Angela -The Florida Keys and Other Thoughts

As part of my research regarding which Florida coast has more, if any, plastic I had planned on visiting the Florida Keys. Since my time is limited I was researching which beach to visit on Key Largo, but according to the Trusted Tours Travel Guide there seem to be few natural beaches on the islands comprising the Florida Keys because the coral reef acts as a barrier to the waves. 

My theory: no waves hitting the beach = no ocean plastic being deposited.

Hmmm...so how much ocean debris, especially plastic, gets caught in the coral reef? What does plastic do to coral?

 

Over the next couple years I plan on becoming an expert on ocean plastic, thus next year I would like to get scuba certified and look for plastic in the coral reef along the Florida Keys. Before and after diving I'd like to comb the man-made beaches for plastic debris left behind by visitors. 

Originally I had solely planned on using some of the plastic I've collected during this project in a potted plant experiment to 1) see how plants in soil mixed with plastic develop versus control plants and 2) if the plant doesn't die maybe I can get someone to test the chemical composition of one of the leaves or possibly fruit if I choose e.g. tomatoes. Now I'm thinking I could do something similar with coral but will first have lots of studying to do on keeping coral in an aquarium.

Artificial Black Mangrove Project

       The project is coming on well with the simplicity of construction and easy to find materials.  The design has changed slightly from what I had originally planned.  The original plan was to take 7/8 dowels and shape them into curvy lines to mimic a root system, then attach them to plywood 7/8 thick sheet.  The trouble with that, the dowels proved to be too thick to curve and i could not really provide the right equipment/method to do so. I instead used the wooden dowels as a barrier to hold sand on the plywood to help weight it down when it is placed in the water.I later came up with a different design method to mimic the root system.

          The artificial black mangrove system itself is very basic in material and in construction.  The materials consist of 7/8''x8'x4' sheet of plywood cut to a 4'x4' square.  Bamboo that has been cut to various lengths and varies widely in diameter. Pine wooden dowels 7/8 diameter and 4' length.

Step 1.  Measure out my 4'x4' square.
Tools: Dry Wall T-square, Sharpie
Materials: 7/8''x8'x4' plywood

The back line is were I need to cut.

Step 2. Cut the sheet to proper size.  Following the black line with circular saw

Tools: Circular saw

I have never used a circular saw
Harder task that I thought.

Step 3. Attaching wooden dowels to the edges of the plywood sheet and drawing out root system. And cut bamboo and trim of the excess leaves.

Tools. Drill, and drill bits.  Knife and a pair of cutters.
Materials: Wooden dowels and 1 1/2" wood screws. Sharpie.

Trimming off the leaves.

I had to cut a little excess off the ends on the left
Then i drew out random curvy lines like the root system of
the black mangroves.  Those lines are were my pnuemataphores
are going.

Step 4.  To attach the bamboo to the ply wood.  

Tools: Knife, Drill Drill bits, A pair of cutters

Finding a drill bit close
to the same diameter as
the bamboo

Shaving off a bit of the bamboo to make it give
a snug tight fit in the drilled hole

A few problems have risen on this project and has set me back a few days.  Originally my plan was to set it out in the field on the 1 of November.  That has no been set back to the 7th.  I have come to find out, the bamboo likes to dry and shrink.  This made the bamboo smaller than the hole.  Not every pieced dried up and got smaller but the board did need some replacing on some of the peices.

GRACE Project & Fin

Background: An otolith is each of three small oval calcareous bodies in the inner ear of vertebrates, involved in sensing gravity and movement.

My project is finally moving! After profiling Ponce Inlet Beach last Friday, Michelle and I went to Discovery Dive (a dive shop in Port Orange) and spoke to Ryan, one of the employees. Ryan told me he would hunt some lionfish for my project and bring them back so I could perform the otolith dissection. My reasoning for analyzing the otoliths is to gain experience in dissection, fish research, and discover my scientific question through field work.

While in Ponce Inlet, Michelle and I also found a caudal fin as we were walking. Since I thought that day was seining until the minute I arrived, I still held the excitement of identifying the characteristics of fish, so I excitedly told Michelle it was a lunate caudal fin.

