UWF

Week one at UWF was absolutely amazing. From stream ecology the first day to the presentations on Friday, every moment was packed with knowledge and opportunity. Meeting Donald Ray(stream ecology expert) was extremely inspiring. He was rattling off information about every little detail of our surroundings faster than I could write but his knowledge and passion for sharing that knowledge were priceless. Another part of the trip I found enjoyable was taking field samples  and analyzing them in the lab. Here we were able to quantify and analyze our  samples in order to learn and create our power points.  Using sampling devices like the petite ponar and seine nets allowed us to physically see the biodiversity of the surrounding environments and catch animals I've heard of but never seen. For instance, I've been fishing in Florida since I was very young and always wanted to catch a pompano but never really had the chance. While we were pulling the seines along the beach we found several baby pompano. While they weren't dinner size, it was still amazing to actually catch this fish. Overall it was a great week that exceeded expectations in the classroom and field.