Our research mission


Research conducted by our scientists ranges widely, covering subjects including water quality, reservoir health, soil ecosystems, plant adaptation, management of prairie lands, mapping of land use and habitat, and much more. In addition to teaching, our faculty and staff engage about 40 students directly in research each academic term. Researchers collaborate across scientific disciplines, and the KU Field Station is available for research to faculty and students across the University. You may search our database of more than 2,500 publications, which dates back to 1949, or our database of more than 500 research grants.

Our scientists offer expertise for research collaboration and community service in variety of core areas:

  • plant/animal identification;
  • organism/habitat evaluation;
  • natural resources planning;
  • aquatic and terrestrial monitoring and assessment;
  • ecosystem structure, modeling and restoration;
  • field measurement and analytical chemistry;
  • mathematical, statistical and computational methods;
  • large-scale meta-population dynamics and synchrony;
  • geographic information systems technology;
  • remote sensing applications.