Expansion of Kellogg Biological Station Field Lab for Archive, Sample Preparation, and Outreach to Support Long Term Research Programs

The Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) Field Lab was built in 2006 to support long-term research in the fields, grasslands, and forests surrounding the field station. Since it was built, it has been used by the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site at KBS. The LTER aims to understand how land use intensity and resource inputs affect long-term outcomes for agriculture, farmers, and the environment.

This project has yielded key insights into the ecology of agricultural systems and advancements for our food systems and environment. Since its initial construction, other long-term projects have joined KBS, all of which rely on the Field Lab to carry out their science. These include the Long Term Agroecosystem Research site and the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center.

In support of long-term research, the Field Lab serves as a space for sample preparation, provides long-term storage for soil and plant archives, and is used for engagement activities with farmers and educators. The Field Lab’s ability to transform science understanding is unique, and the value of ongoing sample processing and archiving have increased over time, particularly for hot-button ecological and agricultural issues such as carbon sequestration and soil health.

The Field Lab, now with 35-years of stored materials, has reached its archival capacity. Expansion is essential for KBS LTER and other long term research at KBS to maintain their core mission and to receive the support they demand.

The major field treatments studied in the long-term research programs at the Kellogg Biological Station include crop monocultures in corn-soy-wheat rotation managed at different intensities, candidate bioenergy crops, and diverse conservation lands. The long-term efforts at KBS focus on soil properties, greenhouse gas emissions, plant diversity, and interactions between species.

The samples generated and archived through these studies are critical to the mission of the long-term research programs, and the sample archive is regularly used by researchers the Kellogg Biological Station and other universities. The renovation project will more than double available work areas to match the demand placed upon the lab by local and visiting researchers, to significantly expand plant, soil, and water archives, and to establish a new central archive location for genomic samples.

The renovated project will allow for continued archiving of research samples, processing of materials coming in from several long-term projects, and enhanced accessibility for field locations. The updated Field Lab will contain a classroom to host educator groups, as well as an outdoor-accessible all-gender restroom and a personal health room built to provide a safe welcoming location. Expansion of a covered outdoor patio will serve the need for outdoor education and collaboration.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.