Hello, friend of the KU Field Station!

It’s not every year that August arrives with cool summer days, and we’re grateful for the welcome break after a hot and humid July. The weather disrupted our plans more than we’d like last month, but that’s just part of life at a field station. Even with the frustrations of cancellations, we wouldn’t trade this outdoor life for anything and feel lucky for every chance to be outside. With beautiful days ahead, we’re looking forward to spending more time learning, exploring, and connecting with the land and with each other.

See you out there!
Wendy

Friday, August 1 | 8:30–10:30 p.m. | Armitage Education Center, KU Field Station

New date! We rescheduled last week's event due to rain, and tonight’s weather is looking perfect for light trapping. We will be a little outside of National Moth Week, but the moths don’t know that!

Come light trap moths with us during the 14th annual National Moth Week, celebrated worldwide from July 19 to 27! We'll observe and document the diversity of moths (and other night flying invertebrates) attracted to bright lights shining on white sheets. This will be our third year participating in Moth Week, and in past years we’ve seen everything from delicate plume moths and striking sphinx moths to owlflies and mole crickets.

Observations will be uploaded to iNaturalist as part of this global community science effort. 

Stop by for a quick look or stay until we turn off the lights. Your curiosity is welcome either way!

Where: KU Field Station, Armitage Education Center, 350 Wild Horse Road, Lawrence, Kansas 66044

What to bring: Long pants, closed-toe shoes, flashlight or headlamp, camera for cool critters, lawn chair if you’d like to stay a while, water bottle, sweater or light jacket.

To register: email Wendy (wendyholman@ku.edu)

Sunday, August 3 | 5:30–7:30 p.m. | Free State High School, 4700 Overland Drive

Come celebrate a decade of the Free State Prairie, a tallgrass prairie restoration experiment that transformed an old football field and brought together the community!

What began as a collaboration between Lawrence Free State High School and the Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research has grown into a dynamic, hands-on outdoor classroom that has impacted thousands of students. A decade later, this project continues to connect high school and university students to each other, hands-on research, native biodiversity, and the broader community.

We will be there to highlight some of the wildlife that now calls the prairie home. This casual, outdoor event is open to all ages. Come tour the prairie and celebrate ten years of growth, learning, and connection!

Where: Free State High School, 4700 Overland Drive, Lawrence, KS 66049; park by the FSHS stadium, and walk west behind to stadium to the Free State Prairie [Google Maps]

What to wear: Long pants and closed-toe shoes. Insect repellent will be available.

No RSVP is required, but feel free to reach out to Wendy (wendyholman@ku.edu) for updates if the weather looks uncertain on August 3.

Sunday, August 17 | 2:00 p.m. | Armitage Education Center, KU Field Station

August Topic: Listening to Place — The Art and Ecology of the Tallgrass Prairie

Join poet and environmental studies professor Megan Kaminski for an immersive indoor exploration of prairie ecology through guided observation and collaborative creative documentation. We will practice deep listening to this complex ecosystem, attending to textures, seed structures, and visual patterns of seasonal change in collected specimens. Together, we will explore how scientific attention and artistic practice can combine to deepen our understanding of, and relationship with, the ecology of this bioregion. No experience is needed, just curiosity and a willingness to slow down and observe. Please bring a journal for notes and creative response.

Where: KU Field Station, Armitage Education Center, 350 Wild Horse Road, Lawrence, Kansas 66044

What to bring: A mug for tea/coffee to help us reduce waste.

Please RSVP to Wendy (wendyholman@ku.edu) as space is limited. It also helps us plan for seating and snacks!

Science Sundays is a monthly series of talks covering a variety of science topics, including research happening at the KU Field Station. These free talks are open to everyone but may not interest younger audiences. You don't have to be a scientist to attend, just curious about the natural world!

Wed., August 27 | 6:30–8:30 p.m. | 350 Wild Horse Road, Lawrence, KS 66044

Did you know the Midwest is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth for freshwater mussels? Join us to dive into the strange-but-true world of these often-overlooked aquatic creatures. You will learn about their fascinating biology, why they matter, and how to identify them.

Andrew Rutter, Director of the Baker University Wetlands & Discovery Center, will guide us through mussel anatomy, life cycles, and their ecological and economic importance. Then, we will put our new knowledge to action with hands-on identification practice using a variety of native mussel shells, field guides, and other resources. Feel free to bring your own shells if you would like help identifying them.

Get ready to fall in love with these hidden gems of our rivers!

When: Wednesday, August 27, 6:30–8:30 p.m. (we may wrap up a bit early)

Where: KU Field Station, Armitage Education Center, 350 Wild Horse Road, Lawrence, KS 66044

What to bring: A mug for tea or coffee, any mussel shells you want identified, and your curiosity.

To register, please email Wendy at wendyholman@ku.edu. Space is limited!

Researchers from Texas Tech University and Iowa State University are collaborating to understand how soil structure varies across the country. Last month, they visited the KU Field Station as part of a larger study exploring how soil structure develops under different environmental conditions. Their field sites span several distinct landscapes: along a precipitation gradient in Texas and New Mexico, across a drainage sequence in Iowa’s agricultural fields, and between remnant and disturbed prairies here in Kansas. At each location, the team digs a series of one-meter-deep soil pits, where they typically find five to six distinct horizons, and characterizes the physical properties of the soil in each layer.

