UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

ORIGIN & FUNCTIONS

The Center is the lead institution for environmental studies within the University System of Maryland. Its three laboratories are strategically located to provide access to Maryland's principal environments and their natural resources. Center programs feature research on natural and disturbed ecosystems and their living resources, and direct service to the public and State government. They also provide introductory and technical environmental education and (with other University institutions) offer graduate instruction through universitywide programs, such as the Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences Program.

Much Center research concerns the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed, but world environmental issues, such as global warming, biodiversity, and ecological economics also are studied. Additional research covers watershed ecology (lakes, streams, forests, and animals); fisheries science; environmental policy; environmental chemistry and toxicology; oceanography; aquaculture; and wetlands. Education focuses on ecology of coastal systems, resource analysis, the process of public decision-making in matters that affect environmental quality, and environmental education in cooperation with public agencies and groups.

Under the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science are the Appalachian Laboratory, the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Horn Point Laboratory, and the Maryland Sea Grant College.

APPALACHIAN LABORATORY

The Appalachian Laboratory began in 1962 as the Appalachian Environmental Laboratory and received its present name in 1997. Adjacent to the Frostburg State University campus, the Appalachian Laboratory studies the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, including the ecology of lakes and streams, animal behavior and evolutionary biology, and forest ecology.

CHESAPEAKE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY

At Solomons Island on the Patuxent River, the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory conducts research on ecosystems, environmental chemistry and toxicology, environmental policy, and fisheries science. The Laboratory also is home port for the Center's fleet of research vessels.

Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Solomons, Maryland, April 2001. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

HORN POINT LABORATORY

The Horn Point Laboratory (formerly Horn Point Environmental Laboratory) received its present name in 1997. The Laboratory is located on an 850-acre site by the Choptank River near Cambridge. Administrative offices of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science also are housed on this property, first given to the City of Cambridge by the late Francis P. DuPont. In 1971, the property was conveyed by Cambridge to the State for use by the University of Maryland. Here, Laboratory research includes aquaculture studies, coastal oceanography, wetlands and seagrass ecology, and seafood science.

MARYLAND SEA GRANT COLLEGE

In 1977, the University of Maryland was selected as the site of a sea grant program by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In recognition of the program's accomplishments in estuarine research and public education, the Administration designated the program a national sea grant college in 1982. Affiliated with the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute in 1985, the College was transferred to the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science in 1999.

The Maryland Sea Grant College focuses its research and educational efforts on the health and productivity of the Chesapeake Bay, with particular emphasis on environmental studies and management, toxic contaminants, fisheries and aquaculture, and oyster disease research. Located at the University of Maryland, College Park, the College offers grant support to researchers at all Maryland academic institutions and research laboratories.

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