Hola Pensacola!

Monday 5/19

The first day at UWF we were introduced to the Park Ranger of Black Water state forrest Ian Stone who gave us an educational tour around the local upland habitats in Pensacola including Black water and yellow river state forrets, Garcon point and
Gulf Islands national Seashore . Along the way we learned about how all the plants and animals are adapted to natural forrest fires and how the rangers need to manage the fires properly so it does not affect the civilization around them. The plants thrived in  these fire driven habitats by two main adaptations:
1) They re-sprouted quickly and easily after a burn
2) They had an outer membrane tough enough to withstand the fire

The long leaf pine (Pinus polustrus) is one of the dominant plants in Black water forrest. It is specially co-adapted to fires because it grows as a low bush for the first 5-15 years of its life, at a low level with a waxy cover on the pines, while it slowly sends a long tap root underground until it becomes large enough to obtain enough nutrients to sprout up to 15ft in just two years! This correlates with the controlled burns because it comes at a 3 year interval, so the pine has just enough time to sprout high enough the escape the fire.

One interesting indicator species of the upland wetland habitats are the pitcher plants (Nepentheceae). These are carnivorous plants that lure insects in with their iridescent colors and then trap them in their long cylindrical pitcher, that contains downward pointing hairs disabling the plant from climbing out. They are obligate wetland species that have a limitation of nitrogen and phosphorous, which is why they have to digest insects in order to obtain these vital nutrients.

We eventually ended the long day of hiking and learning to stop at NLO campground for a shrimp boil and even a little yoga sesh for sunset.

Tuesday 5/20

In the morning we set off towards Santa Rosa Island to observe Barrier Island habitats. We learned that the sediment was derived from marine sand deposits in the Appalachian composed of silica and quartz. The coasts are horizontal so these areas are some of the only in the world that have diurnal tide patterns being one high and low tide per day. The type of vegetation that can withstand the heat and the salt spray is scarce but it still builds a whole dune habitat containing various species within including sea birds, cyotes, insects, blue crabs, fish ect. The two most common shorebirds in the area are the snowy plovers and the least terns. These are both candidates for the threatened species list due to mainly anthropogenic effects from humans. The asphalt from the road is torn up and scattered around the beach  disrupting the birds camogaluged colorations, also making it easier for predators such as cyotes and fox to find the eggs. These bird have multiple defense mechanisms to offset the predations such as pretending to be hurt to distract the predator from the nesting sites. 

 

While Mark Nicholas told us all about the management of the shorebirds and the importance of the dune habitats, professors Alexis Janosik and Dick Snyder educated us about all the local flora and fauna found in the dunes/shore/sound.

The vegetation only lives on the meritme side of the dune where you might find plants such as fine grass, black needle rush and even southern magnolias. The animals hide in the shade from these plants during the sunny hours of the day. 

Dr. Snyder also told us about the different layers of the sediment in the sound where there can be anoxic regions that show as black or red. Chemosyntesis is being undergone due to lack of oxygen microbes utilize carbon by reducing sulfate/nitrate/iron/magnesium. 

There was a wide variety of small bait fishes including silverside, pompano, goby, blue crab and many many more.

We took various water samples and did some measurements on photosynthesis using the YSI.

To wrap it all up we took more samples out on some pontoon boats in Perdido bay with various instruments measuring light attenuatioins, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and much more. For the two days after that we analyzed all our samples in the lab and came up with many fascinating conclusions. Who knew there could be so much diversity in one drop of water from the gulf, or the sound and the bay. All these underwater aliens are primary producers of the ocean called phytoplankton, which are eaten by the larger zooplankton. 

 This underwater arthropod is called a Acartia tonsa

This little CaCo2 phytoplankton is what keeps the structure of the sediment in the gulf.

This zooplankton Dinophysis caudata was caught in mid-replication under the microscope. 

Overall UWF was an experience full of knowledge laughter and many many good times, cant wait to see what UNF has to offer this upcoming week!