
Wood Thrush Research Preserve
The Wood Thrush Research Preserve is an approximately 20-acre forest located on the north side of campus, just behind Facilities Services. Environmental science and Biology students often walk to this field site to conduct research and learn how to identify common plants and animals of Pennsylvania. This field site is used to teach students how to conduct vegetation sampling, how to survey animal communities, the effects of forest fragmentation, the impacts of invasive species, as well as other important concepts and techniques. Research students have used the Wood Thrush Research Preserve to conduct projects that tested the effect of soil nutrients on the invasive garlic mustard, the impact that coarse woody debris has on small mammal communities, and the extent of acorn herbivory.