University of Kansas Field Station NEON - United States of America

DEIMS.iD

https://deims.org/23d337b5-793a-45ca-9c8d-382bd74cfaf2

This record was created automatically using information from the:
Basic Information
Site Name
University of Kansas Field Station NEON
Short name
UKFS
Country
United States of America
Web Address
https://www.neonscience.org/field-sites/ukfs
Site Manager
Becky Eaves
Site Description
UKFS is a terrestrial NEON field site located approximately 9 km (5.5 mi.) north of Lawrence, KS, near the eastern border of the state. The 6.2 km2 (1530 acre) site is encompassed within the University of Kansas Field Station, a biological field station owned and managed by KU. The location lies along an eastern deciduous forest and tallgrass prairie transition zone. The surrounding region consists of grasslands, forests, and agricultural land cover types and includes the largest remaining areas of unplowed tallgrass prairie in North America. Our UKFS site is part of the NEON Prairie Peninsula Domain (D06), which stretches from Kansas through Nebraska and Iowa to southern Minnesota, and moves east to encompass Illinois and most of Indiana. The Domain hosts four other NEON field sites: two aquatic and two additional terrestrial, all of which are located in Kansas. Land use and land use management are key grand challenge themes for this Domain.
Last modified
2025-09-18 14:09:05

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General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
2014
Observed properties
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
GERI✔This site is a verified "GERI" member.
NEON✔ (UKFS)This site is a verified "NEON" member.
Photos
Two seasons, one sampling plot at UKFS
Two seasons, one sampling plot at UKFS
Geographic
View in site map
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 39.04043 Longitude: -95.19215

Size
ca. 620.00ha
Elevation (average)
322.00msl
Elevation (min)
272.00msl
Elevation (max)
332.00msl
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Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml] [.geojson]
Bounding Box [.shp] [.kml] [.geojson]
GEO-BON Biome
Terrestrial
Biome
Deciduous Forest
Ecosystem Type
Forest
Deciduous Forest
Air Temperature: Average Annual
12.70°C
Precipitation Annual
990.00mm
Geology
Geologic characteristics of the University of Kansas Field Station are windblown sand and silt. These sediments are a result of glacial drift, having been lain down here after being transported by glaciers.
Vegetation
About 66% of the land is covered in mixed hardwood forest, with the rest of the areas cleared for grassland, conservation, or agriculture. Forests are dominated by white ash (Fraxinus americana) and hackberry (Celtis occidentalis). Tallgrass prairie communities support perennial, warm-season grasses including big bluestem, indiangrass, and switchgrass.
Soils
The parent materials at the UKFS site are residuum, till, colluvium, and local alluvium. Major soil series on the site include Grundy, Martin, Oska, Pawnee, Rosendale, and Bendena. Landform positions that these soils occur on are residual summits, shoulder slopes, back slopes, colluvial foot slopes and toeslopes, and alluvial drainageways. The soil family is fine smectic-mesic Pachic Arguidolls, and the soil order is Mollisol.
Hydrology
The UKFS site drains into Mud Creek, which is a tributary of the Kansas River. It lies within the Lower Kansas River Watershed, which belongs to the larger Kansas River Basin.
Site Type
Non-stationary land-based site
Design of Experimentation
partly experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
beyond catchment scale
Design of Observation
mainly observation
Scale of Observation
beyond catchment
Permanent Power Supply
No
Accessible All Year
Yes
Permanent Operation
No