A Franklin/Gulf County affiliation of home school students recently joined us to study oysters and other animals in the estuarine habitat. Even the youngest students are able to draw, and so it was easy to see evidence that they could understand why oysters are a keystone species.

Taylor Tucker, Assistant Manager and Resilience Coordinator of the Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP), recently visited the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Sciences (RSMAS) to participate in a career panel for undergraduate marine science students.

Rookery Bay Research Reserve was honored to take part in a special panel discussion on mangroves at the Naples Baker Museum, alongside representatives from the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and artist Nathalie Alfonso, whose work is currently featured in the Entangled in the Mangroves exhibit.

The Indian River Lagoon Aquatic Preserves (IRLAP) team had all-hands-on-deck for “A Day in the Life in the Indian River Lagoon.” A marine science class from Saint Lucie West Centennial High School partnered with the IRLAP office to participate in this event organized by ORCA (Ocean Research & Conservation Association). IRLAP worked with junior and senior students to collect data for a long-term citizen science project.

Each fall and winter, LJAP participates in several school STEM nights within the Tallahassee community. This October, staff joined dozens of other science organizations at the School of Arts and Sciences’ (SASC) annual Science Night. This event hosted hundreds of students and parents. LJAP showed off an interactive table about lake ecology and management. 

DEP Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) and Florida Keys Aquatic Preserve (FKAP) teams completed semi-annual seagrass and hardbottom benthic surveys and Disturbance Response Monitoring (DRM) one month early! Both teams were prepared on all field days to make monitoring and sampling go smoothly. Everyone did a great job working hard this field season.

Staff from the Florida Aquarium assisted Tampa Bay Aquatic Preserve (TBAP) staff on Friday as part of TBAP’s “Day of Action” service program. They worked on an island in the Pinellas County Aquatic Preserve to remove marine debris and invasive plants. The Florida Aquarium regularly provides staff for this type of work. TBAP is thankful for their continued support.

Big Bend Seagrasses Aquatic Preserve (BBSAP) partners with Florida Public Archeological Network (FPAN) on outreach events, most recently participated in Moon Over the Mounds at the Crystal River Archeological State Park, learning about the cultural and historical importance of the area.

The Indian River Lagoon Aquatic Preserves (IRLAP) staff collaborated with FWC, the Brevard Zoo and Brevard County Environmentally Endangered Lands (EEL) to investigate open spaces on the 1000 Islands, near Banana River Aquatic Preserve, for potential least tern nesting sites. Florida’s least terns (Sternula antillarum) are listed as threatened, and their nesting habitat is rapidly disappearing.

The Fishy Fashion Show exhibit and opening night were a mixture of joy, silliness, education, seriousness, and creativity. These are essential ingredients of success when trying to get an important message out to the public. Artist Joan Matey’s costumes made of marine debris delivered a message both powerful and fun.