W.K. Kellogg Biological Station’s dedication to making diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice central to KBS culture has earned an Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion unit award from Michigan State University. The award focuses on the work of the KBS Culture and Inclusion Committee, or CIC, and its 2022 membership: Among the examples of KBS’s contributions to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion were the formation of the CIC, a focus on diverse hiring and recruitment practices, creation of a DEI advocate position, and the development of programming aimed at
Designing agricultural landscapes to provide more than crops
Agriculture is the defining feature of many rural North American landscapes. Over time, a focus on productivity and large-scale cultivation of commodity crops has resulted in agricultural landscapes dominated by large, homogenous fields, such as the corn and soy that blanket the Midwest. But agricultural landscapes provide more than just the crops grown on them. They also offer animal and plant habitat, clean our water and air, and capture carbon in the soil—a host of services often termed ecosystem services. Many key co-benefits are thanks to insects and other arthropods: they pollinate
Using prairie strips to understand the value of diversifying agricultural landscapes: Reflections from an LTER Fellow
MSU graduate researcher, Lindsey Kemmerling, is a PhD student in Dr. Nick Haddad's lab at Michigan State University's Kellogg Biological Station. Society today faces three immense ecological challenges: preventing the loss of biodiversity, adapting to climate change, and sustainably supporting a growing population. Humans have caused a global biodiversity crisis, with new studies continuing to reveal stunning rates of biodiversity decline across the entire tree of life. Simultaneously, we are presented with the challenge of sustainably and equitably supporting a growing human