Construction of a Laboratory for Belowground Studies at Konza Prairie

康扎草原是一个3487公顷的高草草原实验室，位于堪萨斯州立大学以南约10公里处。这是一个人与生物圈保护区，一个生态实验保护区和一个长期生态研究设施。康扎沙漠还被选为美国宇航局赞助的国际卫星陆地表面气候学项目的第一个实地实验地点。在草原上，目前和待进行的研究中，越来越多的部分集中在根系、土壤微生物和化学、地下植物部分的生长、人口统计学和生活史以及地下种子和根茎池动力学方面。目前，土壤和植被样本必须在堪萨斯州立大学运输和处理，因为大草原没有足够的现场实验室设施。该项目将提供资金改造康扎草原的一栋建筑，以容纳一个现代化和急需的地下研究实验室。这一增加将极大地促进地下过程的研究，将为访问科学家提供现场实验室设施，将扩大现场取样和处理大量土壤、土壤动物和地下植物部分的能力。并允许在气候条件不允许野外取样和处理草原土壤的时期对这些样品进行取样和处理。

Konza Prairie is a 3487 hectare tallgrass prairie laboratory located about 10 km south of Kansas State University. This site is a Man and the Biosphere preserve, an Ecological Experimental Reserve and a Long-Term Ecological Research facility. Konza rairie was also selected as the site of the first field experiment for the NASA-sponsored International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project. A large and increasing portion of current and pending research at the Prairie is focused on roots, on soil microbes and chemistry, on the growth, demography and life histories of underground plant parts, and on buried seed and rhizome pool dynamics. Samples of soils and vegetation presently must be transported and processed at Kansas State University because adequate on-site laboratory facilities are not available at the Prairie. This project will provide funds to remodel a building at Konza Prairie to house a modern and much-needed belowground studies laboratory. This addition will greatly facilitate research on belowground processes, will provide on-site laboratory facilities for visiting scientists, will expand the site's ability to sample and process large quantities of soil, soil fauna and underground plant parts, and will allow the sampling and processing of prairie soil during periods when climatic conditions otherwise would prohibit field-processing of such samples.