Konza Tallgrass Prairie Haikuby poet, photographer, and neuroscientist Judith Lauteroffers an introduction to some of the wonders of the Konza Tallgrass Prairie Preserve located south of Manhattan, Kansas. Part of the beautiful Flint Hills region of northeast Kansas, Konza is a treasure trove of hills and valleys shaped by creeks that contribute to the watershed of the Kaw (Kansas) River. Through photos and poems, the author guides us to a greater appreciation of this area, beginning on the banks of the Kaw, and then following a tributary creek to a trail that wanders through a gallery forest, up a hill bright with prairie wildflowers, and finally to a lookout where we find more flowers, a monarch butterfly on its migration, and a breathtaking Flint Hills sunset. Endnotes provide information about Konza prairie, including facts about the plants and animals shown in the photos.

Most environmental studies are based upon data collected at fine spatial scales plots, sediments, cores, etc.. Furthermore, temporal scales of these studies have been relatively short days, weeks, months and few studies have exceeded three years duration the typical funding cycle.; Despite this history, environmental scientists are now being called upon to extrapolate findings from "plot-level" studies to broader spatial scales and from short-term studies to longer temporal scales, up to decades for questions related to long-term processes such as global warming and the rise in sea level.; The complex questions being addressed internationally require that scientists take advantage of new technologies including remote sensing, geographic information systems GIS, and powerful climatic and environmental simulation models. As more environmental scientists begin to work at these broader spatial and temporal scales, and to utilize many of the newer technologies, they are recognising a whole new class of problems.; This book aims to address the most pertinent issues, and includes a comprehensive review of selected topics, case studies, and theoretical discussions, divided into seven sections each preceded by a brief introduction.

The engineering of plants has a long history on this continent. Fields, forests, orchards, and prairies are the result of repeated campaigns by amateurs, tradesmen, and scientists to introduce desirable plants, both American and foreign, while preventing growth of alien riff-raff. These horticulturists coaxed plants along in new environments and, through grafting and hybridizing, created new varieties. Over the last 250 years, their activities transformed the American landscape. "Horticulture" may bring to mind white-glove garden clubs and genteel lectures about growing better roses. But Philip J. Pauly wants us to think of horticulturalists as pioneer "biotechnologists," hacking their plants to create a landscape that reflects their ambitions and ideals. Those standards have shaped the look of suburban neighborhoods, city parks, and the "native" produce available in our supermarkets. In telling the histories of Concord grapes and Japanese cherry trees, the problem of the prairie and the war on the Medfly, Pauly hopes to provide a new understanding of not only how horticulture shaped the vegetation around us, but how it influenced our experiences of the native, the naturalized, and the alien--and how better to manage the landscapes around us.

Examines the physical features, processes, and many different species of plants and animals that make up the ecosystem of the American tallgrass prairie.