@article {KNZ001537,
	title = {Blazing and grazing: influences of fire and bison on tallgrass prairie stream water quality},
	journal = {Freshwater Science},
	volume = {32},
	year = {2013},
	pages = {779 -791},
	abstract = {<p>Fire and grazers (such as Bison bison) were historically among the most important agents for maintaining and managing tallgrass prairie, but we know little about their influences on water-quality dynamics in streams. We analyzed 2 y of data on total suspended solids (TSS), total N (TN), and total P (TP) (3 samples per week per stream during flow) in 3 prairie streams with fire and bison grazing treatments at Konza Prairie Biological Station, Kansas (USA), to assess whether fire and bison increase the concentrations of these water-quality variables. We quantified the spatial and temporal locations of bison (\&sim;0.21 animal units/ha) with Global Positioning System collars and documented bison trails, paw patches, wallows, and naturally exposed sediment patches within riparian buffers. Three weeks post-fire, TN and TP decreased (t-test, p \&lt; 0.001), but TSS did not change. Bison spent \&lt;6\% of their time within 10 m of the streams, increased the amount of exposed sediment in the riparian areas, and avoided wooded mainstem branches of stream (χ2 test, p \&lt; 0.001). Temporal trends suggest that low discharge or increased bison density in the stream may increase TSS and TP during the summer months. Our results indicate a weak connection between TSS and nutrients with bison access to streams over our 2-y study and indicate that low TSS and nutrients characterize tallgrass prairie streams with fire and moderate bison densities relative to surrounding land uses.</p>},
	keywords = {LTER-KNZ, Bison bison, Bos bison, burning, Grasslands, grazers, prescribed fire, streams, tallgrass prairie, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total suspended solids},
	doi = {10.1899/12-118.1},
	url = {https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1899/12-118.1},
	author = {Larson, D.M. and Grudzinski, B.P. and W. K. Dodds and Daniels, M.D. and Skibbe, A.M. and Anthony Joern}
}
