Plant Biology Research Facilities

GREENHOUSE FACILITIES
The School of Biological Sciences maintains over 10,000 square feet of greenhouse space available for research use on the main campus. Space is compartmentalized permitting maintenance of different temperature regimes. All rooms are equipped with evaporative coolers and deionized water. A lathhouse adjacent to the greenhouse is available for research plants requiring cooler winter temperatures. Common-use laboratory space is available for all activities in support of greenhouse research.

ARBORETUM
The UCI Arboretum is a 14-acre garden and research facility located on the north campus, approximately one mile from the main campus. The Arboretum features extensive collections of South African plants, a native plant collection, and space available for faculty and graduate student experimentation.

The UCI Arboretum is located just south of the corner of Campus Drive and Jamboree Road on the UCI North Campus. The Arboretum's regular hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

ECOLOGICAL RESERVE
The Ecological Reserve on the UCI main campus is approximately 60 acres in size, and consists of patches of coastal sage scrub surrounded by grasslands. A number of endangered or threatened plant and animal species are found in the Preserve, which is used extensively for teaching and research. Research projects have included studies of the long-term population dynamics of the California Gnatcatcher, an endangered bird species, genetic variability in the multi-stemmed Dudleya, a threatened plant species, and an analysis of the reproductive system of bladderpods (Isomeris arborea), a coastal sage scrub species common in the Reserve. The grassland is largely alien in composition, although native bunchgrasses and native nongrass species are common in some areas.

RATIO MASS SPECTROMETRY FACILITY

The UC Irvine IRMS Facility in the School of Physical Sciences and the School of Biological Sciences houses a variety of instrumentation to prepare and analyze gases, organic matter, inorganic samples, and water for stable isotope analysis. IRMS are used to measure the ratio of rare, heavy isotopes to common, light isotopes. There are five IRMS at UC Irvine to measure stable isotope ratios of the light elements: Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, and Hydrogen. The facility is located in the Department of Earth System Science.