KBS News
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Kellogg Biological Station is Michigan State University's largest off-campus education complex and one of North America's premier inland field stations.
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Diverse Landscapes are Better: Policy Makers Urged to Think Broadly About Biofuel Crops [Permalink]
Thu Jan 08 09:59:54 EST 2009
Expansion of corn acreage to meet ethanol targets is reducing the ability of beneficial insects to control pests, a loss valued at $58 million in the four states studied (Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin), report researchers writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Corn is a less favorable habitat for many ladybird beetles (ladybugs) and other beneficial insects that feed on pests such as the soybean aphid," said Doug Landis, a professor of entomology at Michigan State University and lead author of the study.
Link to Eureka! Science News Article.
Plant biology professor Doug Schemske's research on natural selection and genetics is included in the January issue of Scientific American [Permalink]
Thu Jan 08 09:27:02 EST 2009
Random genetic mutations having neither positive nor negative effects were once thought to drive most changes at the molecular level. But recent experiments show that natural selection of beneficial genetic mutations is quite common. Studies in plant genetics show that changes in a single gene sometimes have a large effect on adaptive differences between species.
Link to Scientific American article "Testing Natural Selection with Genetics". January 2009
Polarized Light Reflected From Man-Made Structures can overwhelm Natural Cues to Animal Behaviors [Permalink]
Thu Jan 08 08:54:09 EST 2009
Smooth, dark buildings, vehicles and even roads can be mistaken by insects and other creatures for water, creating "ecological traps" that jeopardize animal populations and fragile ecosystems.
Biological station studying agriculture's role in environmental changes [Permalink]
Tue Sep 09 10:40:59 EDT 2008
Long Term Ecological Research became one of the ways of life at the biological station in 1988. Those directly involved in the overall program, including the staff at KBS and on campus are well aware of the significance of this work. Not so much, for the rest of us.
The spotlight, however, seems to be broadening. Phil Robertson, MSU professor of crop and soil sciences, heads the program at KBS, and is a contributing author to a paper in the National Science Foundation journal BioScience, calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to establish a network of sites like that of Michigan State University's KBS program. The other researchers contributing to that paper are from universities across the country, including Harvard, Texas Tech, Oregon State, Ohio State and Cornell.
Link to Kalamazoo Gazette article by Karl Guenther. September 8, 2008
KBS Director, Dr. Kay Gross, Honored for Contributions to Furthering the Scientific Community [Permalink]
Tue Aug 12 10:39:01 EDT 2008
Decades of service and dedication to the scientific community have earned Kay Gross, Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES) plant biologist and director of the Michigan State University W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, a prestigious national ecology award.
Gross accepted the 2008 Distinguished Service Citation from the Ecological Society of America (ESA). The award recognizes Gross's commitment and service to ESA as well as her dedication to furthering the scientific community.
Link to College of Agriculture and Natural Resources article.
Scientists across the nation want to emulate MSU's long-term research success [Permalink]
Tue Aug 12 08:52:02 EDT 2008
If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then researachers associated with the Michigan State University Long-Term Ecological Reserach site at the Kellogg Biological Station should be very proud.
A paper in the July/August issue of the journal BioScience calls for the United States to use the internationally known program as a model for agriculture research and set up a network of LTER-like sites across the country
Link to MSU Today article. July 11, 2008
Greenpeace article on Food Security and Global Change includes reference to research done on KBS LTER by Rich Smith, Kay Gross, and Phil Robertson showing how crop rotation and incorporation of diversity can influence crop yields. [Permalink]
Tue Aug 12 08:20:41 EDT 2008
KBS faculty awarded new USDA grant [Permalink]
Tue Jun 17 15:32:17 EDT 2008
Drs. Lennon, Aanderud and Klausmeier at KBS receive USDA funding to study soil microbes.
Natural partners...Fourth-grade outdoors lovers from Martin, Lawton finally meet [Permalink]
Tue Apr 29 13:33:15 EDT 2008
Fourth-graders from Lawton and MArtin elementary schools converge to tour the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary and dairy barns together.Since September classes at both schools have been paired with a Michigan State University graduate student as part of the Kellogg Biological Station GK-12 Partnership. A National effort to place graduate students in K-12 classrooms.
