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Washington University's Tyson Research Center

Washington University's Tyson Research Center is a ~2,000-acre field station located 20 miles from the Danforth campus. Located just outside of the St. Louis metropolitan area and in close proximity to a wide variety of other natural areas, Tyson provides a unique opportunity for environmental research and education.

Tyson's mission is to provide a living landscape for environmental research and education as a component of Washington University's International Center for Advanced Renewal Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES). Tyson provides:

• A landscape-scale experimental venue for studies on ecosystem sustainability
• An outdoor laboratory for important research and teaching opportunities from Washington University and other nearby institutions
• Research and educational opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students related to the environment and sustainability

In addition, we maintain relationships with other organizations, government agencies and private landowners in the vicinity to develop a network of natural areas available for research and teaching activities. For example, we are partnering with the Missouri Botanical Garden's nearby Shaw Nature Reserve on several of our research and teaching activities.

Featured Research and Development

Construction of Experimental Ponds

A set of 12 experimental ponds was built by Tyson Staff and Researchers in the Winter/Spring of 2008. A core manipulation in these ponds, the presence and absence of spotted salamanders, will serve as a cornerstone of Amber Burgett's Ph.D. dissertation. Amber will be examining the influence of larval salamander predation on the population dynamics of frog species that vary in their life-history strategies (e.g. adult longevity).

Additionally, a number of related research projects centering on questions of community assembly will take place in these ponds. If you would be interested in using these ponds for your research, there are many possible opportunities.

News and Events

• 2009 Tyson Summer Seminar Series

  TSSS has officially come to an end. Tyson staff and researchers would like to thank everyone for making it another successful series. We had some amazing scientsts present their work and we hope they had a great time getting to know us and our work.
  
  

  Tyson is Making News!

  Tyson Research Center's Associate Director, Dr. Kevin G. Smith has recently published a paper in the October issue of Ecology Letters in collaboration with Dr. Karen R. Lips from the University of Maryland and Tyson's Director, Dr. Jon Chase. Their paper analyzes the loss of frog biodiversity due to the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). The paper has drawn attention from national and global media. Read some of the stories here and here. Click to view a list of all of Tyson's recent publications.

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