School of Animal Biology
Facilities at other Schools
We have numerous facilities that are well equipped for your research.
- Freshwater and Marine Aquarium Research facilities
- Molecular Genetics facilities
- Marine Science facilities
- Animal enclosures
- Analytical equipment
- Large Animal Facility
- Shenton Park Field Station
- Future Farm
- Bee yards
- Other facilities
Freshwater and Marine Aquarium Research facilities
We have Marine and Freshwater Aquarium Research facilities in the Zoology and Biological Sciences Animal Unit (BSAU) buildings.
Facilities in the Zoology Building include:
- four self-contained controlled temperature rooms housing a breeding population of guppies (Poecilia reticulata)
- facilities for medium-scale behavioural and breeding projects.
Facilities in the BSAU Building include:
- a range of large marine and freshwater tanks and arenas for keeping and observing a diversity of aquatic animals, including crabs, small sharks and rays, bony fishes and a diversity of reptiles
- a number of experimental set ups and behavioural arenas for investigating the sensory abilities of aquatic invertebrates and vertebrates
Contacts
Molecular Genetics facilities
We have a molecular biology laboratory in the Zoology building which contains state of the art equipment:
- for DNA and RNA extraction
- visualization and quantification
- PCR and RT-PCR machines and a -80°C storage facility
We also have a separate forensic laboratory for:
- DNA extraction from scats
- species identification from swabs
- RT-PCR reaction preparation
Contact
- email Maxine Beveridge
Marine Science facilities
There are marine science facilities located on campus as well as off campus.
Off campus:
In 2013, the School will have access to a new Marine Research Facility, part of the new Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre (IOMRC) situated at Waterman’s Bay in North Beach (30 mins north of the UWA Campus). This will house a range of state-of-the-art facilities including a flowthrough seawater aquarium system, constant temperature rooms and laboratories equipped for physiology, molecular biology, coral reef studies, fisheries, aquaculture, marine ecology, bioimaging and oceanography.
Contact
- email Shaun Collin
Animal enclosures
- Mouse enclosures - the School has a new state-of-the-art animal facility valued at approximately $1 million consisting of seven temperature-controlled animal rooms, a feed storage room, and a wash room. Currently, this facility holds colonies of feral (Mus) and native (Pseudomys) mice.
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Insectaria - the School has three controlled temperature rooms (CTR) housing large insect breeding colonies for use in behavioural experiments and experimental evolution. There is also an anechoic room specifically designed for sound recording.
- Currently one CTR facility houses the following insect cultures: stored grain beetles (strains susceptible and resistant to phosphine), aphids (multiple species) and diamondback moths. email Christian Nansen for further information.
Contacts:
Analytical equipment
The School has the following state-of-the-art analytical equipment:
- Ethovision XT (for quantitative behavioural studies)
- Hyperspectral imaging (for remote sensing and reflectance studies)
- Computer-assisted sperm analysis software (analysing sperm motility)
- USB 4000 Spectrometer (colour reflectance measures)
- USB 4000 Spectrometer (colour reflectance measures) + USB200
- Incubators
- High intensity monochromatic lights sources (PolyV)
- Microspectrophotometer (MSP)
- Spectrophotometer / Research radiometer (ILT1700)
Large Animal Facility
The Large Animal Facility is managed by Animal Care and Veterinary Services and houses large animal species that need to be maintained under controlled environments or studied intensively over a limited period.
Back to topShenton Park Field Station
The Shenton Park Field Station is a 15 minute drive from the Crawley campus.
The facility is shared by several schools and centres from UWA but the following facilities are used by Animal Biology:
Aquaculture
Shenton Park has Australia's largest recirculating aquaculture research facility with a total volume of three million litres. The facility has:
- 30 fibreglass tanks (20 000 litres each)
- nine aquaplate tanks (5 400 litres each)
- 10 poly troughs (3 000 litres each)
- 145 aquaria (100 litres each)
The system is totally recirculating, with a 67,000 litre biofilter. The facility also has considerable laboratory space with microscopes, spectrometers, and sampling equipment.
Animal enclosures
The field station also has the following facilties for animal biology research:
- 30 small animal enclosures (15m x 15m)
- 20 large animal pens (up to 30m x 40m)
- 6 paddocks (up to 50m x 100m)
- 12 fully enclosed pens (4m x 4m)
- 20 aviaries (2m x 1m)
- Sheep milking shed allowing for 12 animals to be milked simultaneously
For further information, contact Animal Care and Veterinary Services.
Future Farm 2050
The Future Farm 2050 is a 1588Ha property in the Shire of Pingelly in WA’s South Western Wheatbelt. The farm has been setup to explore the challenges of food production for a hungry world in 2050 when the population will be twice its current size and the climate probably more challenging for growing food.
The majority of the Farm area will be devoted to a commercial Wheat/Sheep farming operation using current best practice (Clean, Green and Ethical). Other parts will be devoted to trial plots, eco-restoration, trees for carbon and by-products and several projects less directly associated with Agriculture.
These projects include:
- Solar Passive ALVA house
- a 10Kw Solar energy project comparing different types of panels
- Seismology and Weather monitoring
Bee yards
Located at the School are 30 colonies of Apis mellifera (European honeybees) utilised by the Centre for Integrative Bee Research (CIBER). At various times of the year some of the colonies are also kept at the Shenton Park Field Station. The hives are accompanied by a comprehensive bee research facility including two well equipped laboratory areas and a workshop.
Contacts
Other facilities
The School also houses the following facilities:
- range of extracellular and intracellular electrophysiology set ups
- histology suite
- a surgery
- small animal treadmill