KBS LTER

KBS grad student earn awards for national energy research for harnessing soil microbes

Elizabeth Schultheis — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 15:23:50 +0000

Brandon Kristy, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Integrative Biology and a member of the Evans Lab at the Kellogg Biological Station, will go to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, or LLNL, to study the “unseen” partners of sustainable bioenergy.Kristy’s specialty is plant science for sustainable bioenergy, where he investigates how soil microbiomes can help crops like switchgrass thrive…

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Thirty years of data reveal major declines in lady beetles and their pest-fighting power in Midwestern farmland

Elizabeth Schultheis — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 15:53:38 +0000

Long-term monitoring at the Kellogg Biological Station Long Term Ecological Research site (KBS LTER) shows both native and introduced predators are declining, potentially weakening a key natural defense against crop pests. A new study, led by researchers at Kent State University and Michigan State University, finds that populations of lady beetles, important natural predators of

MiSTRIPS program sparks new research and stronger community partnerships

Heather Cayton — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Researchers at the KBS LTER have leveraged the MiSTRIPS partnership network to launch new grant-funded projects and field studies that may not have been possible without the program. The MiSTRIPS Program at the KBS LTER has become a springboard for new research, helping scientists secure grants and expand studies in sustainable agriculture. Its impact now reaches well beyond…

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Graduate research from the KBS LTER highlights the role of drought in altering plant-environment interactions

Heather Cayton — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 17:47:07 +0000

Through an experiment that simulates future climate change conditions within the KBS LTER, researchers found that drought strongly affects the chemical compounds released by goldenrod, suggesting that climate change could significantly influence how ecosystems function. Though you might not be able to see it with the naked eye, plants are constantly interacting with their environment.

Graduate research from the KBS LTER reveals how nematodes contribute to soil food web stability in droughts

Heather Cayton — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 19:25:33 +0000

Using the Rainfall Exclusion Experiment (REX) within the KBS LTER, researchers found that nematode communities are more stable in early successional landscapes than agricultural ones during drought. This study highlights the importance of plant diversity for resilient soil ecosystems under environmental change. As farmers adopt new strategies to cope with increasingly extreme weather events, such

Sprunger receives TAP Award, recognized as changemaker in global food security

Elizabeth Schultheis — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 16:25:05 +0000

W.K. Kellogg Biological Station faculty member and part of the KBS LTER Executive Committee, Christine Sprunger, is one of 39 visionaries named to the 2025 Top Agri-food Pioneers, or TAP, list by the World Food Prize Foundation. Now in its second year, the TAP list honors individuals driving bold and innovative solutions to the most pressing challenges in global food security. This year’…

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Nature-based climate solutions are a powerful tool to reverse the warming caused by deforestation

Elizabeth Schultheis — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 16:14:07 +0000

Deforestation has intensified global warming, but a new study out in Nature Communications Earth and Environment finds restoring forests and adopting sustainable land-use practices can reverse the damage while benefiting both people and nature. A new study published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment reveals that when land managers implement nature-based climate solutions, they can significantly counteract the climate-warming

New research leverages long-term treatments in novel ways to study plant biotic interactions

Heather Cayton — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 14:35:05 +0000

Researchers in Kadeem Gilbert’s lab are using experimental treatments within the KBS LTER to look at how leaves regulate their external pH conditions, which may impact how they interact with insect herbivores and microbes. For almost 40 years, researchers at the KBS LTER have studied interactions among plants, microbes, insects, management, and the environment to learn how agriculture…

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Graduate research from the KBS LTER reveals the value of soil microbe diversity for sustainable agriculture

Heather Cayton — Tue, 27 May 2025 13:41:29 +0000

Researchers leveraged the unique land management gradient available at the LTER to better understand how microbe diversity impacts nitrogen fixation rates in the soil. They looked at an understudied group of soil microbes, diazotrophs, which are responsible for a key source of nitrogen in agricultural soils. Increasing aboveground biodiversity is known to promote beneficial ecosystem

Phil Robertson elected to National Academy of Sciences for work in sustainable agriculture

Elizabeth Schultheis — Tue, 13 May 2025 13:31:08 +0000

Dr. Phil Robertson, Director of the KBS LTER from 1988 to 2017, and Michigan State University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors for a scientist in the U.S. Original article through MSU here. Phil Robertson, Ph. D., a University Distinguished Professor at…

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