Renovation of Research Greenhouses at UC Santa Barbara for Ecological, Evolutionary and Developmental Studies

University Of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This project is to replace a cluster of greenhouse bays on the UCSB campus. The current greenhouse has four bays, is old and decrepit, and is scheduled for demolition. The University intends to replace the existing facility with a new greenhouse complex located adjacent to the old. This will have three components: (1) a three-bay greenhouse on the site of a lath house that is to be demolished, (2) a small greenhouse what will maintain alpine conditions, (the ?Alpine House?), to be newly built on a currently open site, and (3) a second three-bay greenhouse to be built on a site that currently holds two small buildings that will be demolished. The alpine house is designed to simulate the temperature, light and humidity of high alpine environments. The first component is already under construction as a separate project. The current project is to construct the second and third components, and to finish the interior of two of the three bays in the first component to make them operational. The existing greenhouse will ultimately be demolished. The new greenhouse facility will enable year-round controlled environments and provide many options for experimental research that are unavailable with the current greenhouse. It will be possible to control light, watering regimes, and temperature, and to determine their impacts on plant growth and reproduction. The replacement facility will make it possible to exclude (or include) pollinators, pests and herbivores, and thus enable ecological, genetic and evolutionary experimental research that requires a controlled setting. The facility will be used for research on the specific morphological, physiological, and demographic traits responsible for the maintenance of plant diversity; the identification of the genetic basis for adaptations to extreme environments and specific pollinators; tests of how attributes of the physical environment influence plant distributions, productivity, and phenology; and research on the genetic mechanisms underlying plant recognition and responses to a variety of stresses such as drought. Work will include studies of the genetic and environmental controls of the critical events of flowering time, pollination, seed production, and germination. These studies include the discovery and analysis of the morphological and biochemical changes in floral structure that drive pollinator specialization. In addition to providing infrastructure for research, the facility will be used for research training of undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral associates. Research that is likely to have societal impacts includes research on invasive species and their biological control, and research into the genetic mechanisms affecting seed quality and germination (which is relevant to the mitigation of crop losses.) The facility will be used to advance the development of a new model genomic system that will be made available to the wider research community. The campus has a number of activities designed to facilitate the recruitment and financial support of members of underrepresented groups, economically disadvantaged students, and highly talented undergraduates. Students in these programs participate in plant biology research and will be able to take advantage of research training opportunities in the new greenhouses. The University?s Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration provides internship opportunities for undergraduates to provide hands-on botanical activities to students in local public schools.