debor042

The end of low-mosquito camping season is nigh, and that's got me thinking about campfires and - a natural progression - campfire songs . And what better songs to sing in the Everglades than songs about the Everglades? In this series of posts I'll introduce you to some of my favorites, starting with: "Everglades" by The Kingston Trio: About a man who killed someone in a jealous fight and fled to the Everglades, where "a man can hide and never be found." Makes you think twice about doing some fieldwork out there. Turns out a judge ruled he acted in self defense, and he was hiding out for no reason (brings to mind "Dust On My Saddle" done by Seals & Crofts) - but he didn't know that (and his girl got tired of waiting - but, thankfully, that's not the focus of the song!). I'm thinking "if the skeeters [didn't] get him then the gators [did]." This is the song my dad told me I needed to learn before I came down here for my...

Polar bear! In the EVERGLADES?!?! So how many of you know the poem "Algy"? " Algy met a bear. The bear met Algy. The bear was bulgy. The bulge was Algy ." I think my dad sang "Algy" to me when I was a little tyke, though in my 3-year-old wisdom I must have taken "Algy" as "Algae" and from then on aspired to become a phycologist. Now, some attribute this verse to Ogden Nash, while others chalk it up to Anonymous (that great and varied writer!). And while this verse may be humorous, it's not truly nonsense (though this sentence is). I've seen analysis of Algy and the bear as an allegory for existentialist being (what does it mean "to be"?), while others just say (spoiler alert) that the bear ate Algy. BUT, I think they're all wrong as a result of a translational error where "Algy" should be "Algae" as my 3-year-old self clearly realized. THEREFORE: Looks a little green 'round the edges. ...

Watch the process of loading microplates to measure soil microbial  extracellular enzyme potential!! This blog has been brought to you by Shelby Servais, FIU graduate student in The Kominoski Lab .

I admit that I ended that last post a bit unclear. But diatoms, it should be said, aren’t (or, rather, shouldn't be said since I shouldn't use double negatives. Ah, well.). Not physically, that is; you see, diatom cell walls are made of silica (glass), and that feature is actually incredibly important (not to mention gives rise to beautiful 'micromanipulations' like this one by Klaus Kemp - different colors in part because of different thicknesses of their glass). Diatoms arose between 180 and 225 million years ago – youngsters in the algal world (compare that to the geezer cyanobacteria of 3+ billion – way vintage) – and in so doing utilized an under-used, widely available resource that set them apart. The genealogy (or “systematics”) of diatoms has since expanded to include anywhere from 20,000 to over 1 million species that span almost every aquatic or semi-aquatic habitat imaginable – oceans, lakes, rivers, moss, soil. In those habitats they can be suspended in ...

This post was written by Nick Schulte, a Master's student in Evelyn Gaiser's lab at Florida International University.  So where would you go to study how Everglades algae respond to increased nutrients from sea level rise? The Florida Everglades, right? That’s what I thought. But I went to Iowa. Iowa Lakeside Laboratory , more specifically, on the shores of Lake Oko boji (yes, I still confuse it with that big lake in the northern ‘Glades). A bit clearer but still unhelpful? This summer I attended two courses at Lakeside: Ecology and Systematics of Diatoms and Ecology and Systematics of Freshwater Algae. In that order – specific to general, that’s how it’s normally done, right? Start looking at the fineries of a specific group of algae (“the algae that live in glass houses”, or diatoms) and then see how they fit into the bigger picture of general phycology (“phykos” for “seaweed”). It actually makes a lot sense, especially when my research pays particular attention to the cha...

Flying over the Colombian Andes from Medellin to Nuqui in a small, 20 passenger propeller plane, five scientists peer out the window to look at the  bosque  (Spanish word for forest) covering the mountains below for as far as they could see. I was one of those scientists. Dotted throughout the forest, I can see indigenous communities thriving in small clearings with smoke billowing from small fire pits. Then, out of nowhere, the mountains drop off, the Pacific Ocean appears, and the plane banks hard to starboard. Finally! My first glimpse and the reason why I was making a trip out to Pacific coast of Colombia: mangroves. My first trip to Colombia and I get to see some of the most pristine mangroves in the world. Why am I so excited about mangroves? There is something about the smell of the swamp, the harsh conditions, the incredible resilience of the trees, and the complex hydrology that draws me in. Mangrove is the general term used for a group of salt-tolerant tropical hardw...