UNF

This week at University of North Florida we did a lot of activities in so little time. It was intense but we learned a lot of good information about human impacts on rivers, biodiversity of a lake compared to a river, and water quality. This whole week we used the YSI meter to test water quality. The values we were measuring and comparing were dissolved oxygen, salinity and temperature. We also compared turbidity by using the secchi disk and the secchi tube. The secchi tube was a lot more accurate because the water is still in the tube, but the visibility of the disk in the water was hard to see in the shade and when the waves were coming in. When we went along the St. John's river we saw many things that could affect the water such as power plants, houses that have fertilizer runoff, a cruise ship and many more. We also did a 24 hour tidal study to see what changes with the different tides. In high tide the fish are more spread out and harder to catch with a ten foot seine net, but when the tide is low the fish are more concentrated in one area and are easier to catch. We did not catch anything big other than the blue crab because larger fish are faster and are hard to catch with a small net. This week was difficult with the lack of sleep but it was totally worth it.