Brackenridge Field Laboratory
Brackenridge Field Laboratory, located on the shores of Lake Austin, is not a typical Organized Research Unit. Like the U.T. Marine Science Institute, it serves both teaching, research and outreach needs for a range of field scientists. As a research unit, the Brackenridge Field Laboratory encompasses more than a single locale since its staff not only manages the 88 acre near-campus site but also the 208 acre Stengl Lost Pines Biological Station near Smithville.
 |
History
Since the early days of The University of Texas, biologists have collected, researched and taught in the natural habitats along the Colorado River, including the present day Brackenridge Tract. Long before the establishment of Brackenridge Field Laboratory (BFL), the state-owned area was used by classes and researchers in the life sciences. Old plant tags from the early decades of this century can still be found at BFL. Indeed, the current director received his core training in field biology as an undergraduate on the site prior to the funding of the NSF grant which established BFL. Life sciences at U.T. Austin were among the earliest quality programs at the University and have maintained excellence in organismal and evolutionary biology, in part because of the attractiveness of the Central Texas environment and the remarkable position of Austin at the intersection of major biotic regions.Over the years, a constant inflow of outstanding field biologists (including population geneticists, population and evolutionary biologists, behaviorists, and experimental ecologists) has been attracted to U.T. Austin by the natural biological endowment of the region. The establishment of the Brackenridge Field Lab in 1967, constituted a formal recognition of the relationship between field biology at U.T. Austin and Central Texas' biotic systems, most conveniently encountered on the Brackenridge Tract just 4 miles from campus. But as late as the 1960's, U.T. researchers, teachers, and students had other options for field study convenient to campus, such as the U.T. Balcones Research Center and the old garden plots near the present intramural fields. Since then however, the exponential growth of Austin has greatly diminished available areas for research and teaching near campus. Today, the Brackenridge Field Lab represents a key vestige of natural habitat for quality education and research on natural biological systems within the day-to-day routine of a long session at U.T. Austin and it provides a 35 year ecological baseline for key elements of the biota.
About the Field Lab
BFL's particular juxtaposition of laboratory and outdoor facilities with a mosaic of both aquatic and terrestrial habitats is highly unusual and puts U.T. Austin in an enviable position among biological science programs internationally. For its relatively small size, BFL contains a remarkable array of terrestrial and aquatic habitats.BFL sits on the Balcones Fault, which divides major regional complexes of eastern and western species. Some tropical organisms even reach their northern limits on the area. The diversity of plant and animal species at BFL is outstanding in absolute terms, particularly surprising given its urban setting. In the near future, most field biology may by necessity be in urban areas so that BFL research now may be increasingly relevant as the future unfolds.
While BFL is too small for population studies of large vertebrates and trees. However, careful management of remnant native systems has allowed natural interactions of plants, insects, parasites, and aquatic life to function normally. In particular, species relationships important for pest control, agriculture, and genetic conservation are being successfully maintained for study.
Biological systems are strongly influenced by historical factors. BFL has become increasingly more and more valuable as its vegetational history, its faunal and floral inventory, as well as experimental field studies have accumulated interrelated information. Similar experiments conducted on "new areas" versus areas having scientific baseline data are clearly less valuable; such baseline data constitute criteria for funding projects at the National Science Foundation.
Graduate student Research
The key to BFL's present and future success is its particular combination of biological and physical resources in proximity to the main campus. The quality of graduate-student research in field biology has been greatly enhanced by the availability of BFL and allows year-round fieldwork with the possibility of 24-hour monitoring. Even students whose research is conducted in other parts of the world frequently utilize BFL for comparative study or for ancillary projects that enhance their careers. Graduate-student projects undertaken at BFL have resulted in important publications in Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and other leading journals of basic science.Undergraduate teaching and research
Routine involvement of undergraduates at field research sites during long sessions is generally difficult. With its proximity to the main U.T. campus, BFL provides unusual and much-used opportunities for a variety of courses set in a natural area for observation, experiment, and lecture demonstration. Classes such as BIO 208L/Field Ecology, BIO 321L/Applied Aquatic Entomology, BIO 337/Field Entomology, BIO 353L/General Entomology, BIO 373L/Ecology, BIO 406D/Native Plants, and BIO 438L/Animal Communication make use of this resource. In addition, classes from St. Edward’s University, Concordia University, and Texas A & M University also make use of Brackenridge Field Laboratory.Research resource
BFL supports faculty research at various levels. It is the major site for some field experiments, a complimentary site for others, and a source of live material for still other campus-based laboratory studies.Research
The Breckinridge Field Lab provides a research facility for UT undergraduates, graduates, postdoctoral researchers, and lecturers. It serves as a research base for two large projects:- Dr. L.E. Gilbert's evaluation of phorid flies as biocontrol for imported fire ant, and
- Dr. M. Ryan's studies on sexual selection, using the swordtail fish as a model
In addition, there are other diverse research projects by UT investigators. See the current list.