debor042

The following link is to an article written by Jessica Lee, FIU graduate student in Dr. Jennifer Rehage's aquatic biology lab ( http://www2.fiu.edu/~rehagej/index.html ). __________________________________________________________________________      In February I had an opportunity to fish with my favorite group of anglers from the Keys. For the past 30 years this group of fishermen has faithfully made it every month to the backcountry to fish. They were the inspiration for the Coastal Angler Science Team (CAST), the “original-members” before CAST officially came to be.  For the past two years they have been regularly scanning their catches for “recaptures” (previous fish we tagged with internal microchips, “PIT-tags”).  This group alone has caught over 30 recaptures, about half of the current CAST totals. To read more, please go to http://cast.fiu.edu/index.php/my-recapture-story-for-the-everglades/ .

I would like to introduce you to a new rising star in the FCE, Sara Osorio! She has been working with FCE LTER Education and Outreach coordinator, Mr. Nick Oehm, and our lead PI, Dr. Evelyn Gaiser. Her research project is about the diatoms found in the wetland restoration area of the Deering Estate ( Biscayne Coastal Wetlands Project ). Sara Osorio, FCE LTER High School Researcher at the FIU Periphyton Lab Sara is currently a junior in high school. She became involved in FCE research because she was always fond of her science classes, including AP Biology. Through the recommendations of Mr. Oehm, Sara became one of our newest high school researchers. Sara is working with Dr. Gaiser in the Periphyton Lab at FIU as a LTER high school research assistant , where she is receiving personal instruction on all the necessary aspects of a real scientific research study: field sampling, laboratory procedures, diatom identification, and microscopy. Later, there will likely be data analysis, poste...

Our full time bloggers are recovering from the  FCE-LTER Beach BBQ  this weekend so we've asked Mike Bush from the Department of Biology to talk about his research on fish movement in the Everglades. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Identifying patterns of animal movement is an important part of most conservation programs. As Everglades restoration continues, identifying how fishes respond to changes in water flow, removal of levees, etc. will provide us with important information about how restoration is changing the Everglades. I’m going to briefly discuss some of my work with large fish movement in the central Everglades. Starting in May 2011 and continuing almost uninterrupted through today, I’ve been tracking two different fish species in an area known as the Gap (between Water Conservation Areas 3A and 3B). The fish are largemouth bass and bowfin, two big species that a...