The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center is located near Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, on land donated by Robert Forest in 1965. Initially a field station, the center focused on environmental research, including the work of the Radiation Biology Laboratory. Today, the Center studies links between coastal zone land and water ecosystems.
Aerial View of Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, c. 1970sAerial view of the Rhode River and the site of the Chesapeake Bay Center for Environmental Studies (CBCES), now known as the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), in Edgewater, Maryland.
Division of Radiation and Organisms Laboratory in Castle Basement, c. 1930Located in the basement of the Smithsonian Institution Building is the Division of Radiation and Organisms, a division of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory dedicated to studying the effects of sunlight on plants. Shown here is a corner of the laboratory where histological studies of plant tissues are made. An unidentified man is looking into a microscope.
Storrs Olson at Chesapeake Bay Center for Field Studies, 1969Storrs Olson, ornithologist and resident manager of the Chesapeake Bay Center for Environmental Studies, now the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, studies a bird skull in the headquarters' building. The Center is an ecological research center established on the Chesapeake Bay July 1, 1965.
Tree Research at Chesapeake Bay Center for Environmental Studies, c. 1969Dr. Francis S. L. Williamson, Director of the Chesapeake Bay Center for Environmental Studies, 1968-1975. Williamson is kneeling next to a fallen tree in the woods.
Radiation Biology Laboratory, Parklawn Building, 1977Radiation Biology Laboratory lab in the Parklawn Building, in Rockville, Maryland. John Azzard, left, is preparing to cut sporangiophores, while Walter Shropshire, right, looks on.
Measuring Marsh Productivity, 1979Measuring marsh grass productivity in this Plexiglas box. The production of energy in a salt marsh was investigated through a cooperative effort of two Smithsonian bureaus, with the Radiation Biology Laboratory's physiological ecologist Bert Drake and a team of his co-workers conducting research at the Chesapeake Bay Center of Environmental Studies located along the Rhode River estuary of the bay.
Gantt Studies Algae at Parklawn Building, 1979Dr. Elisabeth Gantt, a biologist at the Smithsonian's Radiation Biology Laboratory in Rockville, MD, studies algae in solution. Dr. Gantt studied the photosynthetic apparatus of plants, in particular, plants in the algae family. The conversion of solar into chemical energy via the pigment chlorophyll--the process known as photosynthesis--takes place in plants with relatively high efficiency.
Dr. Anson HinesDr. Anson Hines of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) uses a directional hydrophone to track an ultrasonically telemetered blue crab on the Rhode River. This investigation used ultrasonic telemetry to record the patterns of movement and habitat of the Atlantic blue crab, a commercially and biologically important denizen of the Chesapeake Bay. The research was carried out by Hines in collaboration with Dr. Thomas Wolcott, a professor in the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences of North Carolina Sate University, Raleigh.
James F. Lynch Studying Trees, 1986James F. Lynch, Biological Ecologist, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, conducts research in the woods around the Center located in the Chesapeake Bay watershed in Edgewater, Maryland.
Educational Activities at Environmental Research Center, 1986Public education specialist Jim Schaefer assists children, participating in the Canoe Activity offered for no charge at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland, to get out of a canoe.
Mathias Lab Groundbreaking, 1987Groundbreaking ceremony for the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center's new laboratory, named in honor of Senator Charles McC. Mathias, Jr. who championed legislation to protect the Chesapeake Bay from over development and pollution during his more than 20 years in Congress. The photo shows (from l.) David Challinor, Assistant Secretary for Research, Dean Anderson, Undersecretary, Senator Charles McC. Mathias, Jr. (with a shovel of dirt), and David Correll, director of SERC.
Marsh Plant Study of Greenhouse Effect, 1987Darius Nassiry, one assistant of Dr. Bert Drake a plant physiologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), examines a marsh plant in a steel pressure cylinder at SERC near the Chesapeake Bay in Edgewater, MD. This was an innovative Smithsonian experiment to explore future greenhouse effect.
New Mathias Lab, 1989On a tour of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center's (SERC) new Charles McC. Mathias Laboratory, SERC scientist Tuck Hines shows Senator Mathias a tank for Chesapeake blue crabs. The opening of the new laboratory at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD, was celebrated on June 1, 1989, and the laboratory was named for Sen. Mathias, former U.S. Senator from Maryland (1968-1986), who championed legislation to protect the Chesapeake Bay from over-development and pollution.
Center Volunteers on Robert Lee Forest, 1990Volunteers Brenda Chapin, left, Ed Grimes and Gretchen Seilstad pose aboard the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center's (SERC) research vessel, the Robert Lee Forrest. Assisting in the study of physical, chemical and biological interactions in estuarine and water-shed systems, SERC volunteers can find projects at dockside, on the water or in the woods surrounding the center. Chapin and Seilstad have worked on many forest projects such as a forest-mapping project. Grimes captains the SERC's research vessel "Robert Lee Forrest", helps with dock activities, and guides groups on woodland walks.
Amphitheater Over Fox Creek, 1992Smithsonian Environmental Research Center staffers, from left, Jon Hall, Catie Drew, Carol Towle, and Mark Haddon stand at the boardwalk's amphitheater over Fox Creek Marsh, part of SERC's Java History Trail.
Workshop for Teachers, 1993During a one-day workshop for teachers, the Smithsonian Environment Research Center's (SERC) Mark Haddon, left, gave teachers a lesson on the bottom-dwelling animals of the Rhode River. Lynne Cherry, SERC artist-in-residence who helped host the workshop, is at center in hat and sunglasses.
Researchers in Canopy Crane to Study Forest, 1994Geoffrey Parker, left, a forest ecologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Edgewater, MD. and Project Facilitator Sarita Cargas perform leaf experiments high up in the forest canopy with the help of a crane they rented for a week. The canopy, where the atmosphere interacts with the biosphere, has rarely been studied in a temperate forest.
Sampling Ballast Water in Baltimore Harbor, 1994Linda McCann (left) of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), David Smith and Marjorie Wonham of Williams College in Massachusetts sample ballast water in Baltimore Harbor. Foreign and domestic cargo ships jettison millions of gallons of ballast water into North American ports and waterways. Drawn aboard in foreign countries to stabilize large ships during ocean crossings, this water can contain hundreds of species of marine or freshwater organisms. Biologists are calling the discharge of these organisms "ecological roulette" on a global scale, and the result may be irreversible changes in our marine estuaries and freshwater ecosystems. This discharge of ballast water from foreign ports makes the bay a hotspot for the release of alien species and their potential invasion.
Whigham Measures Orchid Root, 1996Dennis Whigham, a plant ecologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, measures an orchid's roots. He is studying cranefly, coral-root and showy orchids--three terrestrial species that grow wild in mature forests in Eastern North America.
Center Open House, 2000Smithsonian Environmental Research Center building during open house.