Kansas Bio Survey & Center for Ecological Research

05/29/2026

Sharon has multiple studies going with different collaborators. A number of these studies come back to land use change and associated ecosystem shifts, particularly in the deep soil. Here are some of the questions she’s working on:
— the ways that pools of deep soil carbon are changing as a result of woody encroachment into grasslands;
— how soil structure dictates the way available moisture flows through the soil to recharge soil water and eventually the aquifer;
— the way human land use choices are changing the flow of water as soil structure changes, and how water and acids produced by roots and microbes result in the flow of these solutions into streams and groundwater.

Sharon Billings, University Distinguished Professor of Ecology & Ev...

05/27/2026

Right here in Kansas, we’ve seen animal species whose previous ranges ended south of here (nine-banded armadillos, for example). It’s widely documented that many mobile species are shifting poleward or upward in elevation as the climate shifts.

In one of our spring ecology seminars, Dan Reuman, a senior scientist here and a KU professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, gave a research talk on how inter-annual climatic variability—fluctuations in temperature, precipitation and other weather conditions—may be a key factor affecting the geographic ranges of species.

For example, polar bears depend on spring sea ice to hunt seals. An area where spring temperature is −10 °C every year and one where temperatures alternate between years of −25 °C and years of 5 °C have the same mean temperature, but these areas may have very different implications for polar bear population persistence.

In this talk, Dan shows plenty of maps and examples in presenting a modeling approach that predicts how inter-annual climatic variability constrains species ranges. Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNOOSPjc9wKOJpELzF-dVLmLjNBsIAUOH

05/22/2026

It’s cool in eastern Kansas today, but hot weather is coming—the season for harmful algal blooms (HABS), a significant health hazard, in our surface waters. Our scientists are attempting to answer the question: Can we predict a bloom?

With that in mind, they study how HABs have changed over time. They’ve taken deep sediment cores from all 24 federal lakes in the state and analyzed those samples for indicators of HABs. This graph shows the results of core analysis from Milford (Geary and Clay counties), the state’s largest reservoir, built in 1964. The graph shows that in about 2000, blooms began to become larger and more frequent.

In addition to their sediment coring work, the HABs team is tracking water quality data in real time in two reservoirs, Clinton and Tuttle. When conditions are favorable for HABs, our team advises the municipalities to prepare to treat the water for a bloom, which saves money and time.

05/19/2026

How do we conserve our rainwater? The green dots on this map of western Kansas show more than 27,000 playas—small, rainwater-fed basins—overlaid on the High Plains aquifer and the state groundwater management districts. More than 80 percent of these are in cropland. Playas have highly variable productivity depending on each year’s weather, and they’re hard to farm around.

Our study of playas aims to determine whether they are economic to farm and whether the water in them might filter down to the aquifer. Scientists in our Kansas Applied Remote Sensing Program (KARS) are mapping playas and working to understand the hydroperiod—when the playas are full of water and how long—to assess the impact of the playas on aquifer recharge.

Have you noticed these small wetlands in cropland in your area?

05/15/2026

We're proud of Annalise—this award provides support as she writes her dissertation, which examines the way land use change and climate change influence what water carries through soils; how those flows reshape deep soil structure; and ultimately how ecosystem productivity and carbon storage are affected.

Annalise's adviser is Sharon Billings, senior scientist here and University Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Annalise Guthrie, a University of Kansas doctoral candidate in ecology & evolutionary biology, has been named a recipient of the Elouise Cobell Dissertation Writing-Year Fellowship. The award provides $30,000 in support over 12 months to American Indian and Alaska Native scholars who are completing....

05/13/2026

It’s finals week: Did you know? In the past year, our researchers have directly mentored more than 100 students—chairing 32 master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation committees and guiding 77 undergrads and postbaccalaureate students who work in our labs.

