Vester Field Station and sampling - Florida

Vester Field Station

Top to bottom - The Vester field station,
The Osprey nest just beyond the stations jetties
A Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) roosting
on  navigation post near the the station,
A Manatee (Tichechus manatus) seen from the station

Apart for the first two nights of our trip the place we called home was Florida Gulf Coast University's Vester Field Station and this blog wouldn't be complete without giving it a special mention.

Donated to FGCU by Bob and Nancy Vester, who still live on site in their own apartment, the station that was once a waterfront motel is now a fully kitted out Marine and environment research station. It comes complete with Labs, boats and of course dorms.

As well as serving us well with a place to call home for the trip it also offered us some great wildlife spots. These included the Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) among other bird species roosting on posts just off shore and two resident nesting Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) .

But perhaps the best offering it had to give came on the evening of the 4th day when a Manatee (Tichechus manatus) and calf surfaced just a few feet from one of its viewing platforms. After hours of fruitless searching on our day trips, they turned up on the door step. It was wonderful to see.

Sampling

Of course no wetlands field trip would be complete without collecting some soil samples to take home with us. After our Visit to FGCU on the Sixth day we returned to the station briefly to collect some tools before heading out to collect some samples.

Our mission was simple. Together collect 5 soil samples from areas of each mangrove tree species (red, black and white).  The nearby barefoot beach provided us with sample from two of the three species but for the black mangrove species we had to go further out to sea...

In perhaps the most exciting trip to collect samples to date we grabbed a couple of the stations canoes and paddled out to a mangrove island within the estuary. Here we found the last samples.

It was so different to be sampling within a mangrove swamp rather than a peat bog with perhaps the one of the most memorable differences being the fact my hand were warm enough to still have feeling in them afterwards!

Myself and fellow MSc students going out to samples in the mangroves 

Species List

Birds

Common Name	Latin Name
Brown Pelican	Pelecanus occidentalis
Osprey	Pandion haliaetus

Plants

Common Name	Latin Name
Red Mangrove	Rhizophora mangle
Black Mangrove	Avicennia germinans
White Mangrove	Laguncularia racemosa

Mammals

Common Name	Latin Name
Manatee	Tichechus manatus

Ding Darling - Florida Day 4

Day Four saw us set off bright and early, very early, for the Ding Darling National Nature Reserve, and after surviving our drivers slight collision with a lovely floridian named lance, we made it.

Left and bottom right show the lagoon and mangrove habitat at
Ding Darling NNR. Top Right is a Duck stamp
 key to its conservation 

What is Ding Darling?

Ding Darling is located on Sanibel island on the south west coast.

The reserve was first created in 1945 when Jay Norwood Darling blocked the sale of the land to developers by urging his friend president truman to sign an order creating the ‘Sanibel island National wildlife refuge’

This was just one of many conservation successes for Jay Norwood or ‘Ding’ Darling. Darling was a political cartoonist and keen conservationist whose achievements ranged from leading the forerunner to the US Fish and Wildlife service (the US Biological survey) to the creation of the Duck Stamp, a hunting requirement that has the to the conservation of many wetland habitats among others.

The Sanibel Island National Nature reserve was later renamed in honor of Darling in 1967 and covers 6,400 acres of mangrove swamp, marsh and seagrass bed. Around 2,800 acres of that area is designated as ‘wilderness’ by US congress limiting human impact to a minimum.

Our Visit

We met our enthusiastic guide for the afternoon, Judy Davis. Judy was a fantastically knowledgeable lady who was a volunteer warden for the reserve but had been visiting it long before she joined its team.

We drove along the visitor tail stopping at Judys instruction to get the best views of the habitats and the wildlife they supported.

When i got out of the bus for the first time along the visitor trail the first thing that stuck me was the strong smell of sulphur coming from the dense mangrove swamps at either side of the road. I knew from our Biogeochemical modules this meant that A.) The soil was very reduced and anoxic and B.) There would be a plentiful supply of sulphur from the sea water meaning that redox would never get so low that the microbes would have to use carbon as an electron acceptor producing methane.

Left to Right - A Red Racer Snake (Masticophis) in among the mangrove roots. A conduit of open water in the Mangrove swamps. A Red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) viviparous propagule.

Judy spoke a lot into the subject of how important the mangroves are in order to support the biodiversity at the site by providing nesting and roosting habitat for many of the bird species and nursery habitat for fish which later support the birds. Later we explored the mangroves for ourselves and came across a number of species including the mangrove tree crabs (Aratus pisonii) and a Red Racer snake (Masticophis flagellum)

As we traveled along Judy spoke about the water management of the reserve. In the past it was managed purely for hunting which for the most part meant supporting the migratory duck populations. This had led to the installation of water controlling features such as dams to keep the water level inside the bay high. However this created highly anoxic water which caused a decline in other biodiversity, mainly through its impact on the fish populations. Today only a small area of the reserve has its water level artificially raised and is closely monitored to ensure that the oxygen within the area does not drop dangerously low.

