This award supports construction of a new research greenhouse for the Donald and Sylvia McLaughlin Reserve, a site within the University of California Natural Reserve System that protects 7000 acres of serpentine-dominated landscape in the north Coast Range of California. The Reserve has figured strongly into the emergence of serpentine vegetation as a model system for studies of plant ecological genetics and spatial ecology and is a research site of national significance. Such studies use experimental field techniques such as common gardens, reciprocal transplants, controlled crosses, and plant diversity manipulations, which typically require some level of greenhouse use. Currently, researchers rely on greenhouse facilities at their home campuses, and the complicated logistics involved in transporting large numbers of live plants to the Reserve with precise timing has limited experimentation. The on-site greenhouse will allow visiting researchers, especially those from out-of-state institutions, to take full advantage of the Reserve's potential as a model system. Although the Reserve is over 12 years old, it has had on-site staff for just over three years, and in that short time it has embarked on an ambitious outreach program directed at its neighboring, rural community where there are few opportunities for interactions with practicing scientists. The Reserve has fostered these interactions by creating a "Science as a Way of Knowing" lecture series, and by bringing interactive science exhibits for children to the annual fair. Expansion of these programs is planned, including the addition of training workshops for K-12 teachers. The Reserve also serves as a resource for regional landowners and land management agencies seeking technical advice on the management of natural resources. The greenhouse is expected to contribute to these efforts through lessons for both children and teachers, particularly in restoration ecology. The greenhouse will indirectly increase opportunities for interactions between scientists and the public by increasing the pool of researchers that Reserve draws upon for its outreach efforts, and it will increase the body of research that has direct implications for environmental management practices at the regional and national level.
