Celebrating 87 years of research, teaching and learning at the Highlands Biological Station

Jim Costa

Highlands Biological Station • Western Carolina University Highlands NC Cullowhee NC

Local FocusGlobal Perspective

• Founded 1927

!!

• University of North Carolina system 1976

• Administered by WCU since 1981

• ~25 acre campus near downtown Highlands• Residential facilities sleeping 38

• Dining hall• Teaching & research laboratories

• Classrooms• Library, GIS & Aquatics labs

• Full wireless campus• 12-acre native plant Botanical Garden

• Historic WPA-built museum

Now in our 87th year!highlandsbiological.org

Why Highlands?

Latitude • Precipitation • Antiquity • Topography • Climate History

Several factors converge to create a ‘hotspot’ in our region, with biological species richness

nearly unrivaled in the temperate zones of earth.

More flowering plant species can be found in a single southern Appalachian Rich Cove forest

than in all of Europe.

Scientific Crossroads for over 200 years

HBSAcademic Program

~ 15 accredited courses and workshops

each summer

Immersion.

Field Site of the UNC-IE since 2001Coursework & field research focused

on applied study of the southern Appalachian environment

@

UNC Chapel Hill

Western Carolina Univ.

NC State Univ.

Student Research

Educational Outreach

Highlands Nature Center

• Weekly kids’ programs• Zahner Lecture Series

• Science camps• School outreach: Macon, Jackson,

Swain Co. public schools• Special events

Established 1962~12 acres

~450 native plant species in a naturalistic setting

WetlandsUpland woods

Cove forestRock outcrop

Highlands Botanical Garden

In celebration of 50 years of theHighlands Botanical Garden

~ 1962 - 2012 ~

–Southern Appalachian Forest CoalitionAsheville

“Our green is our gold”

Aesthetic valuetourism, recreation;

spiritual value

Scientific valueecological & evolutionary processes

Educational valuenatural classroom

Economic valueforestry; medicinals

and otherbioproducts;

ecosystem services

Local FocusGlobal Perspective

Highlands Biodiversity Scholarshipest. 2007

Bob Zahner Endowed Fund in Environmental Studies

est. 2009

A tradition of research support by the Highlands Biological Foundation, Inc.

for over 50 years

• Basic research on the unique ecology & organisms of the southern Appalachians. Some recent studies:

– Neurobiology and behavior of salamanders

– Biogeography and diversity of wood-decaying fungi

– Physiological adaptation in sun vs. shade plants

– Genetic analysis of a salamander hybrid zone

– Inhibitory effects of salamander skin secretions on fungal pathogens

Our NaturalLaboratory

– Interspecific competition between three Neotropical migratory bird species

• Applied research on human interaction with the land and biota of the region. For example:

Our NaturalLaboratory

– Comparison of monitoring approaches for southern Appalachian stream fish

– Road construction on USFS land and ecological “edge effects”

– Analysis of montane golf courses as salamander habitat

– Analysis of soil microbial communities of Fraser Fir and potential use in reforestation

– Pathogenic analysis of Rhododendron decline

New salamander species named for

former HBS Director

Dick Bruce This species is evolutionarily most closely related to the Eurycea. It appears to be rare, and is likely to be of conservation concern. Males are patterned dorsally and have proportionately large nasal cirri. Females are unicolored and either lack or have vestigial nasal cirri. Known only from Stephens County, GA. With a total length of only ~5 cm (~2 inches), an adult Urspelerpes could coil comfortably on a quarter. While other

July 2009

Dozens of graduate theses & dissertationsHundreds of scientific papers, reports, monographs

Legacy:

Conservation Biology (2007 21:159-167)

HBS Conservation Biology of Amphibians class

Canadian Journal of Zoology (2012 90:1128-1135)

Exploration and DiscoveryLocal FocusGlobal Perspective

Darwin  and  geographical  botany:  

the  Appalachian  Connection

“...I have been reading a paper by you on plants on mountains of Carolina... in which you state that most are

the same with the plants of the N. States & Canada...

I remember Bartram makes the same remark with respect to several trees on the Occone Mts.—not that I know where

these Mountains are.—” [Darwin to Gray, 1856]

My dear Gray —

My research interests: • Ecology, evolution & behavior of social insects • History of evolutionary biology

Harvard, 2006

Harvard, 2009

Alfred Russel Wallace1823 – 1913

• Pre-eminent tropical biologist of his day• The founder of modern evolutionary biogeography

• Co-discoverer with Darwin of the principle of natural selection

Rio Negro

Four Years in Amazonia1848-1852

Eight Years in Southeast Asia1854-1862

“Species Notebook”1854-1859

))))))))

2013

Forthcoming, 2014

Come visit!highlandsbiological.org