But what turned out to be the real highlight of the day was the reason why we left so early, seeing all the different bird feeding behaviours. I'm no animal behaviourist but it was still fascinating to watch. Examples of this include

-Different wading species working together to corner fish (communal feeding)

-Snowy egrets (Egretta thula) gliding over the water with their yellow legs breaking the surface to attract fish upwards

-White Pelicans (Pelecanus onocrotalus) in a small group herding fish across the water (Seen in Video)

- White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) Picking through the sediment to find invertebrates

-Anhingas (Anhinga anhinga) diving and drying

One of our group spotted a number of Rosette spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) in the distance, this led judy to regale a story from her earlier days where she failed a birding exam for stating that the pink colour of the spoonbill plumage was due to genetics unlike the flamingo, a fact that is true but unfortunately her examiner was misinformed.

Top Left to Right - A group of wading bird species fishing communally at the edge of the Lagoon, Group of Ring Necked Ducks (Aythya collaris). Bottom Left to Right - Some members of our group looking out across the lagoon, Adult and juvenile (Closer) White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) feeding.

We Concluded the Visit with a trip around the visitor center, taking some crayon rubbings in our field books  and a video on the history of the site before saying goodbye to our wonderful and knowledgeable guide

Species List

Birds

Common Name	Latin Name
Anhinga	Anhinga anhinga
Roseate Spoonbill	Platalea ajaja
Cormorant	Phalacrocorax carbo
Greater Yellow Legs	Tringa melanoleuca
White Ibis	Eudocimus albus
Royal Tern	Thalasseus maximus
Yellow-crowned night heron	Nyctanassa violacea
White Pelican	Pelecanus onocrotalus
Great White Egret	Ardea alba
Snowy Egret	Egretta thula
Willet	Tringa semipalmata
Ring Necked Ducks	Aythya collaris
Little Blue Heron	Egretta caerulea
Reddish Egret	Egretta rufescens
Pied-billed Grebes	Podilymbus podiceps

Plants

Common Name	Latin Name
Red Mangrove	Rhizophora mangle
Black Mangrove	Avicennia germinans
White Mangrove	Laguncularia racemosa

Reptiles

Common Name	Latin Name
Brown Anole	Anolis sagrei
Alligator	Alligator mississippiensis
Red Racer Snake	Masticophis flagellum

Invertebrates

Common Name	Latin Name
Mangrove Tree Crabs	Aratus pisonii
Fire Ants	Solenopsis invicta

Fish

Common Name	Latin Name
Mosquito Fish	Gambusia affinis
Mullet	Mugil cephalus
Snook	Centropomus undecimalis

Lovers Key State Park - Florida Day 3

After a restful night at the Vester Field Station we set out to our first destination in the southern part of the trip being Lovers Key State Park.

Top to bottom -
Beach Sunflower (Helianthus debilis),
 Eastern Screech Owl(Megascops asio),
Brown Anole(Anolis sagrei),
Gumbo Limbo Tree (Bursera simaruba)

What is Lovers Key?

The Park is composed of 4 barrier islands and it gets its name from its history of young lovers with boats being able to come visit its lovely beaches for some… privacy. This was before the road bridge was built to the islands in the 1960’s.

From the 1960’s through to the early 1990’s the land was in the private ownership of an individual who wished to see it developed and with this in mind in the 1980’s a number of drainage canals and channels were dug into the mangrove swamps in order the drain the land.

However this plan quickly crumbled as it came to light that in destroying the swamp habitat he was violating several laws. So in order to get out of the trouble he had placed himself a deal was struck with the US fish and wildlife service in which all the land was donated to them to be ran as a state park nature reserve.

The park is interesting in an ecological perspective as it is a place where the the marine habitats meets with terrestrial habitats making this transitional area an ecotone. It is also home to a number of ecologically important species such as the Gopher tortoise which is considered to be a keystone species.

Our visit to lovers key started by taking the Black Island trail around an island that got its name because of its connection to a pirate known as Black Augustus who is said to of spent the rest of his days on the island after fleeing from the authorities.

Our Visit

The trial began on a bridge over one of the many drainage canals built by the previous owner and so began the manatee hunt. This saw the entire group stopping at every body of water to search for the large sea cows.

Unfortunately it was a search that proved fruitless for most, with the closest to a sighting for me personally being the large flat ripples created by a manatee tail as it swims.

