Background Paper No. 2


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ministrative and policy problems. One major problem con-

cerns the precise role the Station should play as a region-

ally funded and directed organization.


 The Ecological Research Station has, in the past, sup-

ported the following kinds of programs:

 1) Basic research on marine and terrestrial ecology,

with a major emphasis on the former prior to 1971. For the

most part, these studies have represented thesis or disser-

tation problems originated and conducted by visiting inves-

tigators, and funded by United States federal granting agen-

cies.

 2) Support for the Tektite I and II Projects (Collette

and Earle, 1972, for technical studies). These were major,

federally-funded, short-duration concentrated basic studies

conducted almost exclusively by visiting investigators. Al-

though the research conducted under these two programs was

basic in motivation, much of the biological results have

practical applications in the Virgin Islands.

 3) Non-thesis graduate studies. The Ecological Research

Station has served as a training ground in basic principles

of tropical ecology for a limited number of selected grad-

uate students from United States universities. While no

specific research is usually conducted by these students,

the students do act as a potential pool of future investi-

gators with the advantage of previous Virgin Islands exper-

ience.