To assess how water moves through the soil, they use tension infiltrometers at the surface and again at the upper boundary of each horizon. These devices apply different pressures over 15-minute intervals to measure water infiltration rates.

They also collect soil monoliths, or undisturbed columns of soil, which are taken back to the lab and impregnated with epoxy and analyzed using micro-XRF, hyperspectral imaging, and macropod imaging. These tools help researchers create detailed maps of the soil’s compositional distribution.

In the lab, smaller samples are sliced thin (just 30 micrometers thick) and examined under microscopes to study micromorphology. The microscopic views reveal important details about soil aggregate structure, composition, and porosity, providing insight into soil physical properties at a fine scale.

Sharon Billings, senior scientist with the Kansas Biological Survey and Center for Ecological Research, will continue seasonal sampling at each pit at the KU Field Station. Using a soil auger, she will collect samples and examine aggregate structure and size, giving researchers a better picture of how prairie soils change over time.

Research like this not only deepens our understanding of soil dynamics but also lays important groundwork for sustainable land management practices that promote soil health and conservation in both agriculture and natural ecosystems.

We love when students take their learning outdoors and use the KU Field Station to build on what they’re studying in the classroom. Last month, Lisa Castle and Summer Field Ecology students visited Rockefeller Prairie as part of a series exploring prairies across Lawrence, from remnants to newly seeded restorations. It’s always a joy to see students connect with the beauty of Kansas and bring their studies to life in the field.

Field crews with the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) have been busy with several research protocols this summer. Last month, we caught up with a crew surveying plant diversity in the successional woodlands of the Fitch Natural History Reservation.

Each year during the peak of summer, NEON surveys 30–35 plots for plant diversity and species abundance in different habitats, identifying every plant from tiny understory grasses to the canopy’s tallest trees. To minimize habitat trampling, they alternate annually between surveying the entire 40x40-meter plots and surveying smaller 1-meter nested subplots within each site.

This Plant Diversity Protocol will continue for 30 years and feeds into a much larger dataset that includes aerial surveys, herbarium vouchers, and genetic samples, and continuous environmental data from NEON’s on-site micrometeorological tower. The tower is equipped with automated instruments that record weather, climate, soil conditions, and phenological changes such as shifts in flowering or leaf-out timing.

Over time, these long-term data will help scientists build predictive models of how ecosystems respond to shifting climates and other environmental changes. Being part of the NEON network connects the KU Field Station to a national effort to understand ecological change, and we always enjoy seeing NEON researchers working in the field throughout the seasons!

Not on social media? No problem.

Here are a few of our favorites from the past month. 

🌾🌅 Golden hour berry picking in the prairie. 🫐🧺

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the beauty, bounty, and connection with the land. 🫶

Find the plant. Collect the plant. Press the plant. Voila! 🌿📋✅

We spotted NEON field technicians Kylie, Camoi, Kim, and Colin hard at work documenting prairie biodiversity this morning! As part of annual flora surveys, they're collecting plants that will be prepared as herbarium specimens and archived in the NEON Biorepository, a massive collection available to researchers around the world. 🌍📚

From field to herbarium, each plant adds to a growing record of biodiversity across the continent and through time. 🌱⏳🌻

🧐 Curious to learn more about NEON's data and specimens? Check out their data portal here: https://www.neonscience.org/data-samples

𝘕𝘌𝘖𝘕 (𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘌𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘖𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬) 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨-𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨.

Rainy day = frog party. 🐸🌧️

Featuring: a trio of young Cope's Gray Treefrogs/Eastern Gray Treefrogs (𝘋𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘳𝘺𝘴𝘰𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘴-𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳 species complex)

8 a.m. field work is still 🥵

We’re ready for the cold front, please and thank you!

🌾🌳 Where prairie meets forest, sunlight meets shade. ☀️🌤️

We live at the intersection of two major biomes: eastern deciduous forest and tallgrass prairie. These ecotones, or transitional zones between ecosystems, often support greater biodiversity than either biome alone, providing a rich mix of microclimates, food, and shelter. Shady spots like this one must be a welcome refuge from the sun on these hot summer days! 🌸🦋

📸 Featuring: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail [𝘗𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘰 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘤𝘶𝘴] on Wild Bergamot [𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘢]

This is the monthly newsletter for the University of Kansas Field Station community. Each month, we share details about upcoming public programs, volunteer opportunities, and highlights from the month before. 

To read previous issues, please visit our newsletter archives.

If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to Wendy at wendyholman@ku.edu.

University of Kansas Field Station Mission: 

   To foster scholarly research, environmental education and science-based stewardship of natural resources.

The University of Kansas prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression, and genetic information in the university's programs and activities. Retaliation is also prohibited by university policy. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies and procedures and is the Title IX Coordinator for all KU and KUMC campuses: Associate Vice Chancellor for the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX, civilrights@ku.edu, Room 1082, Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045, 785-864-6414, 711 TTY. Reports can be submitted by contacting the Title IX Coordinator as provided herein or online and complaints can be submitted with the Title IX Coordinator or online.

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