RESEARCH

Research Facilities

The Department of Biology is housed in the Rankin Science Building. Facilities for research include a fully-equipped electron microscopy laboratory, darkrooms, controlled environmental rooms, and a greenhouse. A number of laboratories contain modern instrumentation for research in plant ecophysiology, plant-animal interactions, animal physiology, molecular biology, microbiology, behavioral ecology, cytogenetics, mycology, immunology, cell biology, developmental biology, parasitology, freshwater and marine ecology, traditional and molecular systematics and phylogeography.

There are several biological collections housed in the Department, including a vertebrate collection, a shell collection, an insect collection, and a variety of other animals used in teaching and research. The ASU Herbarium (BOON) houses approximately 20,000 specimens, many of which are imperiled species from the Southern Appalachians and high elevation wetlands in Blue Ridge Mountains of northwest North Carolina.  A Geographic Information System(GIS) database on the high elevation wetlands is maintained in the herbarium.

Students in the Department can utilize the Department's computer laboratory, as well as the numerous computer labs spread across campus. All the computers are linked to a central server, and all students have access to personal email accounts and the world wide web. The library has electronic searching capabilities, and students can perform literature searches from their own PCs. The University has access to Cray computers at the super-computing center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The Department oversees several natural areas, including a 67-acre Appalachian State University Nature Preserve in the heart of campus and a 217-acre research area (the Gilley Field Station) on the New River about 20 minutes from campus. The Blue Ridge Parkway is just minutes from campus, and the Department has cooperative agreements with the Parkway for doing research within this unit of the National Park System. The Department is a participating institution in Highlands Biological Station located in Highlands, North Carolina; this field station is available for research purposes, meetings and field trips.

The Belk Library and Information Commons web site provides access to 375 full text and citation databases, including these especially relevant to the study of Biology. Through the online catalog students can access over 486,000 Electronic titles & subscriptions. The library houses over 938,000 books & bound periodicals and 82,000 audiovisual materials. The Library provides areas for individual and collaborative group study and the atrium/cyber café area, with wireless access and seventeen computer workstations, is open 24 hours five days a week.

Back to Top

Special Facilities

Electron Microscopy Laboratory
Housed in the facility are a CM12 transmission electron microscope, a Quanta 200 environmental scanning electron microscope, a Zeiss 510 laser scanning confocal microscope, an Olympus IX81/DP71 optical microscope, a Polaron sputter coater and critical point dryer, and other ancillary equipment for sample preparations (http://www.casmifa.appstate.edu/Equipment.html). A full-time director of the facility provides both academic and technical support services.

Greenhouse
A 3,125 ft² greenhouse is located ~2 miles from the main campus. The facility has two separate research houses, a propagation house, and a large conservatory that houses a teaching/display collection, all connected to a headhouse which contains the manager's office, preparation and storage rooms, and a laboratory/teaching classroom. An additional 1000 ft² of space is available outside the greenhouse for research and teaching. A full-time manager oversees the greenhouse and is available to assist faculty and students. The manager also provides information and consultations to businesses and the general public and conducts tours of the facility.

Back to Top

Environmental Preserves

The Appalachian State University Nature Preserve

The Appalachian State University Nature Preserve consists of 67 acres of protected woodlands in the heart of the campus. There are two headwater streams and a small pond in the preserve.  The Preserve is interlaced with a network of hiking trails and includes a site with a ropes courses and a climbing tower utilized by the University's Outdoor Programs. There are several plant communities in various successional stages that are utilized by the faculty and students in the Biology Department. The Preserve affords Appalachian students the unique opportunity of being able to walk to sites for outdoor labs in introductory and upper division biology classes, such as Concepts of Biology, Botany and Ecology. The site is used in several graduate level courses as well. The Preserve is also a site for faculty and student research.  Preliminary surveys of plant and fungal communities of the Preserve are being conducted.

Robert Gilley Field Station

The Robert Gilley Field Station (over 200 acres) extends along a section of the South Fork of the New River in Watauga County, North Carolina. Plant communities include a mature oak forest, a selectively cut hardwood forest, an old field undergoing secondary succession, and mixed hardwood forests.  The last habitat contains an Appalachian endemic, the Carolina Hemlock. There is a high diversity of spring wildflowers on the slopes above the New River. The Gilley Field Station is currently being used by the Anthropology and Biology Departments for faculty and student research projects. These projects include archeological surveys, a reconstruction of an early Native American hunting camp, plant and soil ecology research and a Cornetum. The Cornetum consists of a diversity of dogwood species from temperate regions around the world that have been characterized at a molecular level.

Elicia Caroon Johnston Biological Reserve

The Elicia Caroon Johnston Biological Reserve is located just off the Blue Ridge Parkway near Aho Gap, North Carolina. The Reserve consists of approximately 100 acres including a deep gorge with mountain streams and cliff faces. The slopes of the reserve have a rich diversity of wildflowers, shrubs, and trees typical of the higher elevations of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Most of the forest growing on the talus slopes of the reserve is represented by cove hardwood species such as a variety of magnolias, buckeyes and maples interspersed with hemlocks and rhododendrons. Several small clear-cut plots and an area subjected to a severe burn several decades ago allow for observation of plant succession following these disturbances.