Article ID: CBB001320031

Labs in the Field? Rocky Mountain Biological Stations in the Early Twentieth Century (2012)

unapi

Vetter, Jeremy (Author)


Journal of the History of Biology
Volume: 45
Pages: 587--611


Publication Date: 2012
Edition Details: Part of a special issue on 20th-Century Field Biology
Language: English

Biological field stations proliferated in the Rocky Mountains region of the western United States during the early decades of the twentieth century. This essay examines these Rocky Mountain field stations as hybrid lab-field sites from the perspective of the field side of the dichotomy: as field sites with raised walls rather than as laboratories whose walls with the natural world have been lowered. Not only were these field stations transformed to be more like laboratories, but they were also embedded within the particular regional environmental and institutional context of the Rocky Mountains. Using the University of Colorado's Mountain Laboratory at Tolland and other contemporaneous sites as examples, this essay analyzes key features of these sites, including their location within transportation networks, buildings, equipment, personnel, scheduling, recreational and social activities, and other material and social practices on the ground. Considering both the distinctive and shared characteristics of the Rocky Mountain field stations in comparison to other types of field stations provides a more complete picture of the diversity and range of lab-field hybrid sites in the biological sciences in the early twentieth-century United States.

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Article Kohler, Robert E. (2012) Practice and Place in Twentieth-Century Field Biology: A Comment. Journal of the History of Biology (p. 579). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001320031/

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Authors & Contributors
Kohler, Robert E.
Tonn, Jenna
Kurtulmus, A Faik
Wolfe, Douglas A.
Stark, Laura
Spurlock, James William
Concepts
Laboratories
Field work
Research institutes; research stations
Biology
Zoology
Science and politics
Time Periods
20th century, early
20th century
20th century, late
19th century
21st century
Places
United States
Bermuda Islands
Antarctica
Germany
North Carolina (U.S.)
California (U.S.)
Institutions
Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences
Project Sealab
Skylab Program
Hastings Natural History Reservation (Calif.)
Southeast Fisheries Science Center (Miami, Florida)
Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research (Beaufort, N. C.)
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