The Ecology, Evolution and Behavior Graduate Program has numerous laboratories and outdoor biology stations required for research programs. In addition, the University has several centers that provide research support for our programs.

Brackenridge Field Laboratory

The Brackenridge Field Laboratory is a unique urban research station located on 88 acres of land that borders the Colorado River along Lake Austin Boulevard. From the early days of the University of Texas, biologists have used this tract of land for research, teaching, and specimen collection, and since the establishment of the Field Laboratory in 1967, BFL has continued to evolve as a center for biodiversity research in Texas.

The Stengl Biology Station (Lost Pines), is a 200-acre outdoor facility located 45 minutes southeast of campus. The area combines the characteristics of the typical grasslands and woodlands of central Texas, the oak-dominated temperate deciduous regions of eastern Texas, and also relict elements of the pine forest which dominated the area 5,000 years

Stengl Biology Station (Lost Pines) is a 200-acre outdoor facility. Photo: Phil Schappert.

ago. The "Lost Pines" area contains Loblolly Pine and bog-associated flowering plants, ferns and bryophytes. This rich combination of Texas vegetation typical of old moister habitats with xeric elements which have since come in from the south provides an outstanding natural laboratory for studies in ecology and evolutionary biology.

The U.T. Marine Science Institute has laboratories and boat facilities on the Gulf of Mexico at Port Aransas, about 200 miles from Austin. This provides access to a wide variety of beach, bay, Gulf shelf, and open Gulf environments. Buildings include a laboratory and classroom building, a pier laboratory over the Aransas Pass, dormitories and mess hall, and a library/auditorium building. Special facilities include a 105-foot research vessel (the Longhorn), a 57-foot trawler (the Katy), and outboard launches and skiffs. There are invertebrate, vertebrate, and algal reference collections and a library that contains some 8,000 books and 37,000 bound journal volumes in marine science and related fields.

The DNA Facility supports research on nucleic acids with automated sequencing, oligonucleotide synthesis, and imaging capabilities.

The Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology provides ultrastructural analysis through sophisticated electron microscope facilities.

The Protein Sequencing Facility, located in the Molecular Biology Building, allows determination of amino acid composition, sequences of proteins and peptides and peptide synthesis.

The Animal Resources Center has 14,000 sq. ft. devoted to housing a variety of animals used in research programs. In addition to the caging areas, there are surgical suites and laboratories. The resident populations include rodents, rabbits, dogs, cats, chickens, and quail.

The Plant Resources Center houses over one million preserved specimens maintained in two herbaria: the C.L. Lundell collection, mostly of tropical plants, and the Texas collection. It is the largest herbarium in the southwestern United States and ranked among the top 5 university herbaria in the country.

The Texas Memorial Museum in the Texas Natural Science Center contains a collection of 5.7 million specimens in the disciplines of paleontology, geology, biology, herpetology, ichthyology and entomology. It also contains two research labs:  the Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory and the Non-vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory.

The Culture Collection of Algae (UTEX) includes approximately 3,000 strains of freshwater and marine algae for unrestricted distribution to interested investigators.

The Environmental Science Institute, located on the main campus, is a multi-disciplinary institute for basic scientific research in environmental studies. Areas of research include: remote sensing, climate change, watersheds, borderlands, urbanization, and microbial ecology.

The Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics provides research support and opportunities for researchers interested in the use of computational approaches in solving biological problems. Areas of research include: nucleic acid structure and function, molecular evolution, computational phylogenetics, proteomics, drug design, regulatory and developmental pathway inference.

Libraries

The General Libraries, with over 6.6 million volumes, constitute the fifth largest academic library in the U.S. Primary literature is available in hard-copy at the libraries, as well as e-journals via the web.

The Life Science Library contains 125,000 volumes and over 1800 journal subscriptions.

The Mallett Chemistry Library has over 50,000 volumes and over 400 journal subscriptions. Both libraries are equipped for computer searching of national databases.