There is an exceptionally wide array of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems in New Jersey. Within a single day, one can visit and study habitats of the barrier islands, coastal plains, the piedmont, Precambrian highlands, and ridge and valley geological provinces.
University-supported research centers and field stations include:
Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratories
Port Norris, NJ
The Haskins Shellfish Research Laboratories are dedicated to research, education, and extension in support of sustainable shellfish and finfish resources and fisheries.
Hutcheson Memorial Forest Center
Hutcheson Memorial Forest is a unique area consisting of one of the last uncut forests in the Mid-Atlantic states, along with the surrounding lands devoted to protection of the old forest and research into ecological interactions necessary to understand the forest. It consists of the 26 ha Mettler's Woods, the primeval, mixed oak forest, which is one of the last uncut stands of this sort of forest in the United States. It is apparently the only uncut upland forest in New Jersey, and appears on the National Park Service Register of Natural Landmarks. Close association and cooperative research are encouraged with federal, state, and private institutions in New Jersey and New York.
Pinelands Field Station
Lebanon State Forest, New Lisbon, NJ
The Pinelands Field Station acts as a center for the activities of members of the Division of Pinelands Research, which is an assemblage of Rutgers personnel who have a research interest in the New Jersey Pinelands.
Tuckerton Marine Field Station
The Rutgers University Marine Field Station (RUMFS) is a field facility of the Rutgers University Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences (IMCS). It is a working lab with graduate and postdoctoral level research ongoing year-round. RUMFS is uniquely situated across from the Little Egg Inlet in the Mullica River-Great Bay estuary, one of the most pristine estuaries on the east coast.
There are two associated research centers housed within the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources on the G. H. Cook Campus of the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. For information on the research and activities taking place at these centers visit their websites below.
The Grant F. Walton Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis
Environmental and Natural Resources Building, College Farm Road, G. H. Cook Campus
The Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis (CRSSA) provides students, faculty, staff, and other researchers with state-of-the-art facilities for remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) teaching and research.
Center for Urban Restoration Ecology
Plant Physiology Building, College Farm Road, G. H. Cook Campus
The Center for Urban Restoration Ecology is the first scientific initiative in the U.S. established specifically to study and restore human-dominated lands.
The Chrysler Herbarium
Ruth Adams Building, Douglass Campus
The Chrysler Herbarium is the last internationally recognized herbarium still in existence in the state of New Jersey. Approximately 120,000 plant, algal, moss and lichen specimens are arranged and catalogued systematically. The collection is worldwide in scope, with an emphasis on New Jersey.