The tallgrass prairie ecosystem was shaped and is maintained with fire.   At Konza Prairie Biological Station fire is a research tool to help scientists understand and manage the ecosystem.  Long-term data sets have been collected on the effect of fire on the tallgrass prairie.  Some parts of Konza Prairie are burned yearly and others are burned every 2, 4, 10 or 20 years.  Twenty years of data on the effect of fire show that annual burning promotes the dominance of grasses while no burning allows woody shrubs and some trees to take over large areas of prairie.  Frequent fires favor grasses because their roots, where nutrients are stored, and their rhizomes, where new shoots emerge, are below ground and not affected by fire.  New growth takes place shortly after the above ground parts have been burned.  The above ground growing points (buds) of woody species are damaged by fire.  The woody stems are burned but the root system may remain alive.

     In 2001 ecologists reversed some of the annual burns and 20-year burns.  Each year two of these adjacent watersheds are photographed and the photos are archived on this website.  You can compare the photos below taken in different seasons and years.  The first photos show what the prairie looked like in 1999.  Look at the photos and hypothesize what will happen after the burn schedule is reversed.  Also, try to predict the answers to the questions that follow.

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
What differences do you see between the two fire treatments?
What plants are dominant in the annual burn? in the 20-year burn?
What will happen to the shrubs and trees in the 20-year burn when it is burned annually?  
After the reversal of the burn treatments, how long before woody plants will be visible in the annually burned areas?
 Will the diversity of plant species change after the burn reversal in either of these areas?
 What other questions can researchers answer by reversing the burn schedule?

REMEMBER, EVEN THE RESEARCHERS DON'T KNOW THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS YET!

Click photo gallery to see photos from 1999 to the present.