Dear Mom, send scorpion anti-venom and Band Aids!

Wednesday we spent the whole day out on the boats collecting mangrove soil data and habitat mapping  data. We split the group up into two groups; one group worked on mangrove soil data collection while the other did snorkel mapping data collection.We chose two sites for data collection, site 1 was near 41 Bridge and site 2 near Vester Station.  Site 1 was nestled in a mangrove channel and site 2 was in close proximity to many human different influences such as houses, docks, bridges and mangrove clearing sites. Site 1 tended to have more mangrove debris and detrital sediment and the sediment was a mixture of sand of mud. Site 2 tended to have more shell/oyster beds. Site 1 seemed to be pretty barren, likely because of the very low visibility. Often we would pull up a stick from the mud at site 1 to find it covered in "worm houses" and mud crabs. Site 2 resulted in a much higher diversity count likely due to the poor visibility of site 1. At site 2 we found a wide variety of invertebrates and vertebrates most notably Sheepshead, Mullet, Silversides, Mud crabs, mud snails and Arthropods. At both sites we observed a variety of arthropods and other inverts. It was neat to compile that data with the other group and see the differences in species composition and abundance. In actuality the sites were really close and to see such vast differences it starts to paint the picture of how complex and diverse these systems truly are.

Through picking up a couple pieces of trash, we found a tennis ball and had enough time to play some catch before it was time to head to the next site.

After a full day that included scorpion stings and oyster cuts, it was time yet again to moor the boat and head in for the night. :)