The Kellogg Biological Station Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) Program studies the ecology of intensive field crop ecosystems and its environmental consequences as part of a National Network of LTER Sites established by the National Science Foundation in 1980. Frequently asked questions include:

• Why study the ecology of field crop agriculture?
• How do LTER scientists study field crop ecology?
• What are ecosystem services and why should they be studied?
• Why use an ecosystem approach to study agriculture?
• Why do we need long-term experiments to study agricultural landscapes?
• Who benefits from this research?
• How can I learn more about the KBS LTER?

Why study the ecology of field crop agriculture?

Modern cropping systems are extremely productive, but high productivity comes with economic and environmental costs. The economic cost of purchased inputs such as fuel, fertilizers, and pesticides is often the single greatest farm expense. The environmental cost of nitrogen, phosphorus, and pesticide losses to groundwater, surface waters, and the atmosphere are substantial.

One strategy for reducing these costs is to adjust crop management to take better advantage of organisms in the system that, if properly managed, can help to provide more of the nutrients and pest protection required for high crop yields. But to do this effectively, while minimizing environmental damage, requires a basic understanding of these systems. Research at the KBS LTER is devoted to learning how microbes, insects, plants, and other organisms interact with each other and their environment in important U.S. row crops.

How do LTER scientists study field crop ecology?

Our experimental systems range from field plots to landscapes. We study the ecology of major field crop ecosystems - annual crops such as corn, soybean, and wheat, perennial crops such as alfalfa, and biofuel crops such as switchgrass and poplars. We also study the natural, unmanaged ecosystems that occur in agricultural landscapes, such as forests and old fields. Within each system we seek to answer questions such as:

• How do microbes and other soil organisms make nutrients available to plants?
• How are pest populations kept in check?
• How does plant biodiversity contribute to plant productivity?
• What regulates the loss of nitrogen and other pollutants from these ecosystems?

LTER research at KBS is designed to answer the broader question of how agronomic management can better utilize biological resources in cropping systems to control pests, provide nitrogen, and build soil fertility: In short, how to make agriculture more profitable and provide environmental benefits.

What are ecosystem services and why should they be studied?

Ecosystem services are the benefits we humans receive from ecosystems. Food and fiber, and increasing fuel, are important services provided to humans by cropping systems, but other services can also be important:

• Clean air and water
• Carbon sequestration and climate regulation
• Biodiversity
• Pest suppression
• Wildlife habitat
• Open spaces and recreational opportunities

An important goal of KBS research is to better understand the services provided by agricultural landscapes, which include unmanaged areas such as wetlands, grasslands, and woodlots as well as field crops. By better understanding the services that landscapes provide and their value to society, it will become more practical to design incentives for their provision, and thereby improve environmental stewardship and move agriculture to a more sustainable future.

Why use an ecosystem approach to study agriculture?

Cropping systems are complex communities of plants, insects, microbes, and other organisms that interact to create a marketable harvest. Most management strategies seek to maximize yields by adding resources and removing pests, often very successfully but also with hidden costs: a solution for one problem can easily create a different problem elsewhere in a system this complex.

A way to avoid hidden costs is to understand how different parts of the system interact. So scientists at KBS are measuring not only the factors directly involved in crop productivity—nutrients, pests, and water—but also other key parts of these intensively managed ecosystems. Changes in microbial and plant diversity, hydrologic flows, insect predator populations, greenhouse gas emissions, people's attitudes and behaviors, and soil organic matter pools are a few of the measures that allow an ecosystem approach to row-crop management.

Why do we need long-term experiments to study agricultural landscapes?

Short-term experiments are valuable for identifying many of the organisms and processes important for cropping system success, but to understand how all the pieces fit together requires a long-term perspective. In agricultural systems long-term research is important because:

• Droughts vary in intensity, happen only every few years, and can dramatically affect crop productivity and nutrient loss, as can unusually wet years.
• Pest and pathogen outbreaks can be infrequent but sudden in their effects.
• Some ecosystem properties, such as soil microbial communities and soil organic matter, change very slowly—decades may be needed to document change.

Long-term measurements of important properties of the ecosystem give KBS researchers the capacity to detect subtle long-term changes and provide a valuable backdrop against which to ask short-term questions.

Who benefits from this research?

Results from our research are important for stakeholders as diverse as farmers, K-12 students and teachers, policy makers, and citizens, and there are strong education and outreach components to our work. For more information see the LTER Outreach Page on this site as well as the KBS LTER Program Website.

How can I learn more about the KBS LTER?

The KBS LTER Program Website has detailed information on the experiments, sampling procedures, maps and imagery, access to the data catalog and publications, and more. For more information, contact an LTER Staff Member.

See the LTER Outreach Page for information on upcoming events. The LTER research site is available for guided tours for classes, professional groups, and other wishing to know more about LTER research and how it is conducted. Tours generally take about an hour and are tailored to the group's interests. There is no self-guided trail. For tours please contact LTER Education and Outreach Coordinator Julie Doll at 269-671-2266 or jedoll@msu.edu.

See the National LTER Website for more information about the LTER network in general and other LTER sites.