Craig C. Freeman

An Annotated List of the Vascular Flora of Konza Prairie Research Natural Area, Kansas

The Konza Prairie Research Natural Area is a 3487 hectare research area located in the northern Kansas Flint Hills. The vegetation of Konza Prairie is predominantly tallgrass prairie with limited gallery forests along major tributaries. The vascular flora of the research area includes 441 species in 90 families. This number represents approximately 44% of the species known to occur in the Kansas Flint Hills. Konza Prairie Research Natural Area (KPRNA) is located in the northern part of the Kansas Flint Hills. This 3487 ha (8616 acre) area is situated approximately 10 kilometers south of Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. Most of the area is in extreme southcentral Riley County, the rest in adjacent Geary County. KPRNA is bounded on the east by Kansas Highway 177 and on the south by Interstate 70. Konza Prairie was acquired by The Nature Conservancy, a national nonprofit private organization dedicated to the preservation of lands exemplary of diversity in the natural world. The Geary County portion, called the original Konza Prairie, consists of 371 ha (917 acres) and was purchased in December 1971 (Fig. 1). In January of 1977, the 2921 ha (7219 acre) Dewey Ranch was added to the research area. A final acquisition was made by The Nature Conservancy in December 1977, when the 194 ha (480 acre) Thowe tract was added to KPRNA. The land is leased to Kansas State University for ecological research. Konza Prairie is one of eleven Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites across the United States supported by the Division of Environmental Biology of the National Science Foundation. Konza Prairie is representative of the Flint Hills Upland, a band of rolling hills roughly 70 kilometers wide extending across Kansas from near the Nebraska-Kansas border south to Oklahoma. The hills were formed by the Contribution No. 83-74-j, Division of Biology, Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Manhattan. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.162 on Fri, 01 Jul 2016 04:08:27 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms VOLUME 88, NUMBERS 3-4 85 KONZA PRAIRIE RESEARCH NATURAL AREA 1 4e

Effects of small mammal and invertebrate herbivory on plant species richness and abundance in tallgrass prairie

SummaryA factorial field experiment was designed to test the effects of small mammals and above- and below-ground invertebrates on plant species richness and composition in native tallgrass prairie at Konza Prairie Research Natural Area, northeast Kansas. Over a 4-year period, Microtus ochrogaster densities were maintained by live-trapping in fenced plots, and invertebrate levels were reduced using the pesticides carbaryl for above-ground invertebrates and an organophosphate (isofenphos) for belowground invertebrates. ANOVA according to a split-plot design of plant species biomass data harvested in 1984 and 1986 revealed few significant effects of either small mammal densities or pesticide application. Of 54 species harvested from both sample dates, only 10 were significantly affected by either treatment. Analysis of species richness according to 8 life-form classes provided a clearer pattern of response than did biomass either by species or life-form class. For example, numbers of C4 grasses were reduced by increasing small mammal densities, whereas numbers of C4 annual forbs were lowest when above-ground herbivory was reduced. While consumers have been shown to have strong effects on successional communities, the few significant results observed in this study suggests that the manipulated levels of small mammals and insects had few effects on a mature tallgrass prairie.

Additions to the Vascular Flora of Konza Prairie Research Natural Area, Kansas

(KPRNA) over the past several years has yielded a number of vascular plants previously unreported from the research site. The following list is provided as an addendum to the annotated list of vascular plants of KPRNA (Freeman and Hulbert, 1985). These additions bring the number of species, genera, and families known from KPRNA to 467, 289, and 93, respectively. Continued research on Konza may reveal additional new taxa, however, the number of new reports would undoubtedly be few. Most of the taxa reported herein are weedy species or rare natives. Voucher specimens for all reports have been deposited in the Kansas State University Herbarium (KSC) with duplicate specimens in the reference herbarium at KPRNA Headquarters. The format and sequence of presentation in the list follows that outlined in Freeman and Hulbert (1985). Nomenclature is in accord with the Flora of the Great Plains (Great Plains Flora Association, 1986).

Chromosome numbers in Great Plains species of Penstemon (Scrophulariaceae)

Chromosome numbers are reported for 79 populations ofPenstemon representing 20 species. All but two species counted here are diploids. First counts are reported for seven taxa, all asn=8 or 2n=16.

Vascular Plants New to Three States in the Central United States

ery of seven species of vascular plants previously undocumented in three states. First reports are provided for Alopecurus arundinaceus Poir. and Aristida longespica Poir. var. geniculata (Raf.) Fernald from Colorado; Erysimum hieracifolium L. and Trifolium fragiferum L. from Iowa; and Eichhornia crassipes (Martius) Solms-Laub., Pistia stratiotes L., and Quercus havardii Rydb. from Kansas.

The Genus Aristida (Poaceae) in Kansas

Abstract A recent herbarium study of the genus Aristida (Poaceae) revealed that 11 species and four varieties are represented in Kansas. Specimen evidence is presented for two species, A. desmantha Trin. & Rupr. and A. ramosissima Engelm ex A. Gray, reported by earlier Kansas botanists but subsequently excluded from the flora because no vouchers could be located. Keys, habitat and state rarity information, and distribution maps are presented for all Kansas taxa.