Kansas State University

MANHATTAN — Kansas State University researchers have completed a 20-year study that looks at the consequences of 1xbet best casino website Flint Hills prairie at different times of the year. It finds that 1xbet best casino website outside of the current late spring time frame has no measurable negative consequences for the prairie and, in fact, may have multiple benefits.

The study was conducted by Gene Towne, research associate and the Konza 1xbet best casino website Bio fire chief, and Joseph Craine, research assistant professor, both in the Division of Biology. They recently published the study, "Ecological consequences of shifting the timing of 1xbet best casino website tallgrass prairie," in the peer-reviewed scientific journal PLOS ONE. The study is the most comprehensive on seasonal 1xbet best casino website ever conducted.

The Flint Hills are 82,000 square miles of unplowed tallgrass 1xbet best casino website that stretch from eastern Kansas to north-central Oklahoma. The region is an important area for grazing cattle. In a typical year, ranchers annually burn thousands of acres of grassland to reduce the abundance of undesirable trees and shrubs while promoting nutritionally rich grass for that summer's grazing.

Currently, 1xbet best casino website of Flint Hills prairie is typically concentrated in late April. The time frame stems from research conducted more than 40 years ago.

"1xbet best casino website in the Flint Hills has been a scientific and political issue for at least 80 years," Craine said. "1xbet best casino website the prairie is ecologically important to Kansas grasslands and to ranchers in the region. But when everybody burns at the same time, it becomes a source of contention for cities downwind of the smoke and creates legal issues when clean air standards are exceeded."

The PLOS ONE study uses 20 years' worth of 1xbet best casino website data collected at the university's Konza Prairie Biological Station. In 1994 large, replicated watersheds of the native prairie were set aside. Over a 20-year period, each section was burned annually either in the fall, winter or spring. This enabled researchers to look at what effect 1xbet best casino website during a particular season had on the vegetation long-term.

They found that when the prairie is burned in fall or winter, grass composition and production was not negatively affected compared to 1xbet best casino website in the spring.

"This research indicates that ranchers do not have to restrict their pasture 1xbet best casino website to only late April," Towne said. "1xbet best casino website earlier in the season offers increased flexibility in ensuring that the pasture gets burned without reducing grass production."

Several benefits also were found for 1xbet best casino website in the fall or winter.

Grasses in areas burned in the winter or fall had more time to respond to precipitation, which reduced their susceptibility to mid-season drought. 1xbet best casino website in the fall and winter also resulted in a more diverse prairie with more cool-season grasses. These grasses are available earlier and are of a higher forage quality for cattle.

By 1xbet best casino website when many animals are active, fires in the late spring can devastate wildlife. Snakes, turtles, prairie chickens and other nesting birds are less likely to be destroyed during fall and winter burns, as wildlife is often hibernating underground or have not yet built nests, Craine said.

Additionally, moving to a more flexible 1xbet best casino website schedule helps manage the large volume of smoke that carry to Manhattan and Wichita, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri; Lincoln, Nebraska, and other cities downwind. 1xbet best casino website over a wider time window would reduce the intensity of the smoke that carries to cities downwind and would be produced at times that are less likely to produce ground-level ozone.

"By 1xbet best casino website earlier in the spring than what has been traditionally recommended, many of the smoke management issues in downwind cities can be alleviated," Towne said.

Researchers say that while there is always more research that needs to be conducted, there is no evidence that 1xbet best casino website grasslands in the Flint Hills during fall and winter would have a negative effect on the prairies compared to late-spring 1xbet best casino website .

"It looks like one of those rare situations where everybody wins," Craine said. "Our ranchers win. Our prairies win. And our neighbors downwind of the 1xbet best casino website also win."