Research Sites

The pond have been used for extramurally funded research projects supported by the National Science Foundation and US Army Corps of Engineers. Several master and undergraduate students have completed their thesis research at the pond facility.

TCU's experimental mesocosm facility was built on the TCU campus in 1987. It consists of twelve 5,000-liter and twenty five 500-liter fiberglass tanks and a greenhouse. For most experiments water is supplied from a nearby campus pond but experiments have also utlized water transported by large tanker trucks from reservoirs up to three hours from Fort Worth. The mesocosms are aerially colonized by invertebrates and can be stocked with fish.

The mesocosms have been used for extramurally funded research projects supported by the National Science Foundation, Tarrant Regional Water District, FMC, and NextEra Energy Resources. Several master and undergraduate students have completed their thesis research at the mesocosm facility.

The 8,000-ha LBJ National Grassland is 1 hour north of TCU and is composed of non-contiguous management units managed for livestock grazing and wildlife. As part of a plan to prevent soil erosion, the United States Department of Agriculture constructed numerous earthen dams, primarily in the mid-to-late 1970s. The dams created 100s of small ponds, most of which are less than 2,000 square meters in surface area. Many of the ponds on the grassland go dry periodically and are devoid of fish allowing studies on the effects of fish on aquatic communities. Three TCU students have conducted their thesis research at the LBJ Grassland.

TCU has leased the Eagle Mountain Fish Hatchery from the Tarrant Regional Water District since 1990. The Hatchery consists of 30 ponds supplied with water from Eagle Mountain Lake, a large eutrophic reservoir. Ponds are shallow with an average depth of 1.5 meters and average surface area of 0.4 hectares. The ponds have sediment bottoms and are colonized by a large number of aquatic plants. Ponds can be stocked with any combination of fish species and fish will reproduce in ponds. Ponds can be drained to harvest fish.

Caddo Lake and its associated wetlands cover approximately 10,850 hectares and are composed of cypress swamps, marshes, bottomland hardwood forests, grasslands, and pine forests, much of which remain in a relatively undisturbed condition. The western portion of the lake is shallow (many areas < 1 m) and characterized by wetland habitat dominated by bald cypress and water elm, and other aquatic vegetation. In contrast, the eastern portion of the lake is comprised primarily of open water habitat with an average depth of 1.4 meters. Fish from Caddo Lake contain some of the highest mercury concentrations recorded in Texas, and elevated mercury concentrations have also been documented in reptiles, birds and mammals. Fish and invertebrates in the western portion of the lake contain higher concentrations of mercury than those in the eastern portion of the lake. Mercury contamination in Caddo Lake is of particular concern because the lake supports high biodiversity, including rare and threatened species which may be negatively impacted by mercury exposure.