High-tech Greenhouse

Established in 1965, the USC Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island has grown to become a fully equipped research and education center. This summer, the institute unveils a new, advanced facility, just in time for its 50th-anniversary celebration.

The new research greenhouse can house two types of projects: one side has been designed for work with saltwater algae and shellfish and the other for freshwater hydroponics and plants.

“We will use the marine side of the greenhouse for shellfish culture,” said Dennis Hedgecock, Paxson H. Offield Professor in Fisheries Ecology and professor of biological sciences at USC Dornsife. Hedgecock and his colleague Donal Manahan, professor of biological sciences and vice dean for students at USC Dornsife, lead the Future of Food from the Sea initiative, a shellfish aquaculture research program with the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies.

The other half of the greenhouse will be used for projects related to plants and will house a new system for aquaponics — the “hydroculture” of plants in water without soil and the “aquaculture” of fish — harboring both within the same enclosed recirculating system.

“We have plans to create a large aquaponics teaching lab” funded by a generous gift from the Thornton Family Foundation, said Diane Kim, director of undergraduate programs for the USC Wrigley Institute.

The greenhouse will be officially unveiled at the Wrigley Marine Science Center’s 50th anniversary open house event at Catalina Island on Aug. 8. As part of the day’s festivities, greenhouse tours and research talks will take place.

A public proclamation

This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, and the City of Los Angeles voiced its support for both the institute and the Wrigley Marine Science Center. The acknowledgment, read during the Aug. 5 meeting of the Los Angeles City Council, was spearheaded by Councilmember and USC alumnus Paul Krekorian, who earned his bachelor’s degree in political science at USC Dornsife in 1981.