Third Graders Help Save the Bay

Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve's mobile screen microscope was taken out for a spin on a field trip and literally in a field. Third graders got to see the mini habitat that had grown on a vertical oyster garden the current fourth graders had built last year. As always, this class is really taught by nature herself. Every third grader across the county learns about oysters as a keystone species and then discover the nursery that the oyster infrastructure makes possible while looking at oyster shells up close, their own miniature oyster bars, and seining for juvenile fish and invertebrates. This year’s 3rd graders also had an opportunity to build their own vertical oyster gardens with the help of our conservation partners at Conservation Corps to help our High school student classes compare spat recruitment, and species assemblages on vertical oyster gardens in different parts of the bay.