Jessica (UR) - Sand Temperatures on the Canaveral National Seashore

Since sea turtle sex is determined by sand temperature, there is no better way to figure out if we are getting more males than females or vice versa than by measuring the temperatures at the nesting sites. Canaveral National Seashore is a National Park where sea turtle nesting happens every day/night during nesting season.

Canaveral National Seashore

I am going to measure the temperatures at 6 different locations. The first will be just outside of the park, and the other 5 will be at the each of the 5 sections where there is parking. I will pick a marked nest and dig a hole approximately 80 centimeters (31 inches) deep. This is the depth at which Green Turtles lay their eggs. Each test hole will be approximately 2 meters (6 feet) North of the original nest.

Sea Turtle Nest

( Did you know that when sea turtles lay their nests in Florida, they are marked and covered to keep predators out. )

I will get some morning temperatures, some afternoon temperatures, and some evening temperatures. I will also speak with the park rangers and see if they have any data that I may use. I would like to compare temperatures over the past 5-10 years. I would use line graphs to show the differences over the years. The more warming that occurs, the more likely it is to have for females being born.












Horrocks, J., & Browne, D. (n.d.). Questions About Sea Turtle Biology. Retrieved February 22, 2019, from http://www.barbadosseaturtles.org/pages/faqs/biology.html

Elizabeth (UR) - Mosquitoes SUCK!

Nobody likes that pesky buzzing or those itchy bites so why dig ditches giving them more area to breed? As early as the 1760's mosquitoes have plagued the people living and visiting Florida. William Bartram, during his many travels through Florida often wrote of the sleepless nights from the troublesome mosquitoes. During the late 1800's Florida was plagued by yellow fever and said to be caused by mosquitoes.

A flier for a conference on the elimination of the disease carrying mosquito.

In the 1950's dragline ditches were dug in coastal marshland in Volusia County and all throughout Florida from the Canaveral area to north to Jacksonville. These ditches were thought to expand the areas where fish would breed and live to help control the black salt marsh mosquitoes (Aedes taeniorrynchus) and other mosquito populations by feeding on their larvae. The ditches were also dug to help with drainage. Many of the ditches are not more than 1.5 to 2.5 feet deep and are mostly a mud bottom that remains submerged during most tidal events except during low water events. Approximately 41 ditches were dug throughout the Ormond Beach area adjacent to the Tomoka River and the Tomoka River Basin.

Dragline (excavator) circa 1950s

Dragline ditches before
and after restoration

There are numerous negative effects to this ditching. The mosquitoes were inevitably given more waterway to breed in which didn't exactly help in the long run. Digging left spoils on either side of the ditch altering the flow of water in estuaries. It changed the amount of and in some cases the types of fish inhabiting the marshes and wetlands. Wetlands also provide protection during storms and these ditches diminished that. The spoils on each side of the ditches are higher than the original wetlands themselves. This allowed for non native species to invade those areas. One species that did so is the Brazilian Pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius).






In the early 2000's small grant funding was provided to the St. John's River Water Management District to begin a restoration project to fill in dragline ditches and restore wetlands to their natural habitat. They partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida State Park System. As funding became available they would do small portions in different areas to restore the wetland habitat as much as possible. An Amphibious Excavator is used to dig out trees and other vegetation. This is usually left to be used as fill in certain ditches. The soil is then leveled to the original elevation of the marsh. Some areas had grasses planted whiles others were allowed to restore itself naturally. Fish, birds, crabs and plants have been seen in restoration areas where they had previously moved on due to habitat loss. Marsh grasses have grown quickly in places where the soil was reestablished. During the restoration process, turbidity in the Tomoka River was monitored due to the sediments being disturbed during back filling. Turbidity curtains were installed to at the outlets of the river to minimize impacts.

Amphibious Excavator in a restoration area

Aerial photo of the 121 Acre Restoration of  the Tomoka Marshland

Sources:

Flagler County Wetland Restoration Project – SJRWMD. (n.d.), Retrieved February 20, 2019, from 
https://www.sjrwmd.com/facts/flagler-wetland-restoration-project/

Rey, J.R., Carlson, D.B. & Brockmeyer, R.E. Wetlands Ecol Manage (2012) 20: 197, from
https://doi-org.db06.linccweb.org/10.1007/s11273-011-9235-1

City of South Daytona, Florida // Home Page, Phase 2 Dragline Ditch Project Tomoka State Park, 
Retrieved February 18, 2019, from http://www.southdaytona.org/egov/documents/13179195899818.pdf

Kathryn, Step Aboard for the Gospel of Good Health!, Retrieved February 18, 2019, from 
https://www.floridamemory.com/blog/tag/yellow-fever/

Andrew (UG)- Hang Ten (Kilowatts)!

