Users and Uses

The University of Florida Natural Area Teaching Laboratory (NATL)is dedicated to teaching students and the public about ecology and biotic diversity. At the same time, we offer family-friendly and K-12 educational opportunities.

At least eight departments, in five colleges, use NATL for their courses. Kiosks at the east entrance to NATL-west and in Natural Area Park explain NATL to classes and the public. Four NATL's Self-Guided Audio Tours, in the northern half of NATL-west, explain significant features of SEEP and the three upland ecosystems, including five stages of old-field succession (see map above).

To help users define locations within NATL, a 50-meter grid has been surveyed and staked. Maps showing the grid for all of NATL are available at the kiosk at the east entrance to NATL-West Grid Map. Maps at a larger scale for NATL-West. To aid GPS users, the global coordinates of the grid points are listed in a spreadsheet.

A NATL Graduate Teaching Assistant is available to give a brief PowerPoint presentation and answer questions to groups interested in learning about NATL.