Educational Ranch 

Ecosystem Tour

Educating the public to understand the ecological role and operational practices of a Florida cattle ranch

Welcome to the Indian Prairie Safari home page.  The Indian Prairie Safari is an educational tour of the MacArthur Agro-Ecology Research Center (MAERC) at Buck Island Ranch. 

·        The MacArthur Agro-Ecology Research Center is on a 30-year lease to Archbold Biological Station from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.  

·        The 10,300-acre ranch is representative of over 5 million acres of  Florida ranchlands, mostly in central Florida.    

·        MAERC approaches research priorities at real-world agriculture scales, and with a day-to-day understanding of the economic realities of operating a working cattle ranch.   

·        Florida ranks 10th in the number of beef cattle and has four of the nation's 10 largest cattle ranches including the largest ranch in the country with more than 35,000 cows on 300,000 acres!

·        Florida ranks first in citrus production worldwide producing 20 percent of the world's oranges and 45 percent of the world's grapefruit.

·        Although cattle ranching and citrus production are a major land-use in Florida, the cumulative ecological effects of grazing and citrus on nutrient dynamics and patterns of species diversity is still largely unknown.    

·        The mission of the MacArthur Agro-Ecology Research Center is to conduct research on these effects by examining the interaction of ecological, economic, and physical factors on a working agricultural landscape.   

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