Konza Prairie LTER - United States of America

The 3,487-ha Konza Prairie Biological Station (KPBS), located in the Flint Hills of NE Kansas, is the core research site for the KNZ program. In addition to providing the watershed-level fire and grazing treatments, agricultural fields, restored prairie, stream network and weirs, KPBS includes several buildings in the headquarters area that support LTER research. The on-site Ecology Laboratory (2,400 ft2) includes (1) a wet/dry lab with sinks, fume hood, refrigerators, balances, etc., (2) two large multi-purpose work rooms with bench space and sinks for processing samples, drying ovens, refrigerators and freezers, and equipment storage, and (3) and a large researchers? shop equipped with a variety of tools and field supplies. Other station buildings include a fire station and maintenance building, a large storage building for equipment, and a residence occupied by the site foreman year round. The 4,650-ft2 Hulbert Center houses a library/conference room, administrative offices, classroom and teaching laboratory (used primarily for K-12 activities), reference herbarium and animal collections, and a kitchen and dormitory-style housing for 15 visitors. Two small guest cottages (each with 2-bedrooms living room, bath, kitchen, and laundry facilities), can accommodate up to 5 persons/cottage. A larger cottage, built in 2012, can accommodate up to 12 guests, expanding the capacity of on-site accommodations to 37 visiting researchers.
With support from an NSF Field Stations and Marine Laboratories (FSML) grant, Kansas NSF EPSCoR, the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, KSU, and private foundations, several major site improvements and building renovations were completed during LTERVI. These include new housing for visiting students and scientists (included above), an on-site meeting and conference center, and improved Internet capabilities. With funding from an NSF-FSML grant and additional support from KSU and a private donor, an historic limestone barn at the KPBS headquarters was transformed into a multipurpose meeting facility for on-site conferences, workshops, and educational programs. The historic stone barn was renovated in 2008 and has the Cortelyou Lecture Hall (1,750 ft2) with a seating capacity of ~100 persons fully equipped with A/V equipment and wireless internet. An additional large multi-purpose room (1,850 ft2) is designed as flexible space for varied uses including additional meeting space, workshops, scientific posters and other research displays, social gatherings, and education programs for large groups.
All lab and office buildings at KPBS have T1 Internet connectivity to the KSU campus. In addition, there is a wireless link to KPBS from campus with multiple wireless access points (802.11abg) that provide coverage to >60% of the 3,487-ha site. Current users include: KNZ LTER (sensor networks in several locations, meteorological stations, eddy flux towers, stream discharge loggers), USGS, University of Kansas, Colorado State University, and KPBS (visiting scientists lodging). Network upgrades to increase both coverage and throughput are possible.
Other LTER infrastructure, maintained by KPBS, includes the outside perimeter fence (29.8 km), the interior bison management area enclosed by 16.4 km of ?New Zealand? fence, 98 small (25-m2) grazing exclosures, 11.7 km of fence for cattle research, 26.4 km of access roads and 61 km of fireguards separating the experimental watershed units. KPBS maintains several general-purpose vehicles on-site, as well as specialized equipment (tractors, fire trucks, mowers, soil augers, etc.). KPBS makes staff and equipment available to assist with KNZ research activities, including mowing fireguards, installing equipment, soil coring, etc. KPBS staff also coordinates the fire management plan and implementation of prescribed burning of watersheds and experimental plots, and the management of bison and cattle herds for KNZ grazing treatments. The headquarters area include a corral and handling facilities for managing the bison herd (hydraulic chute, electronic scales, etc.), which is essential for LTER grazing studies. Other field equipment and instrumentation on site includes the main KNZ weather station, a network of 11 rain gauges, two eddy flux towers for quantifying ecosystem-level C and water vapor flux, four weirs and associated stream gauging equipment (updated in 2012 to Sutron Constant Flow Accubar® bubble gages and recorders with wireless connectivity), 46 wells for measuring groundwater levels and chemistry, numerous TDR probes, neutron access tubes and tension lysimeters for soil water measurements. Related equipment co-supported by other programs includes a USGS stream monitoring station, a NASA CIMEL Sun Photometer, 2 seismometers (USGS), an aerosol and ozone monitoring facility (CASTNet), and a NOAA Climate Reference Network (CRN) weather station. These facilities add significantly to data for LTER research and education programs, and for regional and cross-site studies. KPBS is also a core site for National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), which will begin construction of major research infrastructure in summer 2014. NEON will provide additional unique measurement capabilities and data at KPBS, which will complement many KNZ LTER studies.