Uploaded October 2015 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Step into the Brackenridge Field Lab, a unique laboratory surrounded not by white walls and lab coats, but the raw, breathing nature of a preserved wilderness. Brackenridge is Austin's premier urban field research station, a vast swath of virtually untouched land just outside downtown, where students and researchers alike have an unparalleled opportunity to study ecology, climate change, genomics, animal behavior, and a variety of other fields. Here, three professors of integrative biology share their experiences working at BFL.
Dr. Larry Gilbert, director of BFL, has been doing research there for decades, but one of his biggest priorities these days is ensuring that BFL continues to exist. Read more about his research here:
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~gilbert/
Molly Cummings' research focuses on the mechanisms that drive biodiversity through animal behavior. She currently studies the role of sexual signaling and mate choice through the colorful ornamentation in a species of Gulf fish called Northern Swordtail. Read more about her research here:
http://www.bio.utexas.edu/research/cummingslab/index.html
Tom Juenger works with a variety of plants, but his collection of switchgrass just might save the planet. The species his lab studies (Panicum virgatum) is an especially resilient strain of switchgrass that could provide a sustainable source of biofuel in the near future. Read more about his research here:
https://sites.cns.utexas.edu/juenger_lab/
Read more about BFL here:
https://www.bfl.utexas.edu
Music:
Century of Aeroplanes - "Process 1/5"
Step into the Brackenridge Field Lab, a unique laboratory surrounded not by white walls and lab coats, but the raw, breathing nature of a preserved wilderness. Brackenridge is Austin's premier urban field research station, a vast swath of virtually untouched land just outside downtown, where students and researchers alike have an unparalleled opportunity to study ecology, climate change, genomics, animal behavior, and a variety of other fields. Here, three professors of integrative biology share their experiences working at BFL.
Dr. Larry Gilbert, director of BFL, has been doing research there for decades, but one of his biggest priorities these days is ensuring that BFL continues to exist. Read more about his research here:
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~gilbert/
Molly Cummings' research focuses on the mechanisms that drive biodiversity through animal behavior. She currently studies the role of sexual signaling and mate choice through the colorful ornamentation in a species of Gulf fish called Northern Swordtail. Read more about her research here:
http://www.bio.utexas.edu/research/cummingslab/index.html
Tom Juenger works with a variety of plants, but his collection of switchgrass just might save the planet. The species his lab studies (Panicum virgatum) is an especially resilient strain of switchgrass that could provide a sustainable source of biofuel in the near future. Read more about his research here:
https://sites.cns.utexas.edu/juenger_lab/
Read more about BFL here:
https://www.bfl.utexas.edu
Music:
Century of Aeroplanes - "Process 1/5"
