Some Thoughts on Keeping Field Stations and Marine Labs Afloat in Turbulent Times

Field stations and marine labs have long been important components of the nation’s and the world’s research infrastructure, and many believe that their importance will increase in the future. But many are struggling financially. A number have been closed, and others are threatened with closure. Last year, the National Research Council completed a study at the request of the National Science Foundation to assess and make recommendations for field stations and marine labs if they are to survive and thrive in the twenty-first century. I chaired the committee that produced the report entitled Enhancing the Value and Sustainability of Field Stations and Marine Laboratories in the 21st Century (NRC 2014). Preparation of the report was a collaborative effort of 12 scientists with extensive field station experience. The report (NRC 2014) was released in September 2014. In it, we pointed out that 75 percent of field stations (the term used here, as in the report, includes marine laboratories) with US addresses are affiliated with universities. Although being part of a university often is important, it is not a guarantee of fiscal viability. Many universities are facing their own financial challenges. Mergers of independent laboratories with universities bring with them the well-known challenges of integrating two distinctly different cultures. Most field stations have less formal organizational structures and bureaucracies than do large universities. Some field stations whose university affiliations date back many years have dealt with the clash of cultures by escaping from the campus both physically and intellectually. This separation can come at a cost, particularly when campuses are struggling: The field stations are out of sight, so they’re out of mind. The directors of field stations need to stay in close communication with their parent institutions, especially with those campus leaders who set institutional priorities and who are responsible for funding allocations and infrastructure priorities. In a statement written for the report, E. O. Wilson observed that “in the not too distant future a much larger share of biological research, from biochemistry to ecology, will be conducted at biological field stations that consist of nature preserves and have ready access to laboratories equipped to analyze and monitor processes at every level of biological organization, including the molecular.” He went on to state, “Field stations will also serve as key centers of education at all levels.” These facilities will take on added importance in the years to come as the extent and rate of environmental change grow more rapidly. Many field stations are located in areas relatively undisturbed by humans, a smaller number are located in heavily populated urban areas, and still others are located along these population and environmental gradients. Together, they have the capacity to document the progressive intrusion of humans into nature and the increasing modification of it that results in the loss of habitat, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. We can use these facilities to help figure out how to slow the rate of environmental change and to contain and then compress human activities to leave more of the Earth undisturbed in larger, unfragmented chunks. The data, information, and knowledge developed through studies at these facilities could be translated into action to increase the capacity of humans to adapt to environmental surprises such as extreme weather events (e.g., Hurricane Sandy) and to elevate the public’s awareness of the insidious creep of climate change, which occurs at a rate that is too easy for decisionand policymakers to ignore. Field stations perform another important function. There is a growing recognition of the importance of integrating the various disciplines, something that recently has been given the name convergence. Field stations have been doing this for decades and some for centuries. But they can do much more. Field stations are ideal places to bring scholars and students from different disciplines together not just for a seminar or a lecture but for a weekend, a week, or even an entire field season to live and work together, to share ideas, and to benefit from the creative abrasion that results from the collision of ideas—particularly ideas from different disciplines. They can start by increasing the number of social scientists—both professionals and students—and representatives of the arts and humanities who participate in field station programs to address major environmental and societal issues. And through connectivity with other field stations, they can benefit from dialogue with communities in quite different environments, where the same issues have quite different expressions in both degree and in kind. Networking of field stations and marine labs in clusters around natural biogeophysical areas is essential if they are to demonstrate their true value in an interactive community. Field stations should be hotbeds for the exploration of ideas and pathways BioScience Advance Access published March 27, 2015