ABSTRACT:

Shane Creek, located north of Kings Creek in the Konza Prairie Biological Station (outlet location: 39.11522, -96.55838; 434 ha), is a native tallgrass prairie located in the Konza Prairie Biological Station, a long term ecological research station that has been in operation since 1980. Shane’s Creek is annually cattle-grazed and burned every three years. Konza is located in the Flint Hills of northern Kansas. In 2023, the outlet of the stream wet up in March and dried down in July; in 2024, the outlet of the stream wet up in March and dried down in September. Average annual precipitation for this site is 904.7 mm.
These data were collected in support of the sampling goals of the Aquatic Intermittency effects on Microbiomes in Streams (AIMS) Project. This study took place in Shane’s Creek (434 ha) at the Konza Prairie Biological Station, a long term ecological research station that has been in operation since 1980. Shane’s Creek is annually cattle-grazed and burned every three years. Konza is located in the Flint Hills of northern Kansas. In 2023, the outlet of the stream wet up in March and dried down in July; in 2024, the outlet of the stream wet up in March and dried down in September. Average annual precipitation for this site is 35.62 inches.

We constructed a wooden stream diversion structure halfway down a 380m reach containing four pools and three riffles above and below the structure. The structure had 4 1-foot diameter holes installed with PVC couplers. Four 130m corrugated flexible tubes were laid out from the diversion structure to the bottom of the impact reach. We deployed 20 STICs throughout the control and impact reach to quantify the extent of drying using rebar. Construction and preparation occurred in February and March, when the stream was dry, to minimize construction-related disturbances to the experimental sampling. Prior to experimental dry down, water was able to flow from upstream (control reach) to downstream (impact reach) through the holes. We obtained pre-dry down sampling to collect a reference point for both the control and impact reaches. These “pre-dry week X” samples were collected from April to mid-July due to multiple flooding events (April 25th, June 26th, and July 3rd) that disrupted the experimental setup and required redeployment of experimental structures and equipment. During the experimental dry down (“dry week X” samples), we attached the tubes to the couplers in the diversion structure. Flow was diverted around the impact reach into the downstream watershed for five weeks, during which we collected weekly samples. Following the final forced drying sampling, tubes were cut from their couplers to allow flow to resume in the impact reach (“re-wet week X” samples). After 6 hours, we performed day 0 re-wet sampling. Twenty four hours later, we performed day 1 re-wet sampling. One week later, the stream began to naturally dry down in both the control and impact reaches, and collected weekly natural dry down samples for two weeks (“natural dry down week X” samples).

This resource contains the anion from AIMS approach 4. Samples were filtered with a 0.45um PES filter and frozen until analysis. Aqueous concentrations of anions were determined using an IC-3000 IC system (Dionex, Sunnyvale, CA) equipped with Dionex AERS 500 suppressor (2 mm, Thermo Scientific) and Dionex AS auto-sampler (Thermo Scientific). A Dionex IonPac AS15 column (2 mm × 50 mm, Thermo Scientific) with a guard column Dionex IonPac AG15 (2 mm × 50 mm, Thermo Scientific) was used to separate anions using a mobile phase of 38 mM KOH and a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The column temperature is 30 °C. Chromeleon software 7.1 is used for system control. Final data tab shows average of triplicates collected in the field and st dev of triplicates. Any NO3 values below 0.01 mg/L are below the lowest standard used in lab analysis and should be interpreted with caution.

The final data tab includes QA/QC’d averaged data for fluoride, chloride, nitrite, bromide, nitrate, phosphate, and sulfate in ppm with standard deviations. If the sample is below detection (BD), it is denoted as that and highlighted pink. Average NAs indicate analytes were not run or that samples were missing. NA’s in the standard deviations columns could indicate that those samples were not run or that only replicate was able to be analyzed.

ABSTRACT:

This study was conducted on the South Fork of the Kings Creek research watershed (outlet location: 39.092281, -96.58719) within Konza Prairie Biological Station (KBPS) near Manhattan (KS, USA). At the USGS gage located on the mainstem (06879560; est. 1979), Kings Creek is a 5th order intermittent stream draining 1059-ha of tallgrass prairie that is actively managed using controlled buns at varying frequencies (1-20 year return intervals) and grazing by bison or cattle. Kings Creek ranges in elevation from 338 to 430 m above sea level and drains into the Kansas River. The region is within a midwestern continental climate, with temperatures ranging from 4 to 22°C and mean annual precipitation averaging about 780 mm/yr.

