The Study of Great Plains Flora
The North American Great Plains is a unique and important biome. It covers 2.6 million sq km with tallgrass, mixed, and shortgrass prairie. Its rich soils have made it an agriculturally important area. As a result, few untouched places remain.
We study the flora of the Great Plains for four important reasons. First, to infer the evolutionary and ecological patterns of life. Second, to produce data for modeling plant distributions. Third, to foster appreciation and understanding of the natural world. And fourth, to provide information that addresses human resource needs, including food, fiber, and recreation.
Natural history specimens are the raw materials of biodiversity studies, and we must preserve both specimens and their associated data for future investigators.
We collect and accept specimens from the Great Plains and other areas of the world. With this comes the responsibility for caring for the specimens to ensure their physical longevity and the integrity of their associated data.