Link to Kalamazoo Gazette Hometown East article. April 28, 2008
DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Centers [Permalink]
Wed Apr 23 16:17:03 EDT 2008
The US Department of Energy's Great Lakes Bioenergy Researach Center (GLBRC) is led by the University of Wisconsin in partnership with Michigan State University. Located in the world's most productive agricultural region, GLBRC is exploring scientifically diverse approaches to converting sunlight and various feedstocks--agricultural residues, wood chips and grasses--into biofuels. Michigan State University's W.K. Kellogg Biological Station will be an integral part of biofuel production practices that are both environmentally and economically sustainable.
See page 16 of the DOE's Bioenery Research Centers - An Overview of the Science brochure
Link to Bioenery Research Centers - An Overview of the Science
DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center [Permalink]
Wed Apr 23 15:59:43 EDT 2008
The US Department of Energy's Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC)is led by the University of Wisconsin in partnership with Michigan State University. Located in the world's most productive agricultural region, the GLBRC is exploring scientifically diverse approaches to converting sunlight and various plant feedstocks--agrcultural residues, wood chips and grasses--into biofuels.
See page 16 of the Bioenergy Researach Centers--An Overview of the Science
Link to Bioenergy Research Centers - An Overview of the Science
Dr. Sieglinde Snapp of KBS receives the John K. Hudzik Award. [Permalink]
Wed Apr 23 15:32:56 EDT 2008
Sieglinde Snapp, associate professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and the Kellogg Biological Station, was recognized with the John K. Hudzik Emerging Leader in Advancing International Studies and Programs Award for excelling in international research and scholarship while collaboratingwith U.S. and international scientists from many disciplines and countries.
See page five of the MSU News Bulletin
Stream denitrification across biomes and its response to anthropogenic nitrate loading [Permalink]
Wed Apr 23 15:16:42 EDT 2008
Anthropogenic addition of bioavailable nitrogen to the biosphere is increasing and terrestrial ecosystems are becoming increasingly nitrogen-saturated causing more bioavailable nitrogen to enter groundwater and surface waters. Large-scale nitrogen budgets show that an average of about 20–25 per cent of the nitrogen added to the biosphere is exported from rivers to the ocean or inland basins indicating that substantial sinks for nitrogen must exist in the landscape. Streams and rivers may themselves be important sinks for bioavailable nitrogen owing to their hydrological connections with terrestrial systems, high rates of biological activity, and streambed sediment environments that favour microbial denitrification. Here we present data from nitrogen stable isotope tracer experiments across 72 streams and 8 regions representing several biomes. We show that total biotic uptake and denitrification of nitrate increase with stream nitrate concentration, but that the efficiency of biotic uptake and denitrification declines as concentration increases, reducing the proportion of in-stream nitrate that is removed from transport. Our data suggest that the total uptake of nitrate is related to ecosystem photosynthesis and that denitrification is related to ecosystem respiration. In addition, we use a stream network model to demonstrate that excess nitrate in streams elicits a disproportionate increase in the fraction of nitrate that is exported to receiving waters and reduces the relative role of small versus large streams as nitrate sinks.
Rivers, streams can fight pollution, if given chance [Permalink]
Wed Apr 23 15:02:57 EDT 2008
Dr. Stephen Hamilton, an aquatic ecologist at KBS, studied nine streams that flow through cities, forests and agricultural land in the Kalamazoo River watershed of southwestern Michigan as part of a nationwide team seeking to understand what happens to the nitrogen that is washed into the water.
See page five of the MSU News Bulletin
Rivers, streams can fight pollution, if given chance [Permalink]
Wed Apr 23 13:45:11 EDT 2008
Dr. Stephen Hamilton, an aquatic elogist at KBS, studied nine streams that flow through cities, forests and agricultural land in the Kalamazoo River watershed of southwestern Michigan as part of a nationwide team seeking to understand what happens to the nitogen that is washed into the water.
Page 5 of the MSU News Bulletin
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