University of North Florida

This was a very busy week at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.  On Memorial Day we traveled to many different locations and looked at natural habitat and habitat that has been influenced by humans.  One of the things I enjoyed the most about this was the coquina rocks.  It was interesting to learn how this rock forms and the different uses that these rock forms have.  On Tuesday we started the 24 hour field data collection.  This was done at the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve.  We took water quality samples every hour and pulled sein nets every 3 hours.  It was amazing to see the diversity of animals between the lake and river location within the Reserve and to see how the numbers of animals collected changed between day and night.  Although this was a very long and sleepless night, it was nice to be able to collect data and have fun and laugh with friends.  Once the data collection period was over we immediately started putting the data into excel and preparing graphs with the data.

I really enjoyed the Coquina Rocks. 

Sein netted  these cute little guys for 24 hrs. 

 On Thursday we traveled up the St. John’s River to fresh water.  We started to take water quality samples and collected water from each site as we worked our way back to the ocean.  While on the river, we were able to see the effects that humans have on the river.  Humans have large impacts on the river in different ways. For example the fertilizer run off has major effects on the river along with dredging certain parts.   

Enjoying the St.John's River with Nat. 

Friday was a day to review all the graphs and data we collected throughout the week.  We also reviewed all the information we learned and took an exam.

This was a busy week but a week full of information.  I cannot wait to be at the Keys Marine Lab next week.