Educational and Research Opportunities in Appalachia and Across Kentucky Via a Network of Field Stations
Field stations provide outdoor classrooms and opportunities for placed-based experiential learning, research, and community outreach. Coordinated networks of field stations provide opportunities beyond the capacity of individual stations. In this presentation, I will discuss opportunities available at field stations using Eastern Kentucky University’s three field stations, Lilley Cornett Woods, Maywoods, and Taylor Fork Ecological Area, as examples. Our Division of Natural Areas has supported scientific research, environmental monitoring, research-informed training, interdisciplinary collegiate education, K-12 environmental education, and community outreach for over four decades. I will also discuss a newly formed collaborative group of field stations in Kentucky, the Kentucky Organization of Field Stations (KOFS), opportunities afforded by this network, and suggestions for initiating an organization in other states. In 2009, colleagues and I surveyed postsecondary schools across the state to determine how many field stations existed (J Kentucky Acad Sci 71:95-102). Although we were only aware of a handful and only four were members of the Organization of Biological Field Stations, we discovered over 20 stations that were associated with community colleges to PhD granting institutions. This indicates that the number of field stations in other states might be greatly underestimated. Soonafter, we formed KOFS to support and promote understanding of natural systems through education, research, and outreach in Kentucky. We hope researchers and educators will take advantage of the field opportunities in Kentucky and work to establish new sites. Additionally, we hope other states will use this model to develop collaborative networks of field stations.
Dept of Biological Sciences and Division of Natural Areas, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY
130 • Karen L. Kandl
Highlands Biological Station: Nine Decades of Research and Education in a Biodiversity Hotspot
Highlands Biological Station (HBS) was founded in 1927 by a group of amateur and professional biologists and concerned citizens in the Highlands, North Carolina area. Since its inception, research at HBS has capitalized on the rich biodiversity of the region, which has attracted investigators working on many different groups of organisms and ecological systems. Many of the education and research opportunities at HBS focus on questions related to fundamental issues in conservation, ecology and evolution, including the effects of non-native invasive species, land use change, species loss as a driver of global environmental change, and the effects of climate change on biodiversity, species distributions and evolutionary processes. We offer summer academic field courses and workshops in various topics, highlighting the biodiversity of the southern Appalachians in the context of broad ecological and evolutionary questions. In the fall, HBS serves as a field site for the UNC-CH Institute for the Environment. During this semester-in-residence program, undergraduate students investigate environmental problems related to biodiversity and land preservation. Throughout the year, HBS hosts seminars and lectures focused on the tremendous biodiversity of the region. Our Foundation’s Grants-In-Aid of Research program supports 10-15 visiting researchers each year. Investigators study diverse organisms, including salamanders, fungi, bryophytes, spiders, and invasive plants, and ask globally important questions, such as those involving climate change, land use, habitat restoration, and pollination biology. Highlands Biological Station is exceptional for its location, engaged community, and legacy of globally significant research and immersion instruction based in the southern Appalachians.
Highlands Biological Station
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131 • Theron M. Terhune
Plugging-in to Research in the Red Hills: Research and Education at Tall Timbers Research Station
Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy’s (hereafter, Tall Timbers) mission is to foster exemplary land stewardship through research, conservation and education. The Station’s primary research focus is the ecology and management of fire-dependent ecosystems, and wildlife, including northern bobwhite quail. Conservation efforts are dedicated to helping protect the distinctive, rural landscape of South Georgia and North Florida and its traditional land uses. Tall Timbers is internationally regarded as an information resource in the areas of fire ecology, game bird management, vertebrate ecology and forestry. The Research Station is recognized as the home of the study of fire ecology and the Fire Ecology Conference Proceedings serving both an educational role and voice as an advocate to safeguard the right to use prescribed fire for land management. Long-term research is a hallmark of the Station and includes decadal (50+ years) work on fire plots and extensive mark-recapture of northern bobwhites and other species, including songbirds and gopher tortoises. The education program transfers research and conservation information to the hands of the practitioners for improved resource management and landscape-level impact. In addition, a key focus in education is providing field experience and research exposure to young aspiring students and biologists. The types of education vary as widely and uniquely as our research programs and range from basic principles in GIS/GPS to Fire Ecology to Game Bird management to general natural resource and habitat manipulation. As such, students mentored at Tall Timbers leave well prepared for a wide-array of jobs in ecological research.
Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy, Tallahassee, FL
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132 • Robin C. Buchannon
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