Forest Park Living Lab (Links to an external site)

Forest Park Living Lab is collaborative of six different partners: the Saint Louis Zoo, Washington University, St. Louis University, Forest Park Forever, the World Bird Sanctuary and the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center, where researchers from around the St. Louis area are tracking animals and trying to learn more about them and how they’re adapting to the urban area around the park.

Forest Park Living Lab (Links to an external site)

A female three-toed box turtle has a small radio tag on its upper shell. The turtle is standing on a forest floor made of dried leaves.

St. Louis scientists including LEC postdoctoral fellow, Stella Uiterwaal, collaborate on new study of wildlife in one of America’s greatest urban parks called the Forest Park Living Lab. The Forest Park Living Lab received a LEC seed grant in 2022.

Nonlethal parasites reduce how much their wild hosts eat, leading to ecosystem effects (Links to an external site)

A caribou browsing

Deer, caribou, bison and other similar animals are often infected by a range of internal parasites, including worms called helminths. Although many of these infections are not lethal, they can still impact health or animal behavior. A new study led by Washington University in St. Louis senior scientist, Amanda Koltz, uses a mathematical model and a global meta-analysis to highlight the cascading consequences of common parasitic infections in wild animals on terrestrial ecosystems. This work was funded by a LEC Seed grant.

International research powerhouses join forces to advance study of life on Earth (Links to an external site)

Washington University in St. Louis is creating the Living Earth Collaborative to be led by Jonathan Losos. In establishing the collaborative, the university is joining forces with two of the nation’s leading institutions in the study and preservation of plants and animals — the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Saint Louis Zoo — to create a new academic center dedicated to advancing the study of biodiversity to help ensure the future of Earth’s species in their many forms.