FSML: Laboratory and Telecommunication Improvements for White Mountain Research Station

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

This award provides support to the White Mountain Research Station (WMRS) to (1) improve laboratory resources for modern biological research and (2) establish voice and data telecommunication links between its high altitude laboratories and the rest of the world. WMRS is located on the western edge of the Great Basin with four laboratories spanning an elevation transect that exceeds 3100 meters in just 20 kilometers. The region is rich in topographical and biological diversity and is accessible to research because 97% of the land is publicly owned. With the aid of this award, the Station will develop a modern biology laboratory at the Owens Valley Laboratories (at 1,235m above sea level), the site of the Station's headquarters in Bishop, CA. The laboratory will provide the essential tools for conducting field research and stabilizing biological samples for transport to other laboratories with specialized instrumentation. In addition, the Station will establish telecommunication links between the high altitude laboratories (Barcroft at 3,801m and Crooked Creek at 3,094m) and the headquarters where there is a dedicated connection to the Internet. The new system will (a) provide a transparent extension of the Owens Valley Laboratories' local area network to Barcroft and Crooked Creek using a combination of wireless and cable data transmission, and (b) provide internet and telephone connectivity between the high altitude laboratories and the outside world. Currently, research at the Station includes efforts in wildlife and conservation biology, physiological ecology, animal energetics and ecology at high altitudes, animal behavior, evolutionary biology, plant genetics, and paleobiology. The extent and quality of these research efforts will be aided by modern biological laboratory facilities at the Station. Recent educational use of the Station has included visiting field classes, programs such as the WMRS Supercourse in Environmental Biology, the UC Conservation Biology Summer Symposium, and WMRS Undergraduate Internships. Establishing a data communication link to the high altitude laboratories will bring them "on-line" for educational programs as well as enabling research programs requiring uninterrupted monitoring and telemetry of remotely sensed data.