Provision of Growth Chambers and Greenhouse Renovation for Blandy Farm

布兰迪实验农场是弗吉尼亚大学占地700英亩的野外研究站。它由古老的田野、林地、牧场和农田组成，中心是弗吉尼亚州州立植物园。农场正在进行的研究项目侧重于植物及其昆虫和哺乳动物草食动物的种群和群落生态的各个方面。虽然农场没有进行农业研究，但农作物及其害虫已被用来检验具有普遍生态重要性的假说。该农场非常适合支持研究在几个空间尺度上的模式或过程，例如营养物质和有机体在不同栖息地之间的移动，或在当地邻里层面上发生的个别植物或动物的相互作用。该农场非常适合在旧的田野或森林栖息地，或在试验性种植园或花园中进行操纵性田间实验。该项目将提供资金，以改进现有的温室，并购买两个受控制的环境室。有了现场额外的温室空间和受控环境室，布兰迪农场将能够为研究人员提供在三个环境控制级别下进行实验的设施：田间、温室和生长室。

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.