debor042

This post was written by first-time blogger, grad student Edward Linden, of Dr. Rene Price's of hydrology at FIU ( http://www2.fiu.edu/~pricer/ ). ____________________________________________________________________________           Less than a year ago, all that I knew about Everglades was its general location in Florida and the presence of alligators. Through numerous scientific talks given at FIU, my classes, and my research, I have gained a great deal of knowledge about the history of the Everglades as it relates to my field of study. The Saturday that I spent in Gainesville at UF opened my eyes to an entirely new aspect of the Everglades that I had not previously considered; the political side.           I was well aware of the detrimental anthropogenic influences that the region has experienced, so I knew that humans were intimately involved with the changes that have occurred over the pas...

This blog has been brought to you by Ian Jones, FIU grad student in the Koptur lab ( http://www2.fiu.edu/~kopturs/ ). __________________________________________________________________________ Toni the bee….. with a crippling pollen dependency       In the summer of 2013 I took over as the head TA for the QBIC program at FIU. The program runs alongside the general Biology program but maintains small class sizes, and delivers an integrated curriculum which encourages student to think critically about biological concepts. On the first day of our summer semester I surveyed the new freshman cohort to find out where their scientific interest lay. Unsurprisingly, nearly 100% of the students planned to pursue a medical career, and many already had specializations in mind. It’s very easy to question this level of career certainty in people so young, but it’s also impossible not to be impressed by their drive and ambition. I’m not one to bemoan the dominance of the med...

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/ .

This post was written by guest blogger James Stroud, graduate student in the Feely lab (http://www2.fiu.edu/~kfeeley/). ___________________________________________________________________________ A recent trip to the Everglades with Palm botanist Sara Edelman was meant to provide a welcome break from studying for qualifying exams, and give her the opportunity to further educate me on all things palm (which was previously limited to determining which lizards in Miami appear to live on them).   After spending the morning locating individuals of her study species, the native and state-threatened Paurotis palm ( Acoelorrhaphe wrightii ), we had received very little wildlife luck (which was the true reason for me volunteering to 'help'). From past visits, I had found brown anoles ( Anolis sagrei ) at every car park along the Everglades National Park road down to Flamingo, likely hitch-hiking unwittingly on visitors cars, but to my knowledge they had yet to disperse convinci...

Queue cliché and sappy background music   Five years of trudging through the mangrove and sawgrass swamps of the Everglades. Five years of collecting water samples, analyzing samples, and presenting the major findings across the country. All of those years, and now finally it comes to fruition…the Dissertation Defense. Yes, I finally made it. As some of you know, there is no clear-cut path (that would be environmentally irresponsible), but instead it can be a long and arduous road. It is on this journey of science that we go from seeing just a tree to seeing the forest. I can’t speak for everyone, but I liken grad school to a roller coaster; the ups the downs, and the exciting twists and turns. And in the end, the ride slows down and then stops to let you out. When you step out, sure you have a cool looking degree, get to wear a fancy gown, and have a prestigious prefix, but its way more than that. You have gone through the gauntlet and survived. Just think back out all the th...

This post was written by guest blogger Mike Bush, a grad student in FIU's aquatic ecology lab ( http://faculty.fiu.edu/~trexlerj/ ). __________________________________________________________________________ Boaters trying to push whales back to deep waters. Photo from CNN.com        This will be another post on some wide-ranging animals that only occasionally visit the Everglades.   Last time I talked about small songbirds, but I’ll scale up a bit for this round.   About a month ago, a pod of around 50 short-finned pilot whales beached themselves on a remote shore in the southwestern part of Everglades National Park.   Normally these are deep-water beasts, but for whatever reason, this particular group of animals navigated several miles through shallow sandy shoals, only to end up stranded. Pilot whales are well-known for mass strandings, and the reasons for these strandings are unknown but are thought to be related to sick individuals tryin...