The ecology of Kansas is largely determined by the
water available. The great American hardwood forest that covered the
eastern half of the country reached only the very eastern part of Kansas.
There is a flux between woodland and prairie in this area.
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| Courtesy of 'Hiking Guide to Kansas'; Hauber, C. |
Cedars invading prairie by Tom Geyer |
The prairie is an ecosystem dominated by grass. In a very basic sense, prairies exist in areas that get enough rain to prevent a desert landscape, but not enough rain to support healthy forests. Other factors such as temperature, fire, grazing, soil, and drainage combine to determine which types of organisms can survive. At first glance there seems to be a great monotony to prairies, but closer observation reveals a complex diversity. There are more than 40 different grasses and a wide variety of forbs (broadleaf flowering plants).
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| Photo courtesy John Charlton KGS |
Photo courtesy Konza LTER website |
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| Photo courtesy Konza LTER website |
Photo courtesy Konza LTER
website |
Moving west, the state progressively dries out, and
the tallgrass prairie as seen above changes its appearance to a more drought-resistant
shortgrass prairie as seen below.
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| Western Smokys Shortgrass; Photo
by Tom Geyer |
Semi-arid prairie above Scott Lake |
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| Western Kansas Desert-like Conditions Photo by Tom
Geyer |
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| Kansas Phisiographic Map courtesy of KGS |
Because of the geology and topography of the Flint
Hills, farming has never been successful here. The people who settled
this region recognized that they could not plow this land, and used the
natural resources of the area to run cattle. This is in keeping with
a landscape that supported huge herds of bison. As a result, the largest
stands of tallgrass prairie remaining are in the physiographic region of
the Flint Hills Uplands, mostly on private land. The shortgrass prairie
further west also lies largely on private land, but there are some tracts
set aside, such as the Smokey Valley Ranch owned by the Nature Conservancy.
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| Smoky Valley Ranch Photo Courtesy of The Nature
Conservancy |
The riparian ecosystems associated with streams can
provide a contrast to the surrounding prairie. Note the line of trees
where the stream passes through the shortgrass prairie.
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Kings Creek in Konza Prairie 
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| Photo by KGS |
Photo Courtesy of http://www.ksu.edu/konza/ |
When examined carefully, the prairie ecosystem is revealed to be a very complex series of interactions. Hundreds of species interact to support a system that can survive extreme conditions--from drought, heat, and fire, to violent rain, hail, and bitterly cold blizzards.
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| Photos Courtesy of |
Konza LTER website |
Diversity
The diversity of the prairie is required to insure overall stability in the face of these wildly fluctuating conditions. In heat and drought some species die back or go dormant, while other species thrive. Some species are adapted to take advantage of a fresh burn, and others do better in tracts that remain unburned. Insect infestations may affect some species of plant and leave others untouched. Soils in areas that can collect and hold moisture may support some woody species, while grasses and forbs dominate the other areas. The prairie is a perfect example of how biodiversity leads to a system that resists biological disaster. The prairie evolved to endure almost anything nature could throw at it, except man and his plow.
Above and Below Ground
As seen above, the surface conditions of the prairie can run towards the extreme. One of the key strategies to prairie survival is to keep the majority of the biomass underground. The beautiful grasses and flowers that are so obvious are only the visible photosynthesizing parts of the plants. These producing parts support great masses of roots and horizontal stems called 'rhizomes'. These roots and rhizomes lie safely below the surface, protected from drying, fire, grazing, freezing, and other harsh surface conditions. It is estimated that as much as 80% of prairie plant biomass lies below the surface.
Fires and Grazers
Tallgrass prairie can generate great amounts of biomass each year.
The above ground portions die back each winter, leaving a mat of dead biomass
on the ground. The new grass grows up through this dead material in
the spring and begins making new biomass before the old can be decomposed
completely. As the years progress, a thick thatch of dead material
can build up. This makes it harder for the new shoots to reach the sunlight.
The ground is insulated from the sun, causing it to stay cooler later into
the spring. These factors create a delay in the regeneration of the
prairie each spring, resulting in a weakened prairie, and can allow some
woody species to invade the prairie ecosystem. If woody species take
hold, they can shade out the prairie plants and take over the environment.
There has always been a flux between prairie and woodlands in the eastern
(wetter) portions of the Great Plains. Fires promote the prairie ecosystem
by destroying many of the woody species and releasing huge amounts of
nutrients that were locked up in the undecayed biomass. The new growth
is then much more accessible to the grazers, who no longer have to force
their way through a thatch of dead material to get to the nutritious shoots.
The grazers themselves can churn up the soil and create open spaces for the
next generation of seeds to take root. The grazing stimulates plant
growth so there is a more rapid nutrient exchange. After exchanging
the energy and nutrients from the plants, the grazers will, of course, deposit
some of these useful nutrients back to the prairie 
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| Photos courtesy of |
Konza LTER website |
Monoculture
The fertility of the soils that were once covered by prairie has been a source of great national wealth and security. Most of the important food staples are grasses, so these crops do well in this environment. It is economically advantageous to grow vast tracts of these valuable cash crops. This intensive agriculture is completely domestic and could not sustain itself without the intense intervention of man. The nutrient cycling and complex interactions that create the self-sustaining prairie are lost in a monoculture. The vast area of Kansas producing wheat is of undeniable importance, but this ony highlights the value of the remaining prairie ecosystem.
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| Photos courtesy Kansas Wheat Commission |
http://www.kswheat.com/ |
Preservation
Over 99% of the American tallgrass prairie has been lost or altered. This makes the remaining unaltered prairie an irreplaceable resource. The research done at Konza Prairie Biological Station is very important in helping us understand how this endangered ecosystem works. There are other privately owned stands of tallgrass prairie that have been used to grow cattle within the constraints of the prairie ecosystem. The essential nature of the prairie has been maintained even after generations of cattle grazing. The National Park Service and the National Park Trust have been working to forge a relationship with the local landowners to create a National Park that showcases this ecosystem. It is a new kind of park where the land is not necessarily federally owned. New strategies are evolving to insure that this resource is available to all Americans. The result is the Tallgrass Prairie National Reserve . There is also a tract of shortgrass prairie preserved by The Nature Conservancy called Smoky Valley Ranch.
Over 99% of the American tallgrass prairie has been lost or altered. This makes the remaining unaltered prairie an irreplaceable resource. The research done at Konza Prairie Biological Station is very important in helping us understand how this endangered ecosystem works. There are other privately owned stands of tallgrass prairie that have been used to grow cattle within the constraints of the prairie ecosystem. The essential nature of the prairie has been maintained even after generations of cattle grazing. The National Park Service and the National Park Trust have been working to forge a relationship with the local landowners to create a National Park that showcases this ecosystem. It is a new kind of park where the land is not necessarily federally owned. New strategies are evolving to insure that this resource is available to all Americans. The result is the Tallgrass Prairie National Reserve . There is also a tract of shortgrass prairie preserved by The Nature Conservancy called Smoky Valley Ranch.
