A 1995 NSF supplement to the Konza Prairie LTER funded research by a group of high school students and their teacher to collect and analyze water samples from streams, ponds and groundwater. The goal was to characterize spatial patterns of water quality; previous research has established temporal patterns at select sites on Konza.
The student group (Eun Sun, Heather Smith, Pat Weather and Noah Hartford) was assembled by Dru Clark, a science teacher at Manhattan High School. These students previously had been involved in Ms. Clark's EPA-funded project to monitor a nearby stream, and thus had basic training in water sampling and analysis. Through the LTER supplement, they had the opportunity to participate in research at the University level with advanced analytical equipment. Dr. Walter Dodds was the faculty mentor, and Dr. John Blair assisted with chemical analysis.
The students left the project with a positive attitude toward science, some research experience, and having contributed to the knowledge base on prairie water quality. Several longitudinal stream transects were sampled from upland and gallery forest reaches of two separate watersheds. A number of ponds, wells and groundwater springs were also sampled. Several interesting trends emerged that had not been documented previously on Konza. In general, ponds and upland streams had the lowest nutrient content (N and P), and groundwater and lowland streams contained the most nitrate and total N. Wells under agricultural fields had nitrate levels 10 times higher than in prairie wells and springs.
A region where groundwater influenced the upland streams was documented with slightly elevated nitrate and soluble reactive phosphorus levels. As streams passed into cultivated areas, the nitrate and total N levels increased several-fold. This occurred despite wide intact riparian buffer zones of gallery forest in the cropland areas. The results will assist in planning future research on water quality.
Walter Dodds, Konza Prairie