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The Zoology Animal Care Center
The Department has access to a University animal care facility. This unit provides housing to a variety of species used in physiological and biomedical research and, as well, provides aviary space and extensive ponds for stickleback research. The facility is run by a director and several other full-time staff including a clinical veterinarian.
The
13 experimental ponds are located on the South Campus of the University of
British Columbia. Each pond is 23 x 23 m2 with a bottom that slopes gradually
from 0 m at the edges to 3 m deep in the center. The ponds were constructed
in 1991 and then seeded with plants and invertebrates from Paxton Lake, Texada
Island, British Columbia, an 11-ha lake that is the source of limnetic and
benthic stickleback species used in pond experiment. The ponds are lined with
polyethylene overlaid with 0.25 m of sand, and are bordered with limestone
extracted from surface mines on Texada Island. Apart from their construction,
initialization, and use in prior experiments, the ponds are unmanipulated
environments.
The C. elegans Gene Knockout Project is part of the Biotechnology Lab at UBC. For more information please see their respective web sites.
The Department provides both freshwater and marine holding facilities, although the latter are now mostly used for housing teaching material. The freshwater system is used extensively for studies on respiratory metabolism of trout and salmon, and on diving-physiology of birds and other vertebrates. Long-term marine research is done through collaborative association with the Fisheries and Oceans Canada research facility (West Vancouver Laboratory) or at the Bamfield Marine Station.
Located on the west coast of Vancouver Island (Barkley Sound) the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre undertakes research and teaching in all aspects of marine biological sciences. Situated on 75 hectares of waterfront property adjacent to a diverse range of high quality marine environments, the Marine Sciences Centre is the only facility of its kind on the outer coast between Oregon and Alaska.
Facilities include well-serviced laboratories with an excellent seawater system, a 12-metre research vessel, excellent scuba-support facilities, stores, a museum, lecture rooms, teaching laboratories, and shop facilities. On-site food and housing services are available year-round. The station library includes more than 6,000 volumes, 70 current journals, and a 30,000-piece reprint collection. Titles of publications based on work done at Bamfield are available as a publication list (currently more than 650 titles). Species lists of marine plants, invertebrates,and fish collected in the vicinity of the station are also available on request.
Current research includes work on plankton biology, neurophysiology, environmental and biochemical physiology of fish and invertebrates; ecology and behaviour of invertebrates, fish, and birds; intertidal ecology, marine plant ecology; plus several aquaculture projects on marine plants and shellfish, including abalone.
Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre facilities are available to scientists and technicians from the university community as well as private sector and government. Information regarding user fees, scientific support services, and reservations may be obtained from the Director or Research Coordinator.
Address: Bamfield, B.C. V0R 1B0
Telephone: (250) 728-3301
FAX: (250) 728-3452
http://www.bms.bc.ca
The Malcolm Knapp Research Forest is a major facility of the University available to students for field research in terrestrial and freshwater biology. Operated by the Faculty of Forestry and available to all University researchers, the Forest occupies nearly 5,200 hectares of forested mountainous terrain near Maple Ridge, B.C., about 65 km east of the University.
The Knapp Research Forest contains a wide variety of habitats and organisms typical of the oligotrophic soils, streams, and lakes of the coastal coniferous rainforest. Terrestrial habitats range from recent clear to old-growth stands at elevations from 100-800 metres. Wildlife species are fully protected with deer, black bear, snowshoe hare, beaver, coyote, and grouse being common. Low-nutrient streams, ponds, lakes, and bogs support amphibious and aquatic organisms, including several species of trout, salmon, and other fishes.
Both pure and applied research questions are encouraged by the Forest administration. Studies at genetical, physiological, ecological, and evolutionary levels are promoted, including manipulative studies that disturb natural conditions.
The dynamics of the vertebrates in the boreal forest of the southwest Yukon are being studied by a group of eight ecologists at U.B.C., the University of Alberta, and the University of Toronto. The focus of this 10-year project is the snowshoe hare, Lepus americanus, which is the dominant prey species in the spruce forests of the Yukon. Snowshoe hares have a 10-year cycle and are currently declining from a peak in 1990. All the major predators of snowshoe hares increase and decline in abundance with the hares, and these predators - Canada lynx, red fox, coyote, great-horned owl and goshawk -form the main focus of this group project.
