Facilities

There are two freshwater aquaria rooms housing a total of seven separate recirculating racks containing a total of 40 glass tanks.

• Room 1 has four racks, each of which has six separate 32L tanks.
• Room 2 has three racks, each of which has eight separate tanks.

Each rack is equipped with a biofilter and a Pentair SMART UV steriliser. These aquaria have been used to study social interactions between native and invasive crayfish species, and the impacts of water temperature on competitive interactions between crayfish species.  

There are two marine rooms that house a total of five recirculating racks each with eight separate 50L tanks (total: 40 tanks).

Each rack is fitted with a Pentair SMART UV steriliser, a biofilter, 200micron filter socks, a protein skimmer, and chiller to adjust water temperature. One rack is fitted with overhead LED lights. Each tank is supplied with oxygen via its own air stone with adjustable airflow. These aquaria have been used to study social behaviour of fish, both within and between species, shoaling and predator avoidance behaviour in fish and impacts of climate change (water temperature).

There are four separate greenhouses each powered by a Wadsworth VersiSTEP Control System which allows for precise control of temperature, humidity, shade, watering, ventilation, and misting.

There is a shaded concrete slab area and framed shaded clothed area that is designed to replicate a rainforest environment.

The plant growth room contains three Thermoline growth cabinets (TPG-2400-TH-CO2) with timed lighting and temperature, and humidity control; in addition to three smaller Labec Incubators (ICC36-5L) with timed lighting and temperature controls, which are suited for growing plants and seedlings. Adjacent to this space is a single Labec dehydrating oven (Model 00450) oven which is suited to drying of plant materials

Separate to the main ERC building is a large aviary space containing six separate aviaries fitted with a misting system. The aviaries have housed birds and have also been used to study honey bee nutrition and longevity. These aviaries are also suited to small mammals.

The frog research facilities are housed in an isolated corridor in order to prevent the transmission of chytrid fungus. There are two dedicated holding rooms as well as a behavioural studies room. The frog rooms have been used to study effects of dietary supplements on fitness, frog behaviour and impacts of increased salinity (climate change) on reproductive function.

The ERC has 11 holding rooms each with individual temperature control and timed lighting. There are 3 laboratory spaces, one of which contains a GelmanSciences BH2000 Series Class II biological safety cabinet, a Sartorius Arium Advance RO Water Unit and a Conditionaire International Series 2000 Fumehood.