Welcome to the Laboratory for Environmental Biology's Home Page

The Laboratory for Environmental Biology (LEB) is part of the research division of the Centennial Museum, in cooperation with the Department of Biological Sciences of the University of Texas at El Paso. It concentrates primarily on research into the natural history of the Greater El Paso Region, although it also supplies teaching materials for biology classes at the undergraduate and graduate level.

The Laboratory was founded as part of the Department of Biological Sciences of what was then Texas Western College in 1965 under the name of the Museum of Arid Land Biology (thus the acronym MALB used for many years). For arcane reasons beyond local control, it eventually changed its name to the current one. At its initiation, it incorporated some biological sciences faculty collections; since 1965, it has grown primarily through the activity of Biological Sciences faculty and students.

MISSION: The mission of the LEB includes collections-related research in the biological sciences, curatorial responsibility for the biological research collections and for collections utilized primarily for teaching within the Department of Biological Sciences; provision of work space, equipment, and other facilities to classes, individual students, staff, and visiting professionals; interaction with professional institutions and societies; provision of informational services to the professional and general public; and both formal and informal interaction with non-traditional students.

Our web pages cover on a variety of topics: collections (plants and both Recent and fossil vertebrates and invertebrates), LEB curators, checklists of vertebrates (modern and Pleistocene) and of butterflies of the El Paso region, an introduction to the Chihuahuan Desert, and an informal, in-progress compilation of data on Pleistocene vertebrate sites. There also are links to information on the Casas Grandes Interaction Sphere and to a number of other sites having to do with natural and cultural history. A link to the home page of the Centennial Museum is a gateway to more information on natural and cultural history of the Greater El Paso Region. An index map can be reached from the first item on the menu to the left. We would appreciate any feedback (phone, fax, and e-mail information is at the bottom of this page).

The Mammalogy, Ornithology, Herbarium, and a portion of the Vertebrate Paleobiology collections databases are online. On the first visit to these databases, please go first to the database introductory page. The Herpetology Collection database is accessible through HerpNET.

A website specifically focused on the Chihuahuan Desert was funded by a NASA MUSPIN grant. Now integrated into the Centennial Museum website, this site is gathers together Chihuahuan Desert material formerly spread among the several sites sponsored by the Centennial Museum and its Laboratory for Environmental Biology. New material on the Chihuahuan Desert is added periodically. Many accounts of amphibians, reptiles, and mammals currently are online, as are a large number of Chihuahuan Desert plants.

The University is a member of the Natural Science Collections Alliance, and the mammalogy collections are accredited by the American Society of Mammalogists.

Original materials on this web site are copyrighted. Limited use for educational purposes is allowed provided proper credit is given; however, some images are presented by permission of others, so please query us before using images. For textual material, please inform us of use as a matter of courtesy. Commercial use of images or text, in whole or in part, is expressly forbidden without formal, written approval. Contact the Laboratory for further information.

Last Update: 29 Jan 2008

Counter reset, 1 Jan 2008.