KBS graduate student Rachel Drobnak has received the 2026 MSU Graduate School’s Graduate Award in Science Communication & Outreach for her work in promoting the benefits of prairie strips. KBS graduate student Rachel Drobnak has received the 2026 Graduate Student Award for Science Communication & Outreach. The award, which is given annually to one graduate student at MSU, is “conferred in recognition of the exemplary translation and communication of scholarly ideas, research findings, and advancements in all academic disciplines to the general public.” Rachel spent the first t
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 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
Long-term data provides new perspective on agricultural impacts on arthropod diversity
A 30-year study on ground beetles from the KBS LTER reveals significant declines in beetle abundance and community composition in agricultural systems. Rates of decline were must faster in fields with chemical inputs, compared to organic systems. Data that spans multiple decades has the potential not only to reveal long-term trends, but also provide answers to new and exciting questions. This is particularly important in agricultural systems, where the impacts of different management practices can take many years to be seen. Recent research from by KBS LTER graduate student Cindy Fiser
How can microbes in the soil affect greenhouse gases and mitigate climate change? An LTER researcher hopes to find out
This post was originally featured on Greenboard, the blog of the Environmental Science and Policy Program at Michigan State University on May 31st, 2018. Di Liang is a PhD candidate and LTER grad in Dr. Phil Robertson's lab at MSU's Kellogg Biological Station. ~~~~~~~~~~~ Di Liang is a doctoral student in the Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences and MSU's Kellogg Biological Station. This summer, he is working to identify the soil microbial sources of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. It is his hope that knowing how these microbes contribute to N2O fluxes can offer
A new approach to soil testing for Michigan farmers: from inputs to indicators of soil health
Each year the KBS LTER program awards two graduate students with summer research fellowships. Here Brendan O'Neill describes the research his summer fellowship supported. Brendan is a Ph.D. student in Tom Schmidt and Phil Robertson's labs. ~~~ My research at the Kellogg Biological Station Long-term Ecological Research (KBS LTER) site has focused on how increasing crop diversity (for example, including cover crops) can enhance soil ecosystem functions while sustaining crop production. Examples of soil ecosystem functions include retaining carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) within