A MODERNIZED AQUATICS LABORATORY FOR RESEARCH AND TRAINING AT HIGHLANDS BIOLOGICAL STATION

近90年来，高地生物站（HBS; highlandsbiological.org）一直是科学研究、教学、培训以及公众教育和丰富的中心，重点是南部蓝岭陡崖地区的生物丰富性。蓝岭悬崖流域和水生生态和生物区系的研究长期以来一直是HBS的一项重要研究活动，因为该站靠近高地北卡罗来纳州、南卡罗来纳州和格鲁吉亚的几个主要河流系统的源头。这些河流系统有大西洋和墨西哥湾流域，并支持北美最丰富的水生生物多样性。HBS水上运动实验室建于20世纪50年代末，为科学界服务了50多年，支持了众多科学研究和专业水上运动课程，用于教学和培训本科生，研究生以及全国范围内的联邦和州机构生物学家。这个项目的目的是现代化和扩大这个现在过时的实验室的时候，蓝岭陡崖流域正在经历加速变化，从开发到降水模式到大坝拆除，影响或预计将以复杂的方式改变森林水文和溪流和河流健康的活动。美国大陆东部最潮湿的地区，南部山区及其水生资源是一个天然的实验室和教室，也是学习流域和河流系统如何生态功能和应对环境变化的理想环境。该项目旨在通过以下方式重新配置、更新和扩展HBS水上运动实验室：（1）通过升级过时的电气、照明、HVAC、绝缘和管道来实现实验室基础设施的现代化;（2）重新安排和重新布置现有的研究水箱和人工溪流;（3）扩展研究实验室，以提供长凳空间、洗手间，并容纳升级的研究设备;以及（4）通过重新铺设室外人工溪流和为现场设备创建存储空间来重新组织和升级相邻的外部空间。升级后的HBS水生实验室将支持更广泛的区域河流和溪流系统生态的受控实验室和实地研究，提高对这些系统的科学认识，从而提供规划，管理和缓解所需的信息。该设施的扩建也旨在与HBS日益增长的公共教育和丰富活动相吻合，向K-12学生和终身学习者介绍水产科学的设备和方法。

For nearly 90 years the Highlands Biological Station (HBS; highlandsbiological.org) has been a center for scientific research, teaching, training as well as public education and enrichment focused on the biological richness of the southern Blue Ridge Escarpment region. The study of Blue Ridge escarpment watersheds and aquatic ecology and biota has long been an important research activity at HBS because of the Station's proximity to the headwaters of several major river systems of upland North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. These river systems have both Atlantic and Gulf drainage and support some of the richest aquatic diversity in North America. The HBS Aquatics Laboratory was built in the late 1950s and has served the scientific community well for over 5 decades, supporting numerous scientific studies and specialized aquatics courses for teaching and training undergraduates, graduate students, and Federal and State agency biologists nationwide. This project aims to modernize and expand this now-dated laboratory at a time when Blue Ridge Escarpment watersheds are experiencing accelerated changes, from development to precipitation patterns to dam removal, activities that affect or are projected to alter forest hydrology and stream and river health in complex ways. The wettest region in the eastern continental US, the southern mountain region and its aquatic resources are a natural laboratory and classroom, and an ideal setting for learning about how watersheds and river systems function ecologically and respond to environmental changes. This project aims to reconfigure, update, and expand the HBS Aquatics Laboratory by (1) modernizing the lab infrastructure by upgrading outdated electrical, lighting, HVAC, insulation, and plumbing; (2) rearranging and replumbing existing research tanks and artificial streams; (3) expanding the research lab to provide bench space, restroom, and accommodate upgraded research equipment; and (4) reorganizing and upgrading the adjacent exterior space by replumbing outdoor artificial streams and creating storage for field equipment. The upgraded HBS Aquatics Laboratory will support a greater breadth of controlled laboratory and field studies of regional riverine and stream system ecology, improving the scientific understanding of these systems and thus providing the information needed to inform planning, management, and mitigation. Expansion of the facility is also designed to dovetail with the growing public education and enrichment activities at HBS, introducing K-12 students and life-long learners to the equipment and methodologies of aquatic sciences.