The Bowdoin Scientific Station (BSS) is a biological field station located on Kent Island, New Brunswick. The island, ringed by 7 km of sandy beaches and rocky intertidal, comprises 125 ha of boreal forest, old fields, meadows, and marsh, and has easy access to islands in the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine. Since 1935 the field station, owned and supported by Bowdoin College, has promoted biological research by faculty, graduate students and undergraduates from numerous U.S. colleges and universities, resulting in over 3000 visits to the station and the publication of 82 scientific papers. The field station has recently had a change in administration, modernized facilities and scientific equipment, and expanded the research program. In 1988, investigators from 10 institutions studied vertebrate social behavior, navigation and orientation, development and diet, population biology, atmospheric chemistry, and sensory physiology. Research space that once was adequate is now limiting as more researchers study at the station and as their increasingly sophisicated research requires better laboratory facilities. This project provides funds to cover 50% of the construction costs of a new laboratory wing at BSS. The funds will be matched by Bowdoin College. The new laboratory will provide private space for five research projects, with a common area for shared equipment (microcomputers, data loggers, electronic balances, microscopes, etc., already available at BSS). Improved facilities will attract leading scientists, widen the scope of research at BSS, and enhance undergraduate research opportunities.
