Facilities and Resources

Area Facilities

Excellent facilities are available for research in the areas of ecology/environmental science.

• 19,000-acre Lake Carl Blackwell wildlife area located 10 miles from the Stillwater campus is available for field studies. This area includes the 160-acre James K. McPherson Botanical Preserve maintained by the department.
• Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge (NWR)
• The Nature Conservancy's Tallgrass Prairie Preserve offer unique opportunities for ecological study within a two-hour drive.

Herbarium

The OSU Herbarium houses approximately 140,000 plant specimens plus collections of seeds/fruits and cryptogams, a library of botanical books, and a complete set of topographical maps of the State of Oklahoma.

Collection of Vertebrates

The OSU Collection of Vertebrates (OSU COV) houses collections as documentation of the vertebrate faunal history and biodiversity of Oklahoma, the United States, and those regions of the world. The collection is used for conservation, education, and research.

Ecotoxicology and Water Quality Lab

The Ecotoxicology and Water Quality Research Laboratory offers services both within and external to OSU. Services include organic contaminant analysis (GC/MS; LC), microplastics analysis (Pyrolysis - GC/MS), plankton Identification and enumeration, reservoir monitoring, parasite identification, and elemental analysis (ICP-OES).