Newswise — An area long known as a popular destination for summer travelers also is a popular destination for scientists from around the globe, as biologists, botanists, entomologists, zoologists and other researchers descend upon the Western North Carolina mountain resort town of Highlands, N.C., again this summer.
Unlike the typical tourists, however, these scientists don't come to Highlands to play golf, shop in quaint stores or escape the summer heat. They are attracted to the area by the Highlands Biological Station, a world-renowned biological field station located on a high plateau of the Southern Appalachian Mountain nestled in one of the most biologically diverse places on the face of the planet.
An interinstitutional center of the University of North Carolina system, the station is administered by nearby Western Carolina University and is directed by Jim Costa, WCU professor of biology.
Current research projects taking place at the Highlands Biological Station include on-going efforts to catalog the number of species of salamander found in the region. "Salamander research has been going at Highlands for a long time. Salamanders often are considered an important indicator of the ecological health of a region, and we have scientists coming from all over the world to study salamanders in our mountain region," Costa said.
Researchers are noting two seemingly contrasting conclusions. On one hand, some species of salamanders are dwindling in numbers due to habitat destruction and pollutants, Costa said. But another project examining the genetic make-up of salamanders is finding that salamanders once thought to be part of the same species have markedly different DNA structures. "There may be even more species than we realized, and our overall species count may actually be going up," Costa said.
Another research project is examining an alarming increase in occurrences of encephalitis, a disease often transmitted by mosquitoes. The disease is particularly on the rise in some remote areas of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. And, in another project, a group of Harvard University biochemists is studying a tiny fly larva, which is found on drippy wet creek banks, that glows in the dark. "They are predaceous, and attract tiny prey with their light," Costa said. "The locals refer to them as 'foxfire,' and creek banks with lots of these things are like starfields of points of light. There is only one other critter like it in the world, found in caves in New Zealand."
Now celebrating its 79th year, the Highlands Biological Station also provides about $21,000 in grants to college and university students from all over the country who come to conduct summer research projects and to study at the advanced undergraduate and graduate levels. Among those past students is Smith College biology professor Steve Tilley, who got his start as a young scientist at Highlands and who now leads courses in the biology of salamanders.
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