DESCRIPTION

The Biological Resources Research Center at the University of Nevada, Reno is dedicated to the understanding of the Great Basin and pursuing the best avenues for managing this ecoregion in a sustainable manner. The BRRC provides opportunities for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and professional scientists to pursue their research pertaining to conservation of biodiversity within the Great Basin and related ecosystems as well as contributing to the study of ecosystem management and its application within the Great Basin.

SERVICE AND ACTIVITIES

The BRRC provides research on biological resources within the Great Basin and has an established infrastructure including state-of-the-art geographic information systems, a genetics lab, computer modeling analysis ability for population viability, vulnerabilty, sensitvity and other applications, and cooperative agreements with federal and state resource management agencies, as well as full-time adminstrative staff.

AREA OF CONCENTRATION

The BRRC's main area of concentration is conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem management. Our main project to address these issues is the Nevada Biodiversity Initiative. The goal is to assemble, analyze, and interpret data on biolgical resources in Nevada and the Great Basin and to provide this information in a usable format to the agencies which have the statuatory responsibility to manage these resources. The BRRC is working with agencies in cooperative efforts to ensure greater management efficiency throughout the region. The Initiative was developed to help integrate long-term planning for the conservation of biodiversity with public land management, and to provide the information necessary for public land management decisions to be based on science.

GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE OF ACTIVITES

Great Basin; Mojave Desert

TYPE OF ORGANIZATION

research; education