debor042

I've always been fascinated with the names of places and the history behind those names. Why is Paris called Paris, and why did somebody in Texas feel the need to use the name again? Why is the big rock in the middle of Australia called Uluru by the native Aboriginals and why did a white guy rename it Ayers Rock in the 19th century? The coastal Everglades is full of fantastically obvious (Mud Lake) and wonderfully enigmatic (Willy Willy) place names and I have bumped into many of them during my research. Here is a list of some of those places and where the names come from (or at least where I think they come from): 1. Shark River: There are sharks in it, though they are not easy to find sometimes. 2. Coot Bay: For many years I had no idea how this bay got its name or what a coot even was, then one day while driving through it early in the morning I saw a flotilla of water birds (at least a couple hundred strong) sitting together on the bay. They turned out to be coots from t...

Guest Post from Alex Perez, undergraduate researcher in the Seagrass Ecosystems and Marine Macroalgae labs at FIU. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When one thinks of Florida Bay the connotation is that of a shallow water system that is surrounded mangrove tree islands and mud banks. The thoughts of aquatic vegetation and blue water coloration more diverse than your standard 8-pack Crayola box, is what I used to think of. That is of course before I began to notice what was soaring above the surface. My first taste of the birds of Florida Bay was an experience I have yet to repeat, one chilly winter day as we were making our run from the western portion of the Bay to the center of the Bay we came across thousands (not a hyperbole) of migratory birds. The sound of our outboard shattering the tranquil water exciting the birds to take flight, was the first time I really notice the birds...

For those of you who read Using "Sound" to See Underwater  and Everglades at Night ,  you've learned a bit about the DIDSON (an imaging sonar) and have gathered that some of my work occurs at night in the glades.  Below, I'll explain how I'm using the DIDSON to understand the role of predatory fish in canals of the Everglades. Canals were dredged  in the early 20th century to drain the wetlands and have now become a permanent fixture in the Everglades landscape.  I could write a whole separate article on the harm canals have done, but for now I encourage you to read  The Effects of Canals and Levees on Everglades Ecosystems  for a review on their history and role in the landscape.  Their relevance to my study is that the canals harbor large, piscivorous fish (fish that eat other fish), which is great for recreational fishermen but bad news for the little fish who have to fight for survival in these canals.  Small fish play...