Finishing up at USFSP

The last two days at USFSP were nothing like I thought it would be. Though we were supposed to go back out on the R/V Weatherbird II, the seas proved to be too dangerous for an undergrad science team because of Tropical Storm Andrea. The weather was crazy! But I guess that's Florida for you. The day was not completely wasted though. We got everything cleaned up in a very timely manner and had a very delicious breakfast and lunch handmade by the lovely cook aboard the Weatherbird, Thomas. After lunch we all made a quick stop by the dorms to get dry clothes and headed to the Florida Aquarium.The aquarium was awesome and I loved how they set up the displays based on the ecosystem the animal would inhabit. We had to complete a scavenger hunt in groups of 2 where we were made to hunt for facts and animals in order to get it completed. As well we learned how to do an ethogram, or behavioral analysis of an animal in which the specimen is observed and its actions are recorded and counted. The animal I chose to study was the Roseate Spoonbill because it was a bird we had seen the week before. The birds were free to roam around its enclosure inside the building and the really started t get up close and personal after a while of watching them. I actually got splashed a few times by the birds flapping their feathers in the water.

On Friday, we spent the morning analyzing the data we collected on our trip to sea aboard the Weatherbird II. It was interesting to see the differences in the species richness, or count of species, between the two locations. Where the first station had many more fish and sponge, the second station had an abundance of Mollusca. After performing this careful analysis of data, we spent the remainder of the morning discussing biodiversity. Following that, we got a quick lunch at the University Center and then proceeded to go back to class to finish discussing biodiversity and learning about copepod (a type of plankton) defense mechanisms. These little creatures can accelerate to speeds of 600 body lengths per second!n We then watched The Blue Planet: Open Oceans movie.

Overall, the time spent at USFSP was wonderful. I learned so much more than I thought, and got to do so many things other people never even get the opportunity to do. I met some amazing people along the way and I feel like  have gotten to know my classmates and peers a little bit better.