An often unnoticed feature of the Edwardsville campus, the greenhouse is located between Science Lab West and the Vadalabene Center. It will soon undergo a major upgrade to improve the care of plants and expand research opportunities.
Jon Clark, the laboratory manager for the Department of Biological Sciences, said that greenhouses constructed towards the end of the 20th century have a lifespan of about 10-15 years. SIUE's greenhouse was dedicated on Oct. 30, 1997. The current building has doubled its expected timeframe.
"It's long overdue to where we get into several issues that are pretty expensive to repair," Clark said. The greenhouse supports a variety of plants with varying temperature and moisture needs, so they have attempted to create multiple different environments within the one room, but that means the specific needs of some of the plants cannot be met.
"We end up only having a lot of success with things that are adaptable," Clark said. "I think [the greenhouse is] an underutilized resource right now. It's available for research, but the age of the building — and the nature of it now — opens up that possibility for confounding factors to slip, [like] contamination and pests."
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