Hello,

My name is Andrew Hardwick. I am a student at Daytona State College studying Marine Biology. Although I have been leaning more towards finding ways to harness renewable energy over the past year. Although I am fascinated by solar technology and want to find ways to make it more widespread, I recently discovered from my Oceanography professor (one Dr. Debra Woodall), that no one has yet to find out how much energy we could harness from the ocean waves. specifically Daytona Beach.

Of course, we can't realistically dedicate a significant portion of the World's Most Famous Beach to the machinery necessary to harness wave energy, so this will ave to be done offshore so as to not detract from the tourism that Daytona Beach attracts. Therefore I will survey information from four locations (with a bit of wriggle room in the form of .05 degree margin of error), the average height of the waves, the distance between wave crests, and windspeed/direction to determine weather or not:

Is Offshore Daytona Beach A Viable Location to Harness Wave Energy?


the website that I will be using is earth.nullschool.net. It has all of the necessary information which allows me to calculate how much (potential) energy a wave has per meter of length. The equation that is used to calculate the amount of energy a wave has involves the height of the wave crest and the time between waves. The equation is written thusly:

P=0.5xH⋀2xT(Kw/m)

P= power of the wave

0.5= constant

H= height of wave (in meters)

T= Time between waves (in Seconds)

Kw/m= Kilowatts per meter of wave length

Jessica (UR) - Sea Turtles Don't Like Climate Change

Everyday we hear more and more about climate change. the temperature increase slightly every year. The beaches get smaller. Then we will get a cold snap and all of a sudden you will hear a comment like, "What happened to global warming?" 

 I wish turtles could talk! What would they have to say about climate change? I can almost guarantee that they would not be happy. 

Cold-Stunned Turtles

In the northwest Atlantic, the number of cold-stunned sea turtles has been on the rise since the 1970's. This is due to the warming on the inlets and bays. As the waters warm, it attracts the turtles. When you thing of warming, you don't think of hypothermia. Well, that is exactly what is happening. 

Now in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts it gets cold. They get Nor'easters and ice storms. They go ice fishing in the winter, skiing, and, one of my personal favorites, snowmobiling. Does this sound like a good habitat for a sea turtle?

Kemp's Ridley(Lepidochelys kempii)

The most common sea turtle to get cold-stunned is the Kemp's Ridley. They are the smallest of all the species of sea turtles. Before 2009, only 2 (1999 and 2002) years had ever reached a 100 cold-stunned turtles. Since 2009, ever year over 100 cold-stunned turtles are found. Once the sea surface temperature drop to about 10˚C, it becomes dangerous. Once the waters reach about 5.0˚C - 6.5˚C, it is usually too late 😢

This is just the tip of the iceberg. 

When things start warming up, this also creates some problems. 

David T. Booth, from the School of Biological Sciences in Queensland, Australia, has really given some information that I find very valuable. He stated,  "At low temperatures (typically 26–28 °C) predominately males are produced; intermediate temperatures (typically 28–30 °C) produce a good proportion of both males and females, while high temperatures (30–34 °C) produce predominantly females." So, cool equals boy and warm equals girl. Pretty straight forward.

Thermometer

So let's raise the earth's temperature a little bit, only by a single degree or 2. It won't have that much of an impact you say. Wrong! 

By raising the temperature just one or two degrees will produce a multitude of side effects. The nest temperatures will go up. Less males will be born, so the genetic diversity of these turtles will decrease. The polar ice caps will melt faster. Waters levels will rise. The beaches will start disappearing. Then what? Where will these amazing creatures go?

Just a swimmin'

Griffin LP, Griffin CR, Finn JT, Prescott RL, Faherty M, Still BM, et al. (2019) Warming seas increase cold-stunning events for Kemp’s ridley sea turtles in the northwest Atlantic. PLoS ONE 14 (1): e0211503. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0211503

Booth DT (2017). Influence of incubation temperature on sea turtle hatchling quality. Integrative Zoology 12, 352–60. doi: 10.1111/1749-4877.12255

CJ (UR) - A shark can only attack you if you're wet

Since I’m basing my research project off catching sharks and eventually tagging them, these websites could be useful to my research project because they are all websites of organizations that deal with sharks and shark research here in Florida. I plan on catching them and taking data including species, length, girth, sex, and the location where I caught it to further help understand what kind of shark species call these local waters home which in turn could help formulate a conservation and awareness plan here in our county that prides itself in being the “Shark Bite Capital of the World”.

