THE TALLGRASS PRAIRIE OF THE FLINT HILLS OF KANSAS

9804328哈特尼特堪萨斯州立大学正在制作一部关于堪萨斯州弗林特山的塔尔格拉斯草原的两个小时的电视纪录片，这是曾经是北美最大的生物群的最后遗迹。这个地区之所以幸存下来，只是因为它的岩石土壤与农民的犁太匹配了。新的科学研究现在开始确定草原对人类的价值：它们在全球气候学中的有益作用，以及它们如何为研究土壤、物种相互作用、生物多样性和生态过程提供实验室。这项研究的相当大一部分是在康扎草原研究自然区进行了20多年，这是国家科学基金会最长的连续长期生态研究地点。在Konza汇编的科学数据将构成电影内容的主干，因为它审查：Tallgras草原的地质和人类历史，特别是野牛的迁移和欧洲牛和行作物种植的引入；草原形成的弗林特山地区的当代文化和经济；各种牧场管理方法的生态影响，以及关于如何在为子孙后代保留草原的同时尽可能多地收集草原价值的辩论的各种科学和社会方面。该项目的PI将由生物学教授兼Konza草原研究自然区主任David Hartnett担任。这部电影将由艾米·拉拉比和约翰·奥特曼联合制作，前者是独立电影制作人，曾与BBC联合制作过几部获奖纪录片；后者曾为PBS、A&A；E、Bravo和探索频道制作过电影。咨询委员会的19名成员将由Hartnett博士和Konza Prairie Research自然区LTER项目主任、堪萨斯州立大学生物学教授Alan Knapp和堪萨斯州立大学生物学副教授、土壤生态和草原养分动态领域全国公认的领导者John Blair领导。

9804328 Hartnett Kansas State University is producing a two-hour television documentary on the Tallgrass Prairie of the Flint Hills of Kansas, the last remnant of what was once the largest biome in North America. This area has survived only because its rocky soil was too much of a match for the farmer's plow. New scientific research is now beginning to ascertain just how valuable grasslands are to humankind: their salutary role in global climatology and how they provide laboratories for study of soils, species interactions, biodiversity, and ecological processes. A significant amount of this research as been conducted for more than twenty years at the Konza Prairie Research Natural Area, the longest continuous Long-Term Ecological Research site of the National Science Foundation. The scientific data that have been compiled at Konza will form the backbone of the film's content as it examines: the geological and human history of the Tallgrass Prairie, especially the displacement of the bison and the introduction of European cattle and row crop farming; the contemporary culture and economy of the Flint Hills regions which the prairie has formed; and the ecological impact of various approaches to range management, as well as various scientific and social aspects of the debate over how to glean as much value as possible from the grasslands while preserving them for future generations. The PI for the project will be David Hartnett, Professor of Biology and Director of Konza Prairie Research Natural Area. The film will be co-produced by Aimee Larrabee, an independent filmmaker who has co-produced several award-winning documentaries with the BBC, and John Altman, an independent filmmaker who has produced for PBS, A&E, Bravo, and the Discovery Channel. The 19 member advisory committee will be lead by Dr. Hartnett and by Alan Knapp, Project Director of the Konza Prairie Research Natural Area LTER program and Professor Biology at Kansas State University, and John Blair, Associate Professor of Biology at Kansas State University and nationally recognized leader in the field of soil ecology and grassland nutrient dynamics.