Students are involved in nearly all of our grant-funded projects, and assisting them in finding their own paths forward is core to our mission. We do that by:
—providing opportunities for them to assist with faculty and staff research in our labs or at the KU Field Station;
—assisting them in obtaining funding for their own research, developing posters and presentations for conferences, and publishing in peer-reviewed journals;
—providing paid employment in our offices and at the KU Field Station.

Here are a few of them at work.

05/08/2026

Abu, a graduate research assistant at our Kansas Applied Remote Sensing (KARS) Program, studies extreme weather events such as flooding. He’s originally from the Naogaon district in the North Bengal region of Bangladesh. In this short video, he talks about what drives his research.

He’s working on the NSF EPSCoR ARISE project, five-year initiative involving multiple partner universities, colleges, and communities across Kansas that focuses on infrastructure resilience to natural disasters. His mentor is Jude Kastens, a research professor at KARS. The KARS team develops extreme weather event datasets and shares this information with the public through web applications and StoryMaps, in addition to creating tools to assist emergency managers.

Abu, who is in the master's program in geography and atmospheric science, works within the intersection of geoinformatics, remote sensing and spatial data computation. He connected with KARS through his academic supervisor, Xingong Li, KU professor of geo & atmo and an affiliate researcher with KARS.

2 likes. "Video Spotlight on Abu Sabiq Mahdi"

05/06/2026

We're happy to provide research assistance to these students, all mentored by scientists here, all doing research on problems that matter in Kansas: soils, native plants, restoration post-redcedar encroachment. Photo: Martel Ellis, doctoral student, collects seed from eastern gamagrass, a native plant, at his research site at the KU Field Station. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

The Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research at KU has awarded $4,000 in funding this spring for student research to be conducted in the coming academic year. Four students will receive assistance through the research center’s 2026 Student Research Awards.

05/04/2026

We're proud of Abby, who shares in this video about her research into pathogens at a local reservoir—an example of an important public health question in our state. Abby is a sophomore (!) mentored by Ben Sikes, KU professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a senior scientist here at the Kansas Biological Survey.

04/30/2026

How to keep our reservoirs clear and functional into the future? In this new video about the Water Injection Dredging (WID) project at Tuttle Creek lake, Ted Harris of the Kansas Biological Survey and Tony Layzell of the Kansas Geological Survey talk about how our state is taking the lead—through a collaborative effort—in testing this method of dealing with sediment buildup. Tuttle provides drinking water and flood control for more than 40 percent of Kansans.

Sustaining drinking water and flood control in northeast Kansas

04/22/2026

Dana Peterson, researcher with our Kansas Applied Remote Sensing Program, has worked for years to help the public learn about the benefits of Earth Observation (EO)—the process of gathering information about the Earth’s surface, waters and atmosphere via ground-based, airborne and satellite remote sensing platforms. (That’s Dana at center in this photo from the 2025 Kansas State Fair, with fairgoers working the floor puzzle she brought.) She’s one of the best at talking in plain terms about EO—what it is and what it does. Some of the ways our scientists work with it to help Kansas include:

• providing GIS and remote sensing support for the Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks;
• providing information on invasive species;
• developing data and tools for land managers to monitor crop and rangeland health;
• mapping playas wetlands (seasonal rainwater basins) in western Kansas and evaluating their potential to benefit aquifer recharge and wildlife;
• generating real-time flood mapping models for emergency response.

This Friday Dana will talk about her work as the coordinator for KansasView, the state arm of the AmericaView national consortium that promotes Earth Observation. She’ll highlight recent activities including the Sentinel GreenReport Plus, a publicly available Google Earth Engine App that can be used for agricultural monitoring, land cover change detection, and disaster assessment and recovery. She’ll also discuss a new collaboration with three other AmericaView state coordinators: to create education-ready toolkits that can be used in classrooms, community events, workshops and professional conferences. Her talk is part of our Friday Ecology Seminars, April 24, 12:15 p.m., hybrid. Info: https://biosurvey.ku.edu/friday-ecology-seminars