On To The Next One!

This week at FGCU was amazing! I have never learned so much in one week in my entire life.
Wednesday we got to work with Dr. Toshi Urakawa. We learned all about mangrove degradation in the Estero Bay and also about the microorganisms that round out the food web cycle.

Sorting mangrove leaves!

Levels of degradation!

On Thursday we worked with Dr. James Douglass. We learned all about seagrass! Every single thing you could imagine. It was fascinating. I had never heard of epiphytes before this class, or mesograzers, for that matter. 

Look what we found in our quadrat!

Analyzing our Virnstein samples

Friday we learned about oyster reefs and their impacts as ecosystem engineers in estuarine habitats with Dr. Aswani Volety. I enjoyed his research the most because I feel like I can apply it to my home in the Indian River Lagoon. Oysters filter so much water every day (4-34 L per hour!) that it could seriously improve the water quality, which in turn could increase some of the other species in the lagoon, like seagrass! 

All in all I had one heck of a week here. But I learned so much and I have gotten so much closer with my fellow students! I love being able to learn and live with so many awesome  people. I can't wait to see what next week has in store :]