Research Laboratories & Plant Growth Facilities
The Department of Botany has facilities for the analysis of field samples and for controlled environment laboratory based research.
Major equipment
- -80 C freezers
- Centrifuge (one large, many small)
- Gas Chromatograph
- PCR machines
- Real-time PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction)
- HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatograph)
- Plate reader
- Leaf/root scanners
- Total station (for surveying, and many surveyors' levels)
- Freeze-dryer
- Drying ovens
- Incubators
- Linux servers for bioinformatics, ecological and statistical modelling
- Nutrient autoanalyser (Lachat), mainly used for analyzing seawater for nutrients etc.
- PAMs (pulse-amplitude-modulated chlorophyll fluorescence): several
- Spectrophotometers
- Microscopes with digital cameras, dissecting and compound
- 2 x Li-Cor 6400 Gas Exchange System
- Scholander pressure chambers
- Li-Cor 2000 LAI meter
- Li-Cor 8100 Automated Soil Gas Flux System
- Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometer
- Flow Cytometer
Greenhouses
We have two greenhouses: they provide a total of 256 m2 controlled-environment growing space. Heating and ventilation are on automatic control for an ambient temperature c. 23ºC. The 400 W growth lights can be set to varying regimes.
Controlled plant growth facilities
The Department of Botany operates controlled plant growth facilities comprising 15 programmable growth chambers, located throughout our teaching and research facilities. These chambers can simulate a variety of environmental variables including temperature, light, humidity or combinations of these conditions.
Research Lawn
The Botany Lawn was established by Professor G.T.S. Baylis, Otago's first Professor of Botany, in 1965, sowing two species of grass. In the period 1965 to the present it has received constant management: no fertiliser or irrigation, and a constant mowing regime.
More information on the Botany Lawn.
