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My research is on the diatom communities of the Everglades. These silicious, environmentally sensitive algae like to live buried within a complex biofilm called periphyton .With the naked eye, periphyton just looks like muck or scum. But there is a hidden microscopic world that is quite fascinating and even beautiful. Everglades periphyton magnified 1000x: filamentous cyanobacteria and a diatom Coccoid and filamentous cyanobacteria Calcite crystals on filamentous cyanobacteria The cells of Utricularia, bladderwort (a carnivorous aquatic plant) Rod shaped bacteria Cosmarium, a green algae Diploneis, a diatom Nematode that wouldn't sit still for its photo

Whether we are working in the field or in the lab, the things we have to wear to do our work make us stand out from the undergrad crowd at our universities. Below, I have listed the latest styles for Fall 2012 Everglades research:   Field Tannin-dyed Pants   Above is a picture of pants that I wear in the field. These pants are naturally tie-dyed with streaks of grey and orange from various organic compounds floating around in the water. The key rule in Everglades fashion is to never wear anything nice or new, so these khaki pants that I’ve had since 9th grade are perfect for the field. Ambiguous Event T-shirts Again, nice new clothing is never worn in the field, so research is the perfect opportunity to get use out of bizarre free T-shirts from volunteer events and raffle gift bags. If you are caught wearing Ambiguous Event T-shirts while transitioning between the field and your home, however, you will be inevitably be questioned by people who intensely read your T-shirt. ...

Good morning everyone, This blog is a tribute to all the animals that get caught up in science. Without their help, we would know alot less about the environment and the natural resources we all love! Lobster toupee None of the other lobsters can tell its scientific equipment: These tags are the same as the ones I use . They send a sound pulse that can be detected by underwater equipment and are used to track movement patterns (photo courtesy of FWRI http://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/telemetry/) Gopro shark (insert dup-step music here)   These are cameras attached to the sharks back that used to video and understand shark feeding habits. Courtesy of the Shark bay ecosystem research project and the Heithaus lab (http://www2.fiu.edu/~heithaus/SBERP/projects/tigerres.html). Punk rocker walleye… His girlfriend’s parents are not impressed   Lip tags are used in mark recapture studies. A fish gets a lip ring with a unique number and released back in...