End of week at UNF

On day three at UNF we started our 24 hour estuary study at the Guana River. This ecosystem is unique because there is a water control dam in between the upper lake portion and the lower estuary portion of the river. This weir restricts most of the tidal flow to the upper lake portion which causes a slight separation between the two bodies of water except with a large high tide flux. While there is some mixing between the water, there is overlap in the variety of fish and invertebrates living in these systems, but also some separation of species. The point of the study was to document trends and differences in water quality and species abundance of the two ecosystems over a 24 hour period. We split into three groups, I was in group #1 with the wonderful crew of Aaron, Danielle, and Tiffany. We took water quality and samples every hour and ran the seine net every three hours. This was truly once in a life time experience to do a 24 hour study in such a wonder preserve. It was hard at times but we also had some down time to fish, although I didn't have any luck Aaron caught his first Redfish!! Needless to say we were all exhausted afterward. After we all rested up, we compiled our data, discussed what we saw and was tested on it. We all had a blast at UNF and learned a lot from the great faculty there. I want to thank everyone involved for making this an amazing trip so far and I can't wait for next week at the Keys Marine lab where I'll be learning more from my former professors from the great FAU.
p.s. sorry for the lack of photos, I was busy working hard

Oyster reefs at low tide

Tons of people were fishing these sites