I am
a true believer that all things happen for a reason; synchronicity.
I was
very fortunate to have an awesome opportunity to have a private tour of the
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve with Brian Obermeyer from The Nature
Conservancy and Kristen Hase from the National Park Service. Brian’s research
background involved freshwater mussels. He stated that North America is a
“hotspot” of diversity for freshwater mussels, due in part by isolated
environments that promoted their diversity. This theory is supported by
phylogenetic analysis, and I think it will be of interest if I can do something
similar using corals.
Tallgrass
Prairie National Preserve is located in one of the least populated counties in
Kansas, but it seems that this place shows the most abundant information to
geochemists. This preserve is about 11,000 acres in size. Some of my friends
tell me that it is too bad that Kansas is so far from the ocean, but indeed
this area used to be the ocean 200-300 million years ago. It is quite astonishing
to think that there is now an enormous prairie thriving over the Permian sea floor.
During the tour, we saw a prairie chicken flying super fast. Wild chickens
(grouse) flying gracefully over a paleo-ocean!
Until
I came to Kansas, I was quite ignorant about the tallgrass prairie ecosystem,
which has a unique mixture of environmental management practices and stunning paleo
scenic views. I learned that the prairie is maintained by deliberate controlled
fires when all the environmental factors such as wind conditions and humidity are
reasonable (generally once every three years in the spring). Without these
fires the region would turn into a woodland since it has enough precipitation
for it (about 32 inches/year).
We
may think that deliberate fire can hurt the ecosystem, but it is actually the
opposite. Some non-native plant species were brought to this area for erosion
control, but fire prevents some of these invasive species from growing. Also, bison
(the preserve has about 100 animals) and cattle prefer to
graze grass that has recently been burned. It is also quite interesting to see
the calcium carbonate outcrops made from invertebrates in the same area. Brian showed
me some limestone rocks filled with fossil shells. Also Kristen kindly provided
a technical report that explain 12 geologic formations at the preserve, which I
need to study. It looks like I found a hotspot for our lab’s interest too.
Thank
you again Brian and Kristen for all the kindness and showing me around. I love and
enjoy being connected through science and I hope I can make lots of significant
positive impacts and exciting discoveries in the world. I recon these are the ultimate
goals of being a scientist.
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| Kristen and Byson |
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| Lots of shell fossils! |
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| Kristen and Brian |
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| We had prairie burgers |