Top-Manatee Hunt commences
Left- Red Mangrove (Rhizophora mangle)
 foliage Right- Sea grape leaf (Coccoloba uvifera)  

However a number of vegetative species were much easier to spot. Around the water there was a high prevalence of salt tolerant species such as the Red Mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) with its drop and prop roots at the waters edge and the Sea Grape (Coccoloba uvifera) higher up on the banks which at the end of the growing season would be covered in red grape like edible fruits.

As the path progressed inwards away from the water a number of other plant species began to appear including a number of palms, see species list (at the bottom) and what turned out to be a group favorite the Gumbo Limbo Tree (Bursera simaruba) or as its locally known the tourist tree due to its Red and Flaky appearance

We then came across a small garden area where a number of butterflies were feeding on the flowers. The majority of the butterflies were the Florida state butterfly being the Zebra Long Wing (Heliconius charithonia) but there was also one or two Mangrove hopper butterflies (Phocides pigmalion)

Some of our group capturing a 
Snap of the Zebra Longwing 
Butterfly (Heliconius charithonia)

Inside a hollow of a dead tree just beyond the garden was an Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio) roosting during the day time.

As we continued along the trail we started to come across a number of Gopher Tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) and their burrows. As i mentioned earlier they are considered to be a keystone species. This means that they are essential to the ecological integrity of the environment around them, ‘why?’ because their burrows provide homes and shelters to many other species especially in wildfires which in a natural situation would be common during the dry season.

After we had completed the trail we set out on the foot path towards the beach again crossing over another drainage canal to find our way there.

As we moved towards the sea it was a lot more apparent that the environment was becoming both wetter and more saline because of the presence of mangrove swamps.

The Dense undergrowth from the combined
adaptations of the Red and Black
 Mangrove species

The areas of mangrove swamp were comprised of both the red and black species of mangrove and the view from the boardwalk made it very easy to see how the combination of the drop and prop roots from the red species and the pneumatophores from the black species create the thick barrier of roots that provide shelter and microclimates for a vast array of biodiversity not to mention sea protection for humans.

Some of that biodiversity could be easily seen as it crawled up and overhead being the mangrove tree crabs (Aratus pisonii) which live on the trunks and branches of the trees.

The final part of the of the day was spent on the beach which seemed to be an unnatural shape and layout (Too flat,high and straight) , i later learned that recently the beach had gone under a large restoration were sand had been brought in to replace sand lost through erosion. The benefit of this however is that larger areas could be fenced off to nurse a new generation of the endangered sea oat (Uniola paniculata) which grows in the sandy soil at the top of the beach.

While we were on the beach a number of bird species were also spotted, including royal terns (Thalasseus maximus) , brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) , ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) , turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) and finally a Great White Egret (Ardea alba) displaying unnatural behaviour by standing beside the fishermen waiting to be given their catch.

Panorama of the Lovers key beach. 

The day concluded by some ball games in the sea, sunning on the beach and canoeing back at the field station.

Species List

Birds

Common Name	Latin Name
Turkey Vulture	Cathartes aura
Osprey	Pandion haliaetus
Eastern Screech Owl	Megascops asio
Mourning Dove	Zenaida macroura
White Ibis	Eudocimus albus
Blue Heron	Ardea herodias
Royal Tern	Thalasseus maximus
Brown Pelican	Pelecanus occidentalis
Great White Egret	Ardea alba

Plants

Common Name	Latin Name
Strangler Fig	Ficus aurea
Sea Grape	Coccoloba uvifera
Red Mangrove	Rhizophora mangle
Black Mangrove	Avicennia germinans
Cabbage Palm	Sabal palmetto
Coconut Palm	Cocos nucifera
Royal Palm	Roystonea regia
Prickly Pear	Opuntia ficus-indica
Gumbo Limbo	Bursera simaruba
Spanish Bayonet	Hesperoyucca whipplei
Century Plant	Agave americana
Beach Sunflower	Helianthus debilis
Sea Oat	Uniola paniculata

Reptiles

Common Name	Latin Name
Brown Anole	Anolis sagrei
Gopher Tortoise	Gopherus polyphemus
Alligator	Alligator mississippiensis
Black Racer Snake	Coluber constrictor priapus

Fish

Common Name	Latin Name
Needle Fish	Tylosurus crocodilus
Mosquito Fish	Gambusia affinis
Mullet	Mugil cephalus

Invertebrates

Common Name	Latin Name
Zebra Long Wing Butterfly	Heliconius charithonia
Fire Ants	Solenopsis invicta
Spiny Orb Weaver Spider	Gasteracantha cancriformis
Mangrove Skipper Butterfly	Phocides pigmalion
Mangrove Tree Crabs	Aratus pisonii