The hypothesis being tested is that the vertebrate community in the boreal forest is organized by predation. Predators responding directly to the snowshoe hare cycle affect the abundance of their secondary prey, such as red squirrels, arctic ground squirrels, mice, voles, porcupines, ptarmigan, spruce grouse, and passerine birds, so that the whole community fluctuates in step with the hare cycle.
To test this idea the density and food habits of all major predators, and changes in numbers of all prey are being measured. Much of these data are obtained through radio-telemetry of both predator and prey individuals. In addition, three large-scale manipulations are underway:
(1) predator exclusion: in 1987 and 1988 two electric fenses were built around 1 km2 of boreal forest to prevent all mammal predators from entering the area. In addition, within the electric fence fish net was placed over 10 ha of boreal forest to prevent avian predators from using this smaller area.
(2) food addition: by adding supplemental rabbit chow to two areas, snowshoe hare density was increased two- to four-fold. These prey "hot spots" are being examined for any effects in predator foraging-patterns. The fenced populations both with and without added food have declined more slowly than unfenced controls.
(3) aerial fertilization: by adding nitrogen fertilizer to two 1 km2 areas, vegetation production has been improved. Plants at Kluane are slow-growing and soil nutrients are so low as to be difficult to measure. It is not known how low-soil nutrients affect animal population densities in the boreal forest. Fertilization has had a marked effect on plant production and has altered competitive relations between species. It has not, however, had a detectable effect on herbivore populations.
At present, 6 graduate students and 6 support personnel are working full-time on these three major projects.
J.D. McPhail, M.Sc.(Brit. Col.), Ph.D.(McG.), Curator of Ichthyological Museum
G.G.E. Scudder, B.Sc.(Wales), D.Phil.(Oxon), F.R.E.S., F.E.S.C., F.R.S.C., Curator of Spencer Entomological Museum
J.N.M. Smith, B.Sc.(Edin.), D.Phil.(Oxon), Curator of Cowan Vertebrate Museum
The UBC Zoological Museums, housed in the Biological Sciences building, contain material representative of a large range of vertebrate and invertebrate taxa and support a wide variety of scientific research conducted at institutions worldwide.
The Cowan Vertebrate Museum has over 17,000 mammal specimens, 15,200 birds, 6650 bird eggs, and 1400 amphibians and reptiles. All specimens are catalogued on a computerized database. Major geographical representation is for western Canada, particularly British Columbia. Specimens date back to the early 1900's; important historical accessions include the K. Racey collection of birds and mammals, the H.R. Macmillan ornithological collection, and the zoological collections of W.S. Maguire and J. Wynne.
The George J. Spencer Entomological Museum is the largest entomological collection in western Canada, containing over 600,000 insect specimens, mostly from British Columbia and the Yukon. Notable holdings include the Stace-Smith collection of Coleoptera, the Foxlee collection of Diptera and Hymenoptera, the Downes collection of Hemiptera, and the Llewellyn-Jones collection of Lepidoptera. GIS cataloguing of holdings is in progress.
The Fish Museum has one of the two largest collections of fish in Canada, with over 23,000 catalogued entries comprising over 800,000 specimens. Half the collection is from North America and the remainder from throughout the world. In addition to preserved specimens, the collection is rich in skeletal and x-ray material. The computerized database permits searching for specific geographical areas and/or faunal associations. Curator: Dr. E. Taylor
The department has 5 computer rooms to provide faculty and grad students with access to UNIX, Macintosh, and IBM-compatible ("Wintel") computers. In addition, there is a lab of Wintel machines used for teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, and a Macintosh lab that is open to all Faculty of Science undergrads. The Zoology Computing Unit (ZCU) has overall responsibility for departmental computing facilities. It runs the computer rooms, maintains the office computers, and assists with troubleshooting, upgrades and purchases for all computers in the department.
All students have access to e-mail and the web for free, as long as they sign on from locations other than the shared departmental computer rooms (such as a research lab or office). This free access is available either through the ZCU or the University Computing Services. Hands-on use of all departmental computing resources costs each user a $100 annnual contribution, which is usually paid by the thesis supervisor.
                    
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