UF Academic Use
Primary Purpose
NATL's primary purpose is as an outdoor teaching lab for UF students. Please remember that this area is intensively used and managed, so it is very important for students and faculty to follow the rules for using NATL.
UF students- learn how you can enhance the information infrastructure of NATL or get undergraduate research credit by contacting us.
• NATL is open from dawn to dusk. 
• Activities in NATL should maintain or improve, rather than significantly diminish, the usefulness of the area for its purposes.
• The part of NATL-west that lies south of Division Trail and all of NATL-east are designated for academic use only.
- The public is excluded, but students, faculty, and classes have free access for academic purposes.
- The reason access is restricted in these areas is to make them more suitable for student research projects that require equipment and markers to remain undisturbed.
- Consequently, those using the areas are asked to avoid sites where projects are ongoing as evidenced by equipment and markers that identify the project.
- In no case should markers or equipment be taken or moved. If you wish to leave equipment or markers in the restricted areas for more than a single semester, you must describe your project and the Natural Area Advisory Committee will review the proposal. Each project in the restricted area must have a faculty sponsor (unless the proposer is a faculty member or other professional researcher). Every piece of equipment and marker should be labled with a name and contact information.
Guidelines
The pavilion is available for academic, public, and private as long as the user's support NATL’s purpose i.e., to help students and the public learn about ecology and biotic diversity.
• A special notice for log-rolling entomologists in NATL.
• The following types of activities must be pre-approved by the Natural Area Advisory Committee:
- Activities that permanently alter the ecology of the area.
- Activities that may interfere with others using NATL.
- Activities that may diminish the usefulness of NATL for teaching about ecology and biotic diversity.
- Activities in restricted areas that last longer than one semester and that are evident in the absence
of the user (e.g., flags and stakes marking plots or transects).
• Many come to NATL to ID animals based on their sounds so please keep noise to a minimum.
• Please remember NATL is part of the UF campus and is a tobacco-free zone.
• To learn more about NATL uses and parking information see the complete rules for using NATL.
Research in NATL's Academic Areas
Archive of Research and Academic Projects Conducted at NATL
Projects that inventory NATL's biota are of special importance because they document the high diversity of NATL and make its species more accessible for further study. Listed below are projects that used at least a portion of NATL's academic area.
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Mamal preferences for native grasses inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi (Baruzzi, Carolina Asst. Prof.)
Wildlife, Ecology, and Conservation (CALS) by Kathleen Carey
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Ecophysiology of Ardisia crenata and methods for its eradication (Kaoru Kitajima, Asst. Prof.)
Botany (CLAS) by Kaoru Kitajima and Jack Putz
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| Plant Inventory of NATL (Dan Ward, Prof.) |
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| Cooperative Florula Project [initial inventories of NATL's plants] (Jack Putz, Prof. and other faculty and graduate students from the Botany Dept.) |
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| Supplement to Ward's plant inventory of plant species in NATL (Walter Judd, Prof.) Entomology (CALS) by Cliff Martin |
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| Survival of a Tradescantia species in north Florida hammocks by Brett McMillan Botany (CLAS) |
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| The 100-meter grid system made by the Student Geomatics Association. Three years later an additional 50-meter grid system was produced (NATL east) and a year after they produced a CAD map of NATL with 13 layers of information. Civil and Coastal Engineering (College of Engineering) |
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Ichneumon wasps of NATL
Division of Plant Industry, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Charles C. Porter, Prof. Biology, Fordham University |
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Sphecid wasps of NATL
Division of Plant Industry, Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Charles C. Porter, Prof. Biology, Fordham University |
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Nematodes of NATL
Division of Plant Industry, R. P. Esser, Nematologist |
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Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea) of NATL
(a 2-year study including 74 species, by Hugo L. Kons, Jr., graduate student) |
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| Moths (Lepidoptera: Psychidae, Yponomeutidae, Sesiidae, Cossidae, Zygaenoidea, Thyrididae, Drepanoidea, Geometroidea, Mimalonoidea, Bombycoidea, Sphingoidea, and Noctuoidea) of the University of Florida Natural Area Teaching Lab (a 5-year study including 489 species, by Hugo L. Kons, Jr., graduate student and PhD) |
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| Birds of NATL (by Greg McDermott, entomology graduate student) |
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| Crickets of NATL (T. J. Walker, Prof.) |
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| Katydids of NATL (T. J. Walker, Prof.) |
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| Poppy mallow establishment in NATL [mitigation project paid for by the McGuire Hall project] (Erick Smith, UF's Urban Forester, negotiated the contract.) |
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| Detailed inventory of soil resources of the Natural Area Teaching Laboratory (Mary Collins; Prof., John Galbraith, Visiting Soil Scientist; and five graduate students) |
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| Amphibians of NATL (Joe Schaefer, Prof.) |
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| Reptiles of NATL (Joe Schaefer, Prof.) |
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| Mammals of NATL (Joe Schaefer, Prof.) |
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| An experimental test of the predator satiation hypothesis: At what level might it apply? (S. S. Romanach, undergraduate honors project; Prof. D.J. Levey, advisor) |
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| Does human scent bias seed removal studies? (R.S. Duncan, D.G. Wenny, M.D. Spritzer, and C.J. Whelan) |
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