The first source I found was the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center whose mission “is to conduct life history studies of commercially and recreationally important shark species. Our research is focused on distribution and migration patterns, age and growth, reproductive biology, and feeding ecology. We conduct fishery independent surveys of large and small coastal sharks in US waters from Florida to Delaware.”. This source will be useful because it has tagging information which has tips and instructions, research information and species descriptions. 

Like the source above the FWC has all the information you would need about sharks but it is specifically Florida and the species and laws associated with sharks and fishing for them. It gives you information on proper gear, sharks that are prohibited from landing in state waters on top off regulations and species identification. 

The last source I found that could be useful is the Ocearch Shark Tracker. These guys have an app that you can get on your phone that shows you the locations of different shark species tagged by them around the world. It’s one of the best visual representations you can get as far as shark tagging. In addition to that, you can see the species, sex, length, weight, age, the path in which the shark has traveled and where the shark was tagged. 

Sources

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association/Northeast Fisheries Science Center. (2019). Apex Predators Program. [Website]. Retrieved from https://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/nefsc/Narragansett/sharks/

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. (2019). Sharks. [Website]. Retrieved from https://myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/sharks/

Ocearch. (2019). Shark Tracker. [Website]. Retrieved from https://www.ocearch.org/?list

Morgan (UR) - Warming Warning over Turtle Feminization

Did you know u to 93% of green turtle hatchlings could be female by 2100?

Sex of turtles are determined by Temperature. 

Hatching temperatures falling between 75.2 degrees Fahrenheit to 93.2 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures below 85.1 degrees tend to make more male turtles and temperatures above that mark typically make more female turtles.

Green sea turtles do not develop into males or females due to sex chromosomes, like humans and most other mammals do. Instead, the temperature outside a turtle egg influences the sex of the growing embryo. And this unusual biological quirk, scientists say, endangers their future in a warmer world.

A study by the University of Exeter and the Marine and Environmental Sciences shows that in warmer temperatures predicted on Climate Change, 76%-93% of hatchlings would be female. They show the gender ratio would initially lead to more females nesting, increasing the population - before the drastic decline in green turtle hatchlings "as incubation temperatures approach lethal levels"

They also predict rising sea levels will deluge 33-43% of present nesting areas.

"Green turtles are facing trouble in the future due to loss of habitats and increasing temperatures. As temperatures continue to rise, it may become impossible for unhatched turtles to survive." - Dr Rita Patricio.

I plan to study this more with the help of my classmate Jessica and find out more about why this is happening, how fast this is happening, where this is happening and found out ways to prevent feminization in Marine turtles.

References:

University of Exeter. (2018, December 19). Warming warning over turtle feminization. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 5, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181219191044.htm

Florida State University. (2016, February 4). Bachelor's paradise: Female turtles outnumbering males due to warming temps: Climate change posing long-term stability challenges for turtles. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 1, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160204111634.htm

Elizabeth (UR) - The Tomoka River

Map of Tomoka State Park

When you hear of the Tomoka River you usually relate it to Ormond Beach and the Tomoka State Park, but just where does the river originate? If you look at maps you can trace the river south from Ormond Beach to the southern edge of Daytona Beach. The headwaters of the Tomoka River originate in a low-lying area south of I-4 and west of I-95. The river flows north northeast and empties into the Tomoka Basin which joins the Halifax River.  The Tomoka River has many manmade canals as well as creeks that flow into it adding to the size of the Tomoka watershed. The watershed drains approximately 150 square miles. This is one of the largest sub-basins in the Florida East Coast Basin. East of the U.S. Highway 1 bridge is an aquatic preserve. The Tomoka Marsh Aquatic Preserve is comprised of areas including the Tomoka Basin and the Tomoka River.

Railroad Bridge at US 1

Royal Oak Arch on the Tomoka

The Tomoka River is said to be a freshwater river, but it is a brackish river. This is due to the inlets north and south of it and the Halifax River that bring salt water into the river. There are many species of wildlife that call this river home. During the warmer months it is a sanctuary for the West Indian Manatees (Trichechus manatus). Many birds, turtles, alligators and even dolphins have been seen in the river. The river banks are home to live oaks (Quercus virginiana), various palms including our state tree the Cabbage Palm (Sabal palmetto) and in some areas old growth Bald Cyrpess (Taxodium distichum). Many of the cypress trees have died off as they cannot tolerate high salinity. Stay tuned for more on the Tomoka River. 

Florida Department of Environmental Protection. (n.d.). Tomoka Marsh Aquatic Preserve. Retrieved from https://floridadep.gov/fco/aquatic-preserve/locations/tomoka-marsh-aquatic-preserve

Conner, W.H. & Inabinette, L.W. New Forest (2005) 29: 305. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-005-5658-y

For Your Daily Dose of the Tropics. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.tidewater-florida.com/stateparks/tomoka-state-park.htm