About This Role The Water Quality Laboratory Director is responsible for overseeing the operations, research activities, and strategic direction of the water quality laboratory. This role involves man...

The conversion of grasslands to shrublands, known as woody encroachment, has increased vegetation water use, particularly in mesic systems. However, declines in soil moisture due to woody encroachment have not been extensively explored. This study examines the impacts of woody encroachment on the depth and degree of soil drying in a mesic tallgrass prairie in Kansas, USA. We compared soil drying beneath roughleaf dogwood (Cornus drummondii) and non-encroached tallgrass prairie using half-hourly measurements of soil moisture from 2021 to 2024 (event scale), electrical resistivity in June and October of 2022 (seasonal scale), and neutron probe measurements collected monthly between 1984 and 2021(decadal scale). Across all time scales, we found increased soil drying beneath shrubs compared to grasses, particularly in deeper layers. Soil moisture declined up to 20% more at 60 cm depth beneath shrubs compared to grasses after individual storm events, whereas declines at 15 cm were similar beneath shrubs and grasses. Electrical resistivity imaging suggested double the depth and degree of seasonal soil drying beneath shrubs compared to grasses. Over nearly four decades, woody-encroached catchments experienced a greater degree of soil drying than grass-dominated catchments, especially at depths below 1 m. The intensification of soil drying, combined with larger storms in mesic grasslands, is likely to have consequences for deep carbon storage and export and for groundwater recharge in woody-encroached grasslands.

Warming Arctic permafrost is unlocking toxic metals, turning Alaska’s once-clear rivers into orange, acid-laced streams. The shift, eerily similar to mine pollution but entirely natural, threatens fis...

The president’s latest criticism of museums is a thinly veiled attempt to erase Black history.

Trees and shrubs are invading prairies, hurting the wildlife and making it harder to ranch. Yet it's hard to know the full extent of the problem, so Kansas State University found a way to map it out o...

Reduction potentials of redox couples are fundamental for understanding subsurface geochemistry and guiding water resource exploration and management. Reduction potentials are routinely calculated wi...

This study presents a metabolic model to quantify energy conservation in sulphate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation. Results reveal that anaerobic methanotrophic archaea and sulphate-reducing bac...

A new study finds that freshwater resources are rapidly disappearing, creating arid “mega” regions and causing sea levels to rise.

Up From Dust from KCUR 89.3 on NPR One | 24:20