Kansas Bio Survey & Center for Ecological Research

08/27/2026

Sometimes, research connections span decades, and sometimes they come with a dog. 🐢🐕

Earlier this year, we were contacted by Dr. Ngaio Richards of Working Dogs for Conservation, who was looking for a classic University of Kansas publication on the natural history of the ornate box turtle (Terrapene ornata).

We were able to provide a PDF of the 1960 study by herpetologist John M. Legler, which contains detailed observations about the turtles' behavior, habitat and seasonal activity. More than 60 years later, that information is helping inform modern conservation work.

And in return, we received two lovely photos of Arly, a Conservation Canine along with the story behind them. Conservation dogs are trained to use their remarkable sense of smell to help researchers locate wildlife in the field. Arly was helping habitat data researchers collect information and search for an ornate box turtle that had been missing since April — and he found it. 🐾

Understanding an animal's behavior, habitat and seasonal activity can be an important part of this kind of fieldwork. Detailed natural history accounts can provide valuable clues about where a species may be found and the conditions it may be experiencing.

It's a great example of how preserving and sharing scientific knowledge can support new conservation approaches decades after that knowledge was first recorded.

Thanks to Ngaio and to Laura Speight of Sp8 Ecoservices, LLC, for sharing Arly's photos and story with us!

08/19/2026

Do you get your water from a Kansas lake (or have you gone swimming in one lately)? We’ve been studying the conditions of Kansas reservoirs for more than 20 years, providing public data about safety and supply.

🚰 In 2006, the Kansas Biological Survey began making bathymetric (lake bottom) maps and taking sediment cores at reservoirs throughout the state. This set a baseline we could use to compare current and historical conditions, which are recorded in the lake sediments themselves.

⛵ In 2017, we moved to the next level of research, monitoring harmful algal blooms (HABs) and water quality. Our researchers have done large-scale experiments to better understand which environmental conditions favor HABs and toxins, and to find ways to mitigate them. This is ongoing.

🚣‍♀️ Now our researchers also take part in the Water Injection Dredging (WID) pilot project at Tuttle Creek Reservoir near Manhattan to test this method of reducing reservoir sedimentation.

🏊‍♀️ All along the way, we’ve made our data available publicly for the website of the Kansas Water Office (they've funded lots of our research).

We live here, and we’re in this for the long haul. (Btw, that's Christine Cornish, a member of our lake assessment team, in the photo.)

08/17/2026

We had a great time at the Rocks & Rockets fair in Colby, Kansas, this past Saturday. We brought our giant floor puzzle of Dodge City, a demonstration on mussels native to Kansas waters, a matching game about land use change, giveaways including our Kansas River Watershed maps and notecards, and more.

Researchers Debbie Baker, Dana Peterson and Jennifer Delisle met with visitors of all ages; more than 350 attended. Thanks to the organizers of this annual event!

08/14/2026

It takes four to five generations for butterflies to complete the migration from Mexico to the north and back again. How did scientists learn about this?

This interview from South Dakota Public Radio provides a great summary—including info on the place where Monarch Watch picked up the baton in research tracking of the butterflies.

Will Wright, author of the new book Borders of Biodiversity: How Gray Wolves, Monarch Butterflies, and Giant Sequoias Transformed Large Landscape Conservation, tells the story of how Fred and Norah Urquhart of the University of Toronto developed the first tagging/citizen system and spent more than 25 years researching and finally confirming the North American monarch migration to and from overwintering grounds in Michoacán, Mexico.

A great read.

Fifty years ago this August, scientists proved that some monarch butterflies traveled 3,000 miles in a complex migration ritual. Will Wright, Ph.D., explores the complexity of discovery and the challenges of protecting international migration corridors.

08/11/2026

Can a recover after a cedar invasion? You’ve seen these trees lining the roadsides and smothering former meadows and pastures.

🐦 Eastern redcedars (Juniperus virginiana) have long been used as windbreaks and serve as an important food source for wild birds (which spread the seeds).

🌑 But they can overtake open ground quickly, and redcedar invasion can be particularly damaging to native prairies because the tree’s wide base and thick foliage quickly shade out native grasses and wildflowers.

🌱 Falling needles also change soil pH, making it more alkaline. This binds soil nutrients such as phosphorus, depleting resources for other plants.

🌳 Once established, redcedar can remain a dominant species for decades before being gradually replaced by hardwoods such as oaks and hickories.

☀️ Once we clear a never-plowed prairie of redcedars, what steps should we take to help it recover—and what should we reasonably expect in terms of recovery?

