Laboratory: Off-campus laboratory facilities will be provided by a research vessel of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Russian colleagues have already submitted a five-year "holding request" to charter a 4630 Class of vessels built by Finnish shipyards, the R/V Academic Oparin, length 75.5 m, breadth 14.7 m, depth 7.3 m, speed 15 knots, capable of remaining at sea for 60 days, equipped with five scientific laboratories and quarters for 43 crew and 34 scientists.

Computer: Three DOS-based lap-top computers (two NEC Versa, 4050H, 4MB, active color matrix, with 4 MB upgrade; and one Gateway Solo Pro 9300, 96 MB RAM) and six desktop PC computers (two 486 machines and four pentiums). In addition, we have “ARTEDI,” our internet server: a Micron P133 Millennia Plus, which utilizes a 133 MHz Pentium processor, 256 KB of pipelined-burst cache, 80 MB of RAM, and a 2 GB SCSI-2 disk drive. It is connected to the University of Washington network through a 10BaseT ethernet card. We use the Linux operating system, a full-featured, freely available Unix clone for PCs, and web server software available from NCSA.

Other: Other equipment available for our sole use includes three HP LaserJet printers, a flatbed scanner, a 35-mm slide scanner, two Wild M-5 and four Zeiss SV-6 Stereomicroscopes (with fiber optic light sources), two Konica desktop photocopiers. In addition, we have all the equipment and remaining supplies that have been purchased on the Kuril Island Biodiversity grant, including, one 15-foot and two 10-foot “Zodiacs,” with 40-hp outboard engines, 16 hand-held Garmin GPS receivers, 12 portable radios, two 35-mm cameras, a Nikon digital camera, binoculars, plant presses, invertebrate collecting devices, seines, dip nets, etc.

Major equipment.—In addition to the computers and other items listed above, we have all the major ship-board items provided by the Russian research vessel (e.g., full kitchen and dining facilities, navigation and communication systems, generators, boats, tools and other items available in machine and carpenter shops, etc.).

Other resources.—Other significant resources available to us are the world-class library system of the University of Washington, and the extensive botanical and zoological collections housed by the UW Burke Museum and UW Herbarium, the various institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the campuses of Hokkaido University, Hakodate and Sapporo, Japan.