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The University of Texas at Austin Brackenridge Field Laboratory (BFL) is a unique urban research station located on 88 acres of land that borders the Colorado River along Lake Austin Boulevard. From the early days of the University of Texas, biologists have used this tract of land for research, teaching, and specimen collection, and since the establishment of the Field Laboratory in 1967, BFL has continued to evolve as a center for biodiversity research in Texas.
BFL is one of the few research stations to be located within an urban area so close to the main university campus. Because of this unusual proximity, professors at the University of Texas are able to conduct classes at BFL within the scope of a regular academic day. The field lab plays a strong role in UT undergraduate teaching in the life sciences and is a valuable magnet for attracting top faculty and graduate students to UT Austin. The Brackenridge Field Laboratory is home to thousands of species including at least 163 species of birds, 19 mammals including bobcats, 377 species of plants, 60 species of ants, and 1200 species of moths and butterflies. In the 1980s a mountain lion was even spotted at BFL. Additionally, several species new to science have been discovered here and have been named from specimens first collected on the site.
The Brackenridge Field Lab is home to the University of Texas entomology collection, which holds insects from all over the globe as well as one of the most complete collections of dragonflies and damselflies to be found. Natural areas like BFL are akin to a library of species and the information that they contain. Historical baseline data taken on the biota of BFL represent important benchmarks with which to measure the impacts of environmental change. For example, it was data from research projects on ants at BFL in the 1970s and early 1980s that 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 first began. 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 new phorid species that may someday be useful in the fight against the Red Imported Fire Ant.
BFL is used each year by an average of 15 faculty, more than 20 graduate students, and 200-300 undergraduate students, as well as visiting researchers from all across the country and recently a National Geographic film crew who spent several weeks on site filming a documentary on fire ants.
The Brackenridge Field Lab has been the site of numerous workshops for Austin area science teachers and other educators, lectures, tours and other programs for local interest groups and school children.
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BFL Mission Statement
Brackenridge Field Laboratory is a unique research unit because of the breadth and interdisciplinary nature of research it supports...
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