Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) LTER 2019 undergraduate summer researcher, Ashlyn Royce. She wrote about her KBS LTER Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) project working with the Marquart-Pyatt Lab. The summer of 2019 I was selected to work with Dr. Sandy Marquart-Pyatt and her research team through the Michigan State University's Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, specifically working with the KBS Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Panel Farmer Survey. After accepting the position, I was a bit unsure of what to
Global change is triggering an identity switch in grasslands
Grasslands make up more than 40% of the world's ice-free land and have sustained humanity and thousands of other species for eons. In addition to providing food for cattle and sheep, grasslands are home to animals found nowhere else in the wild, such as the bison of North America's prairies or the zebras and giraffes of the African savannas. Grasslands also can hold up to 30% of the world's carbon, making them critical allies in the fight against climate change. Climate change is causing grasslands to shift beneath our feet, putting these benefits at risk. Global change — which includes
Microbial Communities in Long Term Research: Reflections from a Field Season at KBS
Reid Longley is a PhD candidate in the MSU Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics. He is a member of the Bonito Lab. Reid wrote about his research at the KBS LTER, funded by a 2018 Summer Fellowships for Long-term Ecological Research. Performing my field research at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) this summer was the first time I had ever been exposed to work in agriculture. Before coming to Michigan State for my PhD studies, I had not thought much about the amount of science that goes into
To research or not to research? How I discovered my passion at KBS
KBS undergraduate summer researcher, Maiya Wimbley, is a student in the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. She wrote about her Undergraduate Research Apprentice (URA) project working with mentor and KBS scientist, Kate Glanville, in the Robertson lab. Posted on the door leading to the Robertson Lab was a sign that read “Research Area: Do Not Enter.” Upon reading the sign, I promptly turned around, certain I wasn’t allowed back there—they were doing real science, I was just visiting. I wandered around for a few
Seeking a more resilient agriculture: the next chapter for the KBS LTER program
Imagine for a moment a Midwestern agricultural landscape in late August that has not seen rain in weeks. Some corn fields remain green, showing no sign of a moisture deficit while other fields have curled leaves, plants starting to yellow. Belowground, microbial communities between the fields are acting differently, too, some biding their time until a pulse of rain puts them in motion while others continue their work. Under the same climate and soils, why is one field more resilient to the stress of drought? What about that field helps it to remain productive? In the midst of global
Almost failing a semester to learn about climate change: Reflections from an undergraduate researcher
KBS undergraduate summer researcher Daimer Castro Vega is a junior at the University of Puerto Rico. He wrote about his Research Experiences for Undergraduates project working with mentor and LTER researcher Kate Glanville, a PhD student in Dr. Phil Robertson's lab at MSU. Daimer was funded by an NSF REU site award to the Kellogg Biological Station. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you know something about Puerto Rico, you might have heard that there is a huge debt and that the students went on a strike on April 7, 2017 for more than two months with only three weeks
Generosity of local farmer creates national impact
Harold and Edythe Marshall’s gift of their 300-acre farm to Michigan State University has been a major boon to understanding the ecology of new biofuel crops, producing research results with national impact by scientists at MSU's Kellogg Biological Station (KBS). Under a unique partnership between the Marshalls and MSU, the farmland east of Hickory Corners in Barry County is enabling scientists from the KBS Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) program and the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) to conduct unique biofuel research with funding from the US Department of Energy
Fertilizing to help the planet
This news piece by KBS LTER volunteer and retired journalist Bill Krasean. Researchers at Michigan State University's Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) program have helped develop a way for farmers to reduce crop-related emissions of a greenhouse gas while potentially lowering fertilizer costs, maintaining crop yields, and getting paid to do so. KBS scientists have developed a program to reduce farm-related emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas that also destroys ozone in the stratosphere. Using data collected from Michigan farms,
Discussion series gives agricultural community a chance to weigh in on climate change
A series of meetings designed by the Kellogg Biological Station Long-term Ecological Research (KBS LTER) program and Michigan State University (MSU) Extension to deepen the conversation between farmers, scientists, and agricultural professionals on a wide range of issues is proving quite a hit. In a continuing effort that began in 2012, KBS LTER Education & Outreach Coordinator, Dr. Julie Doll, and her colleagues from MSU Extension hosted three discussion events in March 2013 focusing on climate change, alternative energy, and the impacts they may have on Michigan’s agriculture and
CO2 flux towers help assess the sustainability of biofuels
This news piece by KBS LTER volunteer and retired journalist Bill Krasean. If the United States is to develop sustainable biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol as alternatives to grain-based ethanol and the burning of climate-changing fossil fuels, there are still many questions yet to be answered. Key among those questions is where best to grow biofuel crops without sacrificing valuable farm and forestland, says Jiquan Chen, Distinguished University Professor in Environmental Science at the University of Toledo and investigator in the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s (DOE) Great Lakes Bioenergy