By:
Chuck Woods (352) 392-1773 x 281Source(s):
Mike Martin mvm@mail.ifas.ufl.edu, 352-392-1971
Van Waddill vhwaddill@mail.ifas.ufl.edu, 954-577-6300
Don Poucher info@mail.ifas.ufl.edu, 352-392-0437
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA.—The University of Florida’s Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center will celebrate its 50th anniversary Oct. 22, highlighting “decades of outstanding service” to the residents of Southeast Florida.
“The 50th anniversary ceremonies, which begin at 10 a.m., will be another milestone in the center’s service in Broward and Miami-Dade counties as well as other areas of Southeast Florida,” said Mike Martin, UF vice president for agriculture and natural resources.
“The center, which is part of UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), has an impressive record of research and education accomplishments over the past 50 years,” he said.
“Unlike other UF/IFAS centers that are located away from major urban areas, the Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center is in the middle of it all giving researchers a unique opportunity to solve problems that affect the environment and quality of life for eight million South Florida residents,” Martin said.
He said many of the problems being studied are associated with high-density development in close proximity to sensitive natural resource areas. The Fort Lauderdale site is ideal for such research, and the center also offers hundreds of local, place-bound students an opportunity to earn a degree from UF’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences in entomology, environmental horticulture or turfgrass management degrees not offered by any other state university in the area.
Van Waddill, director of the center, said research is focused on urban issues, particularly those relating to the interface between urban and natural areas of Southeast Florida. Programs at the research and education center are carried out by 18 faculty and more than 70 support personnel.
“Our programs focus on tropical and sub-tropical ornamental plant production and landscaping; turfgrass production and management; nematode and insect management; plant pathogen management in ornamentals and turfgrass; termite and structural pest control; aquatic and invasive plant management; wetland mitigation and re-vegetation; wildlife ecology; and genetics of tropical plants,” he said.
The center was established in 1953 as the Plantation Field Laboratory. A year after it was established, researchers were working on projects to improve pasture grasses and legumes, fertilizer practices, water and soil conservation, and the management of plant diseases.
In 1965, the Florida Legislature provided funds to upgrade UF/IFAS research and education facilities, including funds to move the Fort Lauderdale center to its present location at 3205 College Avenue.
Recently, researchers at the center completed the first comprehensive survey of American crocodiles in South Florida. An increase in the number of the reptiles may be linked to a federal, state, local and private partnership to protect and restore coastal habitats in the Florida Everglades.
Scientists at the center have developed a better, faster and cheaper way to kill deadly anthrax spores by using a common pest control fumigant called methyl bromide.
New ways to manage exotic, invasive weeds such as torpedograss and hygrophilia have been developed at the center. The work will help state and federal efforts to restore the Florida Everglades.
In the 1990s, researchers developed new methods to detect and control the aggressive Formosan “super termite” as well as other subterranean termites the first major breakthrough in termite pest control in 50 years. The system is licensed by UF to Dow AgroSciences, which markets the product as the Sentricon Termite Colony Elimination System.
Scientists at the center have found the causes of nutritional disorders in ornamental plants and determined which fertilizers are most effective in treating those problems. New ways of delivering nutrients to plants while protecting the environment have also been developed.
A series of best management practices for fertilizer and pesticide use on golf courses and sod farms in South Florida have been developed at the center. Research findings are being used by UF/IFAS extension agents in the statewide Florida Yards and Neighborhoods education and demonstration program to help homeowners protect groundwater resources. And researchers have developed a new product called “BioSand” that helps manage pesticides on golf courses.
Other work at the center involves palm horticulture, including studies on the best methods for transplanting large specimen palms. The research has set industry standards in South Florida for optimum root-ball size and transplanting age as well as tying and removal of leaves.
Other research accomplishments at the Fort Lauderdale center include the development of an antibiotic treatment for palms infected by lethal yellowing disease and release of the Floratam variety of St. Augustine grass in 1973.
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