from the KBS LTER provides
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