Teaching Facilities
All institutions of higher education are welcome to use Koffler Scientific Reserve at Jokers Hill for diverse, off-campus instructional activities.
Course field trips can take advantage of our lecture rooms and teaching lab space. Sleeping and dining facilities can serve residential field courses for up to 20 students.
Contact the KSR Director for information on availability, logistics and fees.
Teaching at KSR
Dr. Megan Bontrager, The University of Toronto, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyTeaching an undergraduate field biology course at KSR is wonderful. It’s a supportive setting for students to have their first experience with field research. At the same time, the station is home to really cool biodiversity, which is so inspiring for students in the course and allows them to develop fantastic independent research projects.
Dr. Spencer Barrett, The University of Toronto, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyHundreds of students have experienced their first taste of field biology in the fields, marshes and forests of KSR. KSR provides wonderful opportunities for field experiments in ecology and evolution, and for the training of students. Starting with Stephen Wright’s work on sex allocation in Trillium, we have investigated a range of problems in plant reproductive biology using diverse species and approaches. These have included the evolution of wind pollination in Carex (Jannice Friedman) and Thalictrum (David Timerman) and climate adaptation (Rob Colautti) and mating and inbreeding depression (Chris Balogh) in Lythrum.
Dr. Benjamin Kuttner, The University of Toronto, Institute of Forestry and Conservation in the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and DesignKSR has been, and continues to be, integral to the development and delivery of our forestry programs at University of Toronto. KSR is a unique property – large, forested and within an hour’s drive of the St. George campus. I teach an undergraduate field course in forest conservation at KSR. With its diversity of forest types, lab facilities and on-site accommodations, it provides an excellent venue for this week-long, immersive course. Our Masters of Forest Conservation program also makes use of KSR for the training of graduate students.
Graduate/Undergraduate Research at KSR
Dr. Sophie Breitbart, PhD from the University of Toronto, Mississauga CampusI spent four wonderful summers at KSR conducting an experiment with ~1000 milkweed plants. Throughout my time there, the KSR staff went above and beyond to ensure the success of my research. Also, the local wildlife is consistently marvelous. There’s nothing better than counting flowers while a bobolink sings nearby!
Julia Boyle, PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto, St. George CampusGetting to do fieldwork at KSR has truly been a highlight of my PhD! Living at the field station immersed me in the ecological and evolutionary questions I was asking, and I was provided the resources and support to conduct both short- and long-term experiments on plants and their microbiomes that I couldn’t have completed in a greenhouse.
Eric Etzler, PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto, Mississauga CampusIt was really easy working at KSR. I completed part of my Master’s thesis there collecting insects and never had issues getting access to areas to fields or lab space to do dissections.
Learn in the field
KSR hosts undergraduate and graduate field courses for budding researchers to gain invaluable skills outside of the classroom.
(EEB405 – University of Toronto)
Physical Geography
(GGR390 – University of Toronto)
Sustainable Forestry
(FOR300- University of Toronto)
(GESC451 – Wilfrid Laurier University)
(EEB380 – University of Toronto)
(FOR301 – University of Toronto)
(AER406 – University of Toronto)
(GGR205 – University of Toronto)
(FOR1412– University of Toronto)
(FOR3002– University of Toronto)