This site lies within the Flint Hills ecoregion of eastern KS and northeastern OK, has a mean annual temperature of 11.7ºC (1983-2020), and 811 mm annual precipitation (1983-2020) with high interannual variability and an estimated 75% of annual precipitation occurring during late spring and early summer (Hayden 1998, Sadayappan et al. 2023). The AIMS study catchment, the South Fork of Kings Creek, is grazed by bison year-round, and includes sub-catchments with variable prescribed burn history, but the entire study area was burned in early April 2021. The riparian vegetation is deciduous gallery forest and the highest portion of the landscape is tallgrass prairie (Dodds et al. 2004) dominated by warm-season grasses, though woody encroachment has occurred in most subwatersheds (Sadayappan et al. 2023)*. The underlying bedrock of the Flint Hills ecotone is characterized as limestone, mudstone, and shale with predominately silty clay loam soils that rest atop (Hayden 1998, Vero et al. 2018). The riparian vegetation consists of deciduous forest trees such as mature bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa), chinquapin oak (Q. muehlenbergii), hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) and in the highest portion of the landscape is tallgrass prairie with dominant grass species of big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans), and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), though woody encroachment has occurred in most subwatersheds (Dodds et al. 2004, Sadayappan et al. 2023).
We collected samples every ~3 weeks from October 14, 2021, to October 1, 2024, at the outlet of our watershed (WHM01, approach 1) and seasonally at seven distributed sites (approach 2). We collected triplicate water samples for dissolved organic matter (DOM). We collected samples at the specified location when water was present using a syringe in a well-mixed area of the stream. We then filtered water through PES PLUS membrane syringe filters into clean, leached amber HDPE bottles following the AIMS Surface Water Chemistry SOP (Burgin 2024). Samples were refrigerated until analysis on a Horiba Aqualog spectrometer at either University of Alabama or Idaho State University. DOM excitation-emissions matrices and absorbance spectra were collected on a Horiba Aqualog from 249 to 830 nm at 5-nm increments at the University of Alabama and/or Idaho State University. Integration times varied from 2 to 4 seconds, based on sample concentration. EEMs were blank-corrected, Raleigh masked, inner filter effects were removed, and values were Raman-normalized using Aqualog software. Standard fluorescence metrics were calculated from corrected EEMs using the StaRdom package in R. These included: biological index, fluorescence index, humification index, and fluorescence at standard peaks: amino acid-like peak tyrosine (B) and amino acid-like peak tryptophan (T), humic-like peaks A and C, and humic-like peak M. Absorbance metrics were also calculated in StaRdom, including absorbance at 254 nm and absorbance at 300 nm; E2:E3, and absorbance slopes 275-295, 350-400, and 300-700, and slope ratio. Mean and standard deviation of triplicate samples are reported in data.

Dodds, W. K., K. Gido, M. R. Whiles, K. M. Fritz, and W. J. Matthews. 2004. Life on the edge: the ecology of Great Plains prairie streams. BioScience 54(3):205-216.
Hayden, B. P. 1998. Regional climate and the distribution of tallgrass prairie. Pages 19-34 in: Knapp, A. K., Briggs, J. M., Hartnett, D. C., Collins, S. L. (editors). Grassland dynamics: Long-term ecological research in tallgrass prairie. Oxford University Press, New York.
Sadayappan, K., R. Keen, K. M. Jarecke, V. Moreno, J. B. Nippert, M. F. Kirk, P. L. Sullivan, and L. Li. 2023. Drier streams despite a wetter climate in woody-encroached grasslands. Journal of Hydrology 627:130388.
Vero, S., G. Macpherson, P. Sullivan, A. Brookfield, J. Nippert, M. Kirk, S. Datta, and P. Kempton. 2018. Developing a conceptual framework of landscape and hydrology on tallgrass prairie: A Critical Zone approach. Vadose Zone Journal 17(1):1-11.

ABSTRACT:

This study was conducted on the South Fork of the Kings Creek research watershed (outlet location: 39.092281, -96.58719) within Konza Prairie Biological Station (KBPS) near Manhattan (KS, USA). At the USGS gage located on the mainstem (06879560; est. 1979), Kings Creek is a 5th order intermittent stream draining 1059-ha of tallgrass prairie that is actively managed using controlled buns at varying frequencies (1-20 year return intervals) and grazing by bison or cattle. Kings Creek ranges in elevation from 338 to 430 m above sea level and drains into the Kansas River. The region is within a midwestern continental climate, with temperatures ranging from 4 to 22°C and mean annual precipitation averaging about 780 mm/yr.

This site lies within the Flint Hills ecoregion of eastern KS and northeastern OK, has a mean annual temperature of 11.7ºC (1983-2020), and 811 mm annual precipitation (1983-2020) with high interannual variability and an estimated 75% of annual precipitation occurring during late spring and early summer (Hayden 1998, Sadayappan et al. 2023). The AIMS study catchment, the South Fork of Kings Creek, is grazed by bison year-round, and includes sub-catchments with variable prescribed burn history, but the entire study area was burned in early April 2021. The riparian vegetation is deciduous gallery forest and the highest portion of the landscape is tallgrass prairie (Dodds et al. 2004) dominated by warm-season grasses, though woody encroachment has occurred in most subwatersheds (Sadayappan et al. 2023)*. The underlying bedrock of the Flint Hills ecotone is characterized as limestone, mudstone, and shale with predominately silty clay loam soils that rest atop (Hayden 1998, Vero et al. 2018).

This resource contains the YSI field data from AIMS approaches 1 (maintenance samples ~every 3 weeks), 2 (seasonal sampling), and 3 (syntopic sampling event) samplings at King's Creek. During sampling, a YSI Pro1030 Waterproof Handheld meter was placed in the stream and numbers were allowed to stabilize while water sampling took place. Data is not available when the site was dry - as noted by the flow_state column. In addition, some sampling events lacked a YSI handheld and data is therefore missing.