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
Prairie strips that pay – upcoming MiSTRIPS Field Day
As a follow up to the 2025 Cultivating Resilience Winter Conference, Ottawa Conservation District has partnered up with the Michigan State University Kellogg Biological Station and Shady Side Farm to bring you a field day focused on incorporating prairie strips into your farmland operations and crop fields. Strategically placed native prairie strips in crop fields can increase local pollinator biodiversity, improve local water quality and soil health, and can increase your farm profitability! Attendees will learn from MSU staff and MiSTRIPS farmer, Mike Bronkema from Shady Side Farm, about
Collaborative study with Michigan DNR to support agriculture and conservation
Investigators at the KBS LTER are working with Michigan Department of Natural Resources staff to determine how replacing under-yielding areas of croplands with native perennial plants can improve biodiversity and ecosystem services while having the lowest loss in agricultural production. The study represents co-production of knowledge through identifying shared goals and questions, and a great opportunity to scale up long term ecological knowledge generated at the LTER to the farm scale. Agricultural landscapes represent a balancing act between different interests and goals. These lands
Prairie strips: a refuge in an agricultural desert or an ecological trap for native pollinators?
Graduate research from the LTER shows that prairie strips planted within agricultural monocrops are not an “ecological trap” for native pollinators - but they also don’t reduce insecticide runoff that may pose a threat. Agriculture is essential, but the lack of biodiversity in farmland can create ecological barrens. Prairie strips - the long, thin strips of tallgrass prairie vegetation planted adjacent to agriculture - have potential to bring ecosystem services into agricultural spaces, such as increased pollination, enhanced microbial diversity, and containment of nutrient runoff
Award-winning graduate research highlights previously unrecorded benefits of prairie strips
Three years of butterfly surveys across the LTER Main Cropping Systems Experiment show that agricultural plots where 5% of cropland was converted to prairie harbor unique species and have a greater abundance of butterflies than plots without prairie. This work earned Lindsey Kemmerling, who completed her Ph.D. studies at W.K. Kellogg Biological Station in the Haddad Lab, the 2023 Royal Entomological Society Journal Award. As agriculture increases in intensity across the U.S., finding ways to conserve ecological systems while supporting crop production has become critical. Keeping native
Using community-engaged scholarship to address conservation barriers in rural Michigan croplands
Cynthia Fiser is a PhD candidate in the Landis Lab at Michigan State University, Department of Entomology and a 2024 KBS Broader Impacts Fellow. Her research looks at the ecological and social impacts of perennial prairie strips in row crop agriculture. Change starts with people. Grassroots efforts that encourage people to learn, adapt, and share with others can help facilitate both community and individual capacity building. In the academic community, we pride ourselves that we know what the problems are, and it is our research that will be the solution. However,
New prairie strip partial budget tool from MiSTRIPS team
Conservation practices require a significant investment in time and money. There are often large implementation costs, learning curves, and labor required, all of which might prevent farmers and landowners from being able to adopt these practices. Additionally, when there are no tangible payments or products, the financial benefits may seem invisible. Yet, conservation practices provide many benefits to the cropping system, often by improving soil health, protecting water quality, and increasing yield stability. Because of this, farmers are often eligible for payments which can offset or even
Buchanan students visit KBS LTER and Kellogg Bird Sanctuary with RET Melissa Frost
Throughout 2022 and 2023, Melissa Frost, biology and chemistry teacher at Buchanan High School, joined the KBS LTER through our Research Experience for Teacher (RET) program. The NSF-funded RET program partners teachers with scientists to assist in ongoing research in the lab, as well as providing the teacher the opportunity to develop their own research project. Melissa joined Sarah Evan's lab, and worked with scientists Jennifer Jones and Caitlin Broderick. Melissa embraced the RET as a chance to integrate more research and data into her teaching. "Participating in a RET program allowed
The ABC’s – Agriculture, Beneficial Beetles and Conservation: Reflections from an LTER Fellow
Cynthia Fiser is a graduate student in Doug Landis's lab in the Michigan State University Department of Entomology. Her research looks at the impact of perennial prairie strips on the dispersal of ground beetles in row crop agriculture. Rolling hills of wheat, corn and soybean are a beautiful and nostalgic feature of the summer landscape in the Midwest. Here, agriculture is as much a part of the culture as the economy – anyone who attends a county fair would agree! However, the pressure placed on our agricultural landscapes to meet global demands for food, fuel and fiber takes a toll on
Little strips of prairie can go a long way
New research out of MSU shows that it is possible to manage farmland to address two challenges simultaneously – protecting biodiversity and maintaining ecosystem services. The key is to strategically place native perennial vegetation within agricultural systems, using the innovative practice of prairie strips. Today, 38% of the landscape in the Midwest is planted in row crop agriculture. “We need to make this land habitable for species for the ecosystem services the increased biodiversity can provide to the farms” said Lindsey Kemmerling, the first author of the MSU-led study pub