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Louis Calder Center - Biological Station
F O R D H A M U N I V E R S I T Y
About the LCC
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History and Importance
The Louis Calder Center is the biological Field Station of Fordham University, and supports field research for scientists in region and nationally. The LCC is a protected, forested preserve, but only 45 km north of New York City; no other full-time ecological research field station exists within the metropolitan area.
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Calder Hall - former residence of the Louis Calder family and current location of teaching labs and library
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Calder Family Crest
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Louis Calder and friends in 1930's
The 113 acre property was previously the estate of Louis Calder, chairman of the Perkins-Goodwin Company. The Calder Foundation generously donated the property to Fordham University in 1967, which formally established and named the field station as the "Louis Calder Center," at that time. |
| Calder Hall was renovated and modernized with funds from the Calder Foundation during 1992-1993. It serves as a focal point for visitors and scientific conferences (with views of New York City), as well as for day-to-day activities of the research station. The original character of the 90 year-old building was retained while providing modern workspaces and full wheel-chair access. |
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Current Biological Station
The current station encompasses 19 buildings used for laboratory and office space, educational programs, equipment storage, and residences. Research and educational programs are contained in five principal buildings: the McCarthy Laboratories (constructed 1970), Lodge (original), grennhouses, Calder Hall (renovated 1992-93), and Routh House.
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McCarthy Laboratories and Lodge on Calder Lake
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For over 30 years, the station has supported research by members of the department of Biological Sciences at Fordham University, as well as from other institutions in the region and nationally.
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Students sorting leaf litter samples
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The laboratories at the LCC are well equipped for ecological studies and support research and educational programs on a wide variety of topics.
The Calder Center is the middle site along a 130 km forest-urbanization transect, the Urban-Rural Gradient Experiment (URGE), and supports the longest running ecological field study of Lyme Disease in the country. Today, the Calder Center is one of the most important assets in Fordham's educational progarm.
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The forest, lake, and streams comprising the station are contigous with a 3,400 hectare forested watershed (part of a larger 510,00 ha forest-watershed system), which serves as the upstate drinking water supply for the New York metropolitan region.
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Early-aged section of Calder Forest
with Calder Lake outflow
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Weather-environmental monitoring station
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The station collects weather and other ecological data and maintains several long-term databases on the chemical and biological features of the station and its surroundings.
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Student collecting mosquitoes
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The LCC has a strong record of providing students at several levels (graduate, undergraduate, and high school) opportunities to conduct experimental manipulations in natural systems to test ecological theory, and quantify the impacts of human diturbance.
The Calder Center is unique among other well-equipped research stations by offering opportunities to study relatively undisturbed communities near New York City, and affords many urban students their first opportunity to examine the natural world first-hand.
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Support for research and education activities at the station have come from a wide variety of sources including:
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