We'll have some answers in the near future. Holly Andres, graduate student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, is in the beginning stages of research on these very questions. She’s been awarded a fellowship from the Grassland Heritage Foundation for her planned work. More to come.

Holly's advisor is Ben Sikes, a senior scientist here at the Kansas Biological Survey and a KU professor.

08/07/2026

Can maintain high yields with half the nitrogen fertilizer routinely used?

🌽 KU researchers are working on that goal with collaborators at Colorado State University. Agricultural changes happen in stages.

🌽 Maggie Wagner, Kansas Biological Survey associate scientist and KU associate professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, along with Joel Swift, postdoc in Maggie’s lab, and Kai Sarwinski, undergraduate researcher, have been in Fort Collins, Colo., working with their colleagues.

🌽 The researchers collected samples and data from hundreds of maize (corn) plants, with the goal of identifying the genetic codes of those that perform better than expected when grown without fertilizer.

🌽 They're especially interested in the roles of roots and root-associated microbes, which requires uprooting the plants.

🌽 The overall goal of the project is to breed maize hybrids that maintain high yield when receiving only 50 percent of the standard dose of nitrogen fertilizer. The project is funded by the Dept. of Energy.

08/04/2026

We had a wet spring in eastern Kansas this year; other areas were wildly variable. Are precipitation extremes changing?

💧 A new interactive map allows users to explore data and patterns in across the state. (Link in comments)

🌧️ It's based on rainfall records from 1895 through 2023 and looks specifically at annual and seasonal extremes.

💦 Data shows an increase in recurring wet extremes since about 1980.

You can search for and download historical data by:
👉 Groundwater Management District;
👉 county;
👉 reservoir catchment basin; and
👉 Regional Advisory Committee (Kansas Water Office = funded the research).

The Kansas Hydroclimate Extremes app was developed by David Weiss and Jude Kastens of our Kansas Applied Remote Sensing Program. It’s based on study led by Sam Zipper of the Kansas Geological Survey; collaborators were David, Jude and KU faculty members from the departments of geography and atmospheric science and geology.

07/31/2026

Your monthly check-in for July at the West Campus Pocket Prairie, a teaching space planted by our researchers and maintained with help from the KU grounds crew. There's a lot of noise from machinery here, but this small restoration and the creatures in it seem to be thriving. 🦋🌻🌼

07/29/2026

Who tracks the plant and animal species in Kansas? We do. Our Kansas Natural Heritage Inventory represents the state of Kansas in the NatureServe network.

(BTW: Who will be the first to share, in the comments, the Latin name of the moth in our photo?)

NatureServe is made up of natural heritage programs and data centers throughout the Western Hemisphere. The network was begun by The Nature Conservancy in 1974 and transferred to NatureServe in 1994.

🌿 Our research center’s Heritage program collects information on the state’s biological features, emphasizing those that are sensitive, threatened or endangered. The program maintains a core database of (plants, animals and ecological communities) for Kansas.

🦋 Our database contains more than 10,000 records. Staff members are constantly evaluating the lists of rare species, removing those that we learn are more common than previously thought, and adding whole groups, mostly insects, for which there is little information.

🦇 Data on these “elements of biodiversity” are gathered from a variety of sources and entered into NatureServe’s Biotics 5 interface for data entry and mapping.

🦡 Heritage program staff work closely with public and private decision-makers to provide early notification of potential resource conflicts, to guide land use decisions and to develop conservation priorities.

🦉 Have you visited the NatureServe website (link in comments)? You’ll find us there in the network directory.

07/24/2026

Did you know? Our researchers maintain a collection of living that improve both native ecosystems and crop production. It’s the largest collection of its kind in the world, an international resource for research, and it requires constant care. But funding for its maintenance is uncertain.

A challenge gift of $24,000 in support of the collection has been set up and will be released after 50 donors have made gifts.

Those gifts can be any size. Like $5.

More about the International Collection of Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (INVAM):
🍄‍🟫 Stories about it have been published in The Guardian, Smithsonian Magazine and Sierra Magazine.
🍄‍🟫 It’s been maintained for more than 40 years.
🍄‍🟫 It’s a key resource for scientists, educators and researchers who study plant health, agriculture, ecology and climate resilience.
🍄‍🟫 Researchers from around the world rely on the collection, request samples from it and draw upon INVAM’s species descriptions, cultivation methods and guidance to support their work.

If you’d like to provide support, any amount, please click the link in the comments below. And please share.