Gatty Marine Laboratory
Encyclopedia
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
, physiology
Physiology
Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...
, population biology
Population biology
Population biology is a study of populations of organisms, especially the regulation of population size, life history traits such as clutch size, and extinction...
and functional genomics
Functional genomics
Functional genomics is a field of molecular biology that attempts to make use of the vast wealth of data produced by genomic projects to describe gene functions and interactions...
of marine organisms. Located in the coastal town of St Andrews
St Andrews
St Andrews is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....
in Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, it is a part of the University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
and home to the NERC-sponsored Sea Mammal Research Unit.
History
The Gatty Marine Laboratory was opened in 1896. The first director, Professor William Carmichael McIntoshWilliam Carmichael McIntosh
William Carmichael McIntosh, FRS was a Scottish physician and marine zoologist. His medical qualification was granted in 1860 by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, following study at Edinburgh University...
FRS, conducted pioneering work on the taxonomy of annelids and the early life histories of marine fish over more than 50 years.
Since 1987, the "Gatty" (as it is informally known) has been a component Research Institute of the School of Biology (although the name and composition of the School has changed several times). The laboratory built up strong research groupings in fish biology and marine ecology and by the early 1990s received the highest number of research grants in marine biology of any UK department. In 1997, a major £4.3 million extension to the building was financed by the University Court. The new building provided a modern lecture theatre and teaching laboratory, and research laboratories for immunological and muscle research. The major part of the new build was occupied by the Natural Environment Research Council
Natural Environment Research Council
The Natural Environment Research Council is a British research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences.-History:...
sponsored Sea Mammal Research Unit which transferred from Cambridge in 1996. Today SMRU has over 60 staff and receives annual funding of £2.9 million from NERC, UK and foreign governments and the EU. Location on the Gatty site gave SMRU access to local seal populations and world class experimental facilities including a 40 m pool for investigating diving and foraging behaviour.