Christian Vinciquerra UR, So many topics to choose

Well since I have never conducted an Independent Research Project I am unsure of what to really do for it. For students in the 1001 lab, we were given the choice between doing our own IRP or just blogging what we do in our labs and analyzing the data from that. I feel as if I am taking the easy way out here, but I'm just unaware of what to do, and how to do it. I would rather take this course, receive more knowledge of the instruments used, and learn the process of conducting research. Graphing research is all new to me also, I have never used Excel before this course surprisingly.

Lion fish found in the swim canal

          Honestly I’m really excited for what this course offers, going out into the field a handful of times is really exciting. I want to learn more about how to write about scientific data and analyzing it. Deciding to watch and blog about our data from class, I have thought a little about my IRP for the future. I know I’m going to eventually have to conduct my own. Usually when i get to choose what to do my projects on, I always bite off too much instead of keeping it simple. In my post last week, I said I would possibly like to do something with ocean pollution and boating. Is there some sort of correlation between knowledgeable boaters and how much trash is thrown overboard into the environment? I believe doing some critical thinking now will help me down the road when the time comes to really conduct my own.

FWC's lab grown lobster molt

         My Uncle from NOAA was integer of the Lionfish catching groups in the keys. They're an invasive species and eat nearly everything, and can kill almost everything in the water. They have been found in 2 ft of water and 700 ft of water. Over summer, I thought about how this is possible na dhow did they come to U.S. Some other ideas that I’ve thought about this past summer were how coral spawn, and how do many eggs get released vs how many are fertilized, and when helping Dr. Jeff Carrier with nurse sharks he mentioned something about how nurse sharks like to be together and they form giant “cuddle puddles”. I would have never thought that they were a social shark, do they use this as a defense strategy or are they just lonely? Also, my friends at FWC were telling me that they're trying to raise the size limit for Florida lobster due to lobster mini season nearly whipping out the population every summer. This had me thinking, if they let the lobster grow, will the lobster population burst out of control. Look how big this molt is! Will we have lobster this size found everywhere? I hope