The Brackenridge Field Laboratory is part of the University of Texas at Austin’s Biodiversity Center. An 82-acre biological research site, it is part of an almost 400-acre tract of land originally donated to the University in 1910 by George W. Brackenridge, a former University of Texas regent. Here, UT undergraduates extend their life sciences education and researchers, including faculty and graduate students, make discoveries that contribute to UT Austin’s top-10 ranked program in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior. Research is facilitated through the use of six greenhouses and an 18,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art lab space all located 3 miles from the main campus.
The Brackenridge Field Laboratory property is comprised of areas of rich natural vegetation, including:
- a native bluestem prairie
- old pasture land
- a former quarry
- juniper woodlands
- Firefly Meadow
- pecan river bottom &
- the Colorado River.
This habitat diversity supports thousands of species and their unique interactions, providing the basis for an array of studies. The long term studies of these species within their habitats provides a foundation for further research into the ecology, biodiversity and ecosystem function of the area.
Additionally, several species new to science have been discovered here and some were named from specimens first collected on the site.
Historic discoveries have been made through research projects at BFL. For example, research on ants in the 1970s and early 1980s provided the only before- and after-documentation of the ecological impact of invading fire ants. BFL is the site of the University of Texas Fire Ant Research Project, where the idea of using tiny phorid flies to control the Red Imported Fire Ant grew to become an international program. These phorid flies are parasitoids of the ants in their native range in Argentina and Brazil. The first South American phorids were imported to North American and BFL in June 1994 and the first permitted release of these flies in North America was at BFL in November of 1995. Many of the major names in phorid research across the county were trained at BFL, and this lab is one of only two in the country where basic research is being done on phorid species that may someday be useful in the fight against the Red Imported Fire Ant.
By the Numbers
7th best Ecology, Evolution and Behavior graduate program in the nation 50 years of long-term data collection in an urban ecosystem 82 acres of prairies, pecan bottoms, juniper woods and lakeshore 3 miles from campus 500 or more students take courses at BFL every year 1200 species of butterflies and moths 160+ species of birds |
370 species of plants 200 species of native bees 18,000 sq. ft. of state-of-the-art lab space 500,000 specimens in the entomology collections 6 greenhouses 15-20 faculty conducting research and teaching $4 million generated in grants and endowments annually |