Research Facilities

Aquaculture Facility

Aquaculture FacilityFisheries and wildlife research is enhanced by the availability of laboratory and field facilities both within and outside of the department. Fisheries, aquaculture, and aquatic ecology research is conducted in one of two wet laboratories, a 3,500-square-foot lab (photos 1 & 2) supplied by a deep well with a water flow capacity of 150 gallons per minute and a 10,000-square-foot lab (photos 1 & 2) supplied with 450 gallons per minute of both well water and biologically filtered water in a reuse system.


College Computing Lab

Computer facilities, readily available to graduate students within the department, are outstanding. Numerous Macintosh and IBM micro-computers and Sun workstations are in the general labs and labs of individual faculty. Laser printers are also available to all graduate students for thesis and publication needs. A computerized system for generating technical 35 mm slides is available to students. Departmental computers are fully networked to a central file server with extensive software. An e-mail system provides ready access to other parts of the University and, via Internet, to nodes throughout the world. Additional microcomputers are available to students in the College of Natural Resources computing lab, used primarily for classroom use. The University computing centers offer essentially unlimited mainframe capacity for analysis of very large data sets.

Entomology, Fisheries and Wildlife Library

Entomology, Fisheries and Wildlife LibraryThe University maintains one of the larger libraries in the country, with over 5 million catalogued volumes plus extensive government publications, manuscripts, archives, phonograph records, audio and video tapes, and other materials. A full range of reference and information services, including specialized reference assistance, data base literature searching, and library user instruction is also available. The system has over 30 special subject libraries. Of particular note is the Entomology, Fisheries, and Wildlife Library with major holdings in entomology, fisheries, wildlife, and general animal ecology. Graduate students can obtain access to this library at all hours.

Also in close proximity is the Forestry Library with extensive holdings in natural resource management. Other branch libraries on the St. Paul Campus cover most aspects of biology (except medicine) and all aspects of agriculture, including veterinary medicine.

GIS Lab

GIS LabWithin the College of Natural Resources, the Environmental Resource Spatial Analysis Center has one of the best-equipped facilities among American universities for analyzing aerial and satellite imagery and for learning and applying a variety of geographic information systems (GIS). Another center of technical excellence in natural resource analysis is the Natural Resource Research Institute in Duluth, with which department faculty have close ties. The regional research facility of the U.S. Forest Service, the North Central Forest Experiment Station, is located next door to the department.

Field Research

The University has excellent facilities for field research. Cedar Creek Natural History Area, located just 30 miles north of campus, is a National Science Foundation Experimental Ecological Reserve and is also the site of the University's Biotelemetry Lab, internationally recognized for pioneering work in radio telemetry. The College of Natural Resources' Cloquet Forestry Center, 135 miles north of campus, offers extensive opportunities for forestry-wildlife research and is the site of renowned studies of ruffed grouse. The Lake Itasca Forestry and Biological Station in northwestern Minnesota has long been recognized as a center of natural history research and advanced instruction. It has also been designated as an Experimental Ecological Reserve by the National Science Foundation. The environs of Lake Itasca State Park offer an unusual convergence of habitats: a wide variety of lakes, ponds, and streams; coniferous and hardwood forests; and prairies.

Many student projects are conducted at state and federal parks and management areas within Minnesota, in conjunction with research branches of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Biological Service, and the U.S. Forest Service. The Minnesota Zoo, 25 miles from campus, with its strong conservation and research programs plus those of two international organizations housed there, is another source of student research opportunities.