Rock Creek Research Labs
The Conservation and Research Center’s extensive programs in conservation and science are located both at the facilities in Front Royal, Virginia, as well as facilities located at the National Zoo in Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C.
The facilities at the National Zoo in Rock
Creek Park include
The Department of Conservation Biology
The
Department of Conservation Biology (DCB, formerly Department
of Zoological Research) is a branch of the Conservation and Research
Center. It is located off exhibit and houses labs and offices
for scientists based at the zoo and working there and around
the world.
The Nutrition Laboratory
The National Zoo's
Nutrition Laboratory, part of the Department of Conservation
Biology, was the first of its kind in a U.S.
zoo. The Nutrition lab focuses on comparative nutrition and
nutritional ecology and has conducted extensive research
into lactation strategies for a wide variety of animals.
It also is involved in long-term projects on nutrition and
reproduction in the common marmoset and the nutritional requirements
on the endangered desert tortoise.
Amazonia Science Gallery
The Amazonia Science Gallery, located adjacent to the Amazonia
Habitat Exhibit, is open to the public to offer a glimpse
into the scientific research Zoo and other Smithsonian staff
conduct in the lab and in the field. It features several
working laboratories that allow visitors to see and informally
interact with scientists as they go about their research
and studies.
The Gallery’s GIS (Geographic Information System) lab is a collaborative research venture to use the tools of GIS in creating an interactive, web-based resource for Amazon conservation. The program endeavors to display various maps of the Amazon basin with overlapping layers of conservation activity (protected areas, indigenous areas, etc.) and selected vectors and effects of development (mining, road development, fire data, etc.).
The Gallery’s Molecular Genetics Lab is a satellite lab of the main Molecular Genetics Laboratory, a research group within the Department of Systematic Biology at the National Museum of Natural History. The lab was founded in 1991 as part of the National Zoological Park, but recently was moved administratively under the Natural History Museum. Eventually, the laboratory will move from the National Zoo to the Natural History Building on the mall, and join with other researchers using molecular methods for studies of evolution and conservation.
The Gallery also has a satellite lab for the Department’s Nutrition Lab. Here visitors can view the equipment needed for scientists to prepare nutritional samples for analyses.
At the Gallery’s Biodiversity Laboratory visitors are introduced to the tremendous diversity of life by way of the microscopic examination of preserved and living specimens. The water chemistry and integrated pest management stations in the lab allow staff and visitors to monitor the environmental conditions necessary to maintain the rainforest and river system next door in the Amazonia habitat exhibit.
Department of Reproductive Sciences
At the Zoo in northwest Washington, D.C., are state-of-the-art
reproductive
sciences facility and genome resource bank. Also at the Zoo
are facilities for conducting research on animals in the
collection and coordinating conservation programs.
Migratory Bird Center
The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (SMBC) is located
off-exhibit on the Zoo grounds and is a group of scientists,
educators, and conservation biologists that use a combination
of research, education, training, and policy development to
foster greater understanding, appreciation, and protection
of the grand phenomenon of bird migration.
Working internationally, projects focus on clarifying the causes for declines in migratory bird populations before the situation becomes desperate and develop strategies to protect the habitats on which these birds depend.
