Provision of Growth Chambers and Greenhouse Renovation for Blandy Farm

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The Blandy Experimental Farm is a 700-acre field research station of the University of Virginia. It is comprised of a mosaic of old fields, woodlots, pasture, cropland, and at its center, the State Arboretum of Virginia. Research projects underway at the Farm focus on various aspects of the population and community ecology of plants and their insect and mammalian herbivores. While no agricultural research is conducted at the Farm, crop plants and their insect pests have been used to test hypotheses of general ecological importance. The Farm is well suited to support research examining patterns or processes at several spatial scales such as the movement of nutrients and organisms between different habitats or the interactions of individual plants or animals occurring at the level of the local neighborhood. The Farm is eminently suited for manipulative field experiments in old field or forest habitats, or in experimental plantings or gardens. This project will provide funds to make improvements to an existing greenhouse and to purchase two controlled environmental chambers. With the additional greenhouse space and controlled environment chambers on-site, Blandy Farm will be able to provide researchers with the facilities to perform experiments under three levels of environmental control: field, greenhouse, and growth chamber.