The Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) LTER program has pioneered research in sustainable farming practices and conservation in agricultural landscapes for decades, yet many of these practices are underused on farms. We need a deeper understanding about the barriers faced by farmers when adopting conservation practices, and the stronger connections between existing research and farmer needs. As part of the APEAL Public Engagement with Science (PES) Working Group, Dr. Liz Schultheis, the KBS LTER Outreach & Education Coordinator, along with partners at KBS and MSU
MSU KBS broader impacts: Mentoring the next generation of community-engaged scholars
Post by Cynthia Fiser, graduate student in Doug Landis’s lab in the Michigan State University Department of Entomology and 2024 Broader Impacts Fellow. Her research looks at the impact of perennial prairie strips on the dispersal of ground beetles in row crop agriculture. Broader impacts, the practical component or long-term goal of most research projects, are often delegated to the final section of a grant proposal, paper, or presentation. However, broader impacts are front and center to successful research at Michigan State University’s Kellogg Biological Station. The
KBS LTER welcomes Erica Bradshaw as our 2024 Artist in Residence
A Kalamazoo-area author, illustrator and muralist is the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station Long-term Ecological Research program’s 2024 Artist-in-Residence. Erica Bradshaw, the owner of To Draw Attention Illustration, arrived at KBS May 20 and spent a week visiting labs and field sites and learning about research that’s underway at the Station. Erica Bradshaw A lifelong artist who had their first piece exhibited at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts in second grade, Erica earned a bachelor’s degree from Kendall College of Art and Design in 2021, and is now a full-time
Melissa Frost, KBS LTER RET, named Michigan Department of Education’s Region 7 Teacher of the Year!
BUCHANAN, MI - Buchanan Community Schools proudly announces that Melissa Frost, esteemed educator and dedicated science teacher of Buchanan High School, has been honored as the Michigan Department of Education’s Region 7 Teacher of the Year for the academic year 2024-2025. The Teacher of the Year program, organized by the Michigan Department of Education, aims to recognize and celebrate outstanding educators who demonstrate exemplary dedication to their profession and make significant contributions to the field of education. Melissa Frost exemplifies these qualities through her unwavering
Area educators invited to Kellogg Biological Station K-12 Partnership’s Summer Institute
Hickory Corners, Mich. — Teachers and informal educators of K-12 students are invited to engage in science teaching professional development this summer at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station. The 24th annual K-12 Partnership Summer Institute is set for 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 20, through Thursday, June 22. Registration is now open! This year’s theme is “Our Changing Planet, Classrooms to Ecosystems,” and will include scientific talks by Dr. David Karowe, Dr. Lauren Sullivan and Naim Edwards. Each morning’s science talk will be followed by a series of interactive and
New KBS LTER Artist-in-Residence program aims to create intersection between art and research
This spring, Michigan State University launches the Farmscapes to Forests: Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Artist-in-Residence Program, which will welcome artists from across all mediums to spend a week at the Kellogg Biological Station in Hickory Corners, Michigan, followed by a culminating visit in the fall or winter to share their work. Supported by the National Science Foundation, Gretel Van Wieren, Professor in MSU’s Department of Religious Studies, is leading the program in its first collaboration with Dream Scene Placemaking,
Measuring and predicting soil carbon to offset climate change
KBS Long-Term Ecological Research scientists awarded a $3.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency to study possible climate outcomes. When an unproductive swath of farmland is planted with row crops, it results in environmental damage with little to no yield. Instead, farmers can cultivate native plants in those spaces that improve soil health and support other native species. The USDA Conservation Reserve Program, or CRP, offers them financial incentives to do just that. Measuring soil carbon for improved soil health Now, Michigan State
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
Evolution in the LTER: Reflections from an LTER researcher
Each year the KBS LTER awards full and summer fellowships to MSU graduate students. MSU graduate researcher Susan Magnoli is a PhD student in Jen Lau's lab in the Department of Plant Biology. She wrote about her 2017 KBS LTER summer fellowship project. When you think about studies of evolutionary biology, images of Darwin’s finches, diverse fish communities, or beautiful tropical forests might come to mind. But what about agricultural landscapes? While they at first might not appear to be the most exciting habitats, the farm fields and biofuel crops of the Kellogg
Researchers conduct novel wheat microbiome analysis under four management strageties.
This is an original press release from American Phytopathological Society- Nov 27th, 2017 St. Paul, Minn. (November 2017)--Different crop management strategies can produce various and noticeable effects on a crop and its yield. But what are the effects at the microbial level...not just in the roots but the entire plant? Molecular biologists Kristi Gdanetz and Frances Trail of Michigan State University sought to answer that question, developing a descriptive analysis of the wheat microbiome under four common types of management strategies: conventional, no-till, organic, and reduced
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