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Konza Prairie biosphere reserve is a biosphere reserve located in the Flint Hills region of north-eastern Kansas, approximately 10 km south of the city of Manhattan. The Flint Hills are steep-sloped and overlain by shallow limestone soils unsuitable for cultivation. This region contains the largest remaining area of tallgrass prairie in North America since the majority of the Konza Prairie and the surrounding landscape have not been ploughed.
The vegetation of Konza Prairie is dominated by native tallgrass which can reach over 2.5 metres in height in the most productive years. The prairie is dominated by plants adapted to the continental climate, mainly perennial grasses such as big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), little bluestem (Andropogon scoparius), Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). The grassland habitats include upland prairie on thin loess soils, hill prairie along alternating limestone benches and slopes, and areas of lowland prairie on deep alluvial-colluvial soils.
Ecological research is the central activity of the Konza Prairie which is also a Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site of the National Science Foundation. The site was established to provide a natural laboratory for the study of ecological patterns and processes in native tallgrass prairie ecosystems. Key natural processes that regulate and sustain the tallgrass prairie are periodic fire, ungulate grazing, and a variable continental climate. Thus, these processes are the focus of much of the long-term research. Other research by the Kansas State University includes physiological ecology, population and community ecology of plants, insects, birds and mammals, aquatic ecology, ecosystem and landscape ecology, and grasslands restoration ecology.
The Konza Prairie Biological Station provides educational opportunities for students from elementary school to post-graduate level.