{"id":199,"date":"2012-05-23T10:59:43","date_gmt":"2012-05-23T10:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/?p=199"},"modified":"2012-05-23T11:00:25","modified_gmt":"2012-05-23T11:00:25","slug":"199","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/199","title":{"rendered":"Notes from the Field: South Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

22nd May is International Day for Biodiversity and the theme for 2012 is Marine Biodiversity. In celebration, we will be featuring a series of articles on seagrass. This week, Elizabeth \u201cZ\u201d Lacey writes about her experiences in the long-term monitoring project in the seagrass beds of South Florida under the direction of Dr. Jim Fourqurean.<\/em><\/p>\n

—————————————<\/p>\n

By Elizabeth “Z” Lacey<\/h3>\n

During my own Ph.D. research for the past five years, I have been doing long-term monitoring of the over 18,000 km2<\/sup> of seagrass beds in south Florida as part of the ongoing research in the Fourqurean Seagrass Ecosystems Research Lab (http:\/\/www2.fiu.edu\/~seagrass\/<\/a>).\u00a0 Seagrass species present include: Manatee grass Syringodium filiforme<\/em>, Turtle grassThalassia testudinum<\/em>, Shoal grass Halodule wrightii<\/em>, Widgeon grass Ruppia maritima, <\/em>Johnson\u2019s seagrass Halophila johnsonii<\/em>, Paddle grass H. decipiens<\/em> and Star grass H. englemanni<\/em>.\u00a0 This is a similar list to the one Brooke Landry reported during her vacation in the Bahamas in a previous blog post.\u00a0 Compared to the 50-60 seagrass species possible, our diversity is relatively low.\u00a0 With long-term data on seagrass density and nutrient content, Dr. Jim Fourqurean and fellow researchers are able to determine how these seagrass beds are changing over time and what these changes may indicate for overall seagrass bed health.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a>FKNMS permanent seagrass monitoring sites (sites located in the Dry Tortugas are not shown).<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a>Long-term monitoring site Photo by N. Blinick.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a>My dive buddy Kirk Gastrich and I complete a seagrass survey at one of the long-term monitoring sites.\u00a0 Photo by N. Blinick.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Changes in seagrass beds will also have important impacts to the diversity of species that use them for habitat, feeding grounds, refuge and as an important corridor between mangrove and coral reef habitats.\u00a0 While our seagrass diversity may be limited, there are a multitude of important fish, crustacean and other species supported within these ecosystems.\u00a0 It is estimated that Florida seagrass beds provide ecological services worth over $40 billion US each year (http:\/\/www.dep.state.fl.us\/coastal\/news\/articles\/2011\/1103_Seagrass.htm<\/a>).\u00a0 In addition to the photos of stingrays and sea turtles I posted in my other World Seagrass Association blog entry about my work in Akumal, Mexico, there are a wide diversity of animals that can be seen on any given dive in the seagrass beds of South Florida.\u00a0 But rather than bore you with my prose, why don\u2019t I let the pictures speak 1,000 words (or many thousands when it comes to the number of diverse species supported in tropical seagrass beds!).<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a>Caribbean Reef Squid<\/strong> (Sepioteuthis sepioidea<\/em>). Photo by Captain K. Gastrich.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a>Barracuda (<\/strong>Sphyraena <\/em>barracuda<\/em>) <\/em>Photo by Z. Lacey<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a>Grouper, an important commercial species, spotted in the seagrass bed.\u00a0 Photo by J. Sweatman<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a>Sea urchin using turtle and manatee grass to camouflage itself in the seagrass bed. Photo by Z. Lacey<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>Octopus inside a pipe positioned in the seagrass bed to hold a channel marker\u2014you never know what you\u2019ll find when you are observant while snorkeling in a seagrass bed! Photo by Z. Lacey<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>These photos are just a few of the many, MANY species that can be found in Florida seagrass beds.\u00a0 On a recent field trip with my Introduction to Marine Biology students at Florida International University, we caught other animals like moray eels, batfish and sea robins!\u00a0 In honor of today being International Day for Biodiversity, I invite you to get into the water and spend some time in the seagrass beds.\u00a0 If you aren\u2019t lucky enough to live near some of these magical ecosystems, then on next vacation you have I invite you to head on down to the Florida Keys and enjoy the diversity of life that seagrass beds support.\u00a0 These are the things that keep me excited about working in marine ecosystems as I prepare to defend my Ph.D. in just a few short weeks!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

22nd May is International Day for Biodiversity and the theme for 2012 is Marine Biodiversity. In celebration, we will be featuring a series of articles on seagrass. This week, Elizabeth \u201cZ\u201d Lacey writes about her experiences in the long-term monitoring project in the seagrass beds of South Florida under the direction of Dr. Jim Fourqurean. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nftf"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s2Cwsq-199","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":170,"url":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/170","url_meta":{"origin":199,"position":0},"title":"Notes from the field: Akumal Bay, Mexico.","author":"Siti","date":"13 February, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Every fortnight we feature a seagrass meadow from around the world. 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Z is finishing her Ph.D. at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. --------------------------------------- Photos and text by Z Lacey I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes from the field"","block_context":{"text":"Notes from the field","link":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/category\/nftf"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Fig-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":229,"url":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/229","url_meta":{"origin":199,"position":1},"title":"10th International Seagrass Biology Workshop – B\u00fazios, Brazil","author":"Siti","date":"29 November, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"On the 25th of November 2012, the beach town of B\u00fazios, Brazil was invaded when approximately 100 scientists from every continent (except maybe Antarctica) descended on the unsuspecting local population to talk about grass, seagrass to be exact. 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Over fishing, climate change, coastal development, extreme weather and poor land management are all contributing to the continued global loss of these diverse and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Outreach\"","block_context":{"text":"Outreach","link":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/tag\/outreach"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/fish_posidonia-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":309,"url":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/309","url_meta":{"origin":199,"position":4},"title":"Notes from the field: A wee taste of Scottish seagrass","author":"Siti","date":"17 February, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Every so often, we feature seagrass meadows from all over the world. This week, Maria Potouroglou writes about seagrass in Scotland. Maria is a PhD student at Edinburgh Napier University studying carbon sinks in seagrass. 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