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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...

"Nothing endures but change." -- Heraclitus It is indeed a time of change for the FCE LTER graduate students. One of our own, Ann Hijuelos, Trexler lab master's student and blog founder, successfully defended her thesis and has moved on to greener pastures (a real job in Baton Rouge, LA). On behalf of all of us here at the blog, I thank Ann for her leadership and wish her well in all future endeavors. In the power vacuum that resulted from Ann's departure, Jenn Sweatman, Fourqurean lab PhD student, has forcefully taken the reins of the blog and we can only hope that she is a kind and benevolent master. I am very confident that Jenn will lead us to new heights of blogitude! Also, thanks to the fearless leadership of Dr. Evelyn Gaiser and the hard work of many other FCE contributors, our NSF grant has been renewed for another six years in the amount of $5.88 million! This grant renewal ensures that vital FCE research will continue until at least 2018, and a new crop of ...

As I sit here struggling to write my very last blog post, I wonder "What can I leave people that they'll find useful in any way?"  I could provide meaningful insight on what it was like being a graduate student in my lab, but my thesis sucked all the meaning out of my brain and suddenly I can't even manage to put two sentences together that make sense.  So instead, the most useful thing(s) I can leave you all, is (are) my bookmarks!  Those that know me know how incredibly organized (read: obsessive compulsive) I am, so over the last 2.5 years I've collected quite a bit of useful internet knowledge and organized it into various categories on my computer.   So, as my parting gift to you, I leave you these helpful links on everything from job sites, to SAS codes, to data portals, and most importantly, sites for procrastination.  I can't promise these links will stay active forever, but last I checked they worked.  So enjoy! GIS DATA From here . FIU GIS Center ...

Do you see the tiny green film at the bottom of the beaker in the picture above?  This extremely small clump of green stuff is a diatom sample weighing less than 20 milligrams that I need to carefully process and guard with my life for carbon isotope analysis. If I lose any of this sample or ruin a procedure, I will likely have to spend several weeks waiting for a new culture to grow and start over again. Thoughts that have been running through my mind recently include: What if I lose any of my sample while transferring it between beakers? What if it spills? What if a piece of hair lands in it? (note: things like hair and dust can ruin stable isotope samples) Despite how many methods papers I read, I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. What if I dry the sample too long, or add too much acid or completely miss a secret step that isn't described in any journal articles? WHY IS THIS FILTER FALLING APART? WHY? NOOOOO!!!!!  Failure and data loss can happen at all stage...

This guest post was written by Deanna Conners, an environmental scientist and freelance science writer who holds a MS in Environmental Studies and a PhD in Environmental Toxicology. Deanna is a frequent contributor to  EarthSky . You can follow Deanna on  Twitter   and  Google+ . ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Image courtesy of Dwayne Bent via  Flickr  I’ve heard many people say that they enjoy science blogging. I agree, it’s fun. I’ve been blogging now for almost two years, mostly about topics in Earth science, and the science I write about never ceases to amaze me. I’ve never heard any scientist say that they enjoy writing journal articles. For myself, and I imagine for a few others, the joy associated with writing journal articles comes not from the act of writing per se but from seeing good research get published in good journals. The act of writing for journ...

I'm just going to go ahead and say it: graduate school is great (though  The Simpsons disagree ). We're given 2-9 years (depending on whether you're a masters or doctoral student and the scope of your research) to live in a cozy academic bubble surrounded by like-minded peers doing research on things we think are interesting and important. We teach, we write, we think, we analyze, and we get to explore new places and meet really smart people. We don't have tons of extra responsibilities like kids (usually) and onerous administrative crap, and we're given some room to fail every once in a while (the most important part of the scientific process). Sure graduate school can be frustrating, annoying, and just plain idiotic at times, but that's pretty much a definition for life. Let's not get bogged down in the mundane. But the question I've been asking myself recently is, what's next? What comes after graduate school? I'm planning on graduating with ...

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...