This weekend I will be figuring out how to properly remove otoliths from fish heads before I put my hands in a real fish head. Wish me luck as I hope to figure out what I will be doing with these otoliths.

Also, instead of going on the dive with a group from Discovery Dive to West Palm Beach I will be using the trip's money to get SCUBA certified.

Michelle LaComb

Pesky error message.

The past few weeks the blog has been refusing to let me post and instead giving me weird error messages. I thought it might be a problem with my internet browser so I tried multiple ones but they all had the same problem. After many frustrating hours and urges to toss my computer at a ceiling fan, I've found the only way to successfully post my blog is to type it in a word document first and then copy and paste it over and press the publish button quickly before the blog has a change to toss one of it's pesky error messages at me. I'm attaching a screenshot of the error message that incessantly plagues me. If anyone knows how to fix this I would greatly appreciate the help! :C

My recording studio! haha

Now to catch you guys up on my project! A few Saturdays ago Dr. Woodall was kind enough to meet me at the Halifax Marina and show me the ropes of recording with Ishmael. Since then I have been out a couple of times practicing these new found skills. This past week I spent some time at the City Island Park in Daytona making some recordings. I found a little gazebo out on the water and set up my stuff there. I captured a few recordings most of which ended up being comprised solely of the sounds of splashing water. I did manage to get a recording of a boat passing by though which I thought was pretty cool. I got a couple of strange looks from park goers when I had to climb over the rail and perch precariously on the side of the gazebo to free the hydrophone cord from the nail it had snagged on. Fortunately I managed to stay dry and entertain a couple of small children in the process with my multiple attempts at scrambling back over the rail I had climbed over. Aside from that small mishap, it was a pretty successful recording experience.

Sometime in the next few days I hope to be able to upload some of my recordings to the blog for anyone interested to listen to.

Brittnie-Coral Dissolving Project and Ponce Inlet Dune Lab

This week I will finally start my seven week experiment of dissolving coral in five different amounts of pH. 

My control pH will be 8.1, which is the normal alkaline state of seawater, then I will have four more containers of water with different amounts of pH deceasing from 8.1. I will use every other number: 7.9, 7.7, 7.5, and 7.3.

 I will use Instant Ocean sea salt and mix it with distilled water to create seawater, then dilute it with freshwater, to lower the pH. I will measure the pH with a pH meter.

Over time the pH in each container will decrease more and more as it dissolves the coral. I could either maintain the pH of the water over time or I could see what the pH is in each container at the end of the experiment. I think that it would be a lot more interesting to see the outcome of the pH in the end. Either way, I will be recording the measurements of each piece of coral with a caliper before putting them in the containers, then twice a week in the same spots for seven weeks.

 This past Friday, our Oceanography lab consisted of going to Ponce Inlet Park, and measuring the dune elevations. 

Our group holding the CRAIN telescoping
leveling rod afflixed with a SOKKIA rod level,
for the other group to look at with the SOKKIA C28. 

I am using the SOKKIA C28 mounted on a Northwest
 aluminum tripod, to look at the leveling rod and measure the
distance of the dune away from the viewer area and the height of the dune.

Everyone showing how much fun were having.

Ryan Dail - Project Update

Spotted sea trout
Red snapper
Black sea bass

After further research on how NOAA collects data from otoliths for different fisheries I have found out a few interesting facts. I learned that different species of fish have different shaped otoliths. In general, the size of the otoliths is bigger in fish who live in reefs or rocky bottoms and fish that spend most their time swimming in the open ocean tend to have smaller otoliths. Some scientists can actually determine the species of fish just by looking at the otolith. For example, the spotted sea trout has a smooth and elongated otolith and the black sea bass has a small rigid otolith with a rough texture to it. These otoliths come from 3 different species of fish. The red snappers otoliths (middle) are bigger than the others. This is because the red snappers habitat is located in reefs or on rocky bottoms. The black sea bass and spotted sea trout spend their time swimming throughout the ocean looking for food so in return they have smaller otoliths. Fish like mackerel and tuna have extremely small otoliths that in most cases require a microscope to extract.

 

Deanna - Ponce and Project

Ponce Inlet Dune Measuring

It was very interesting to see how the dunes have changed since last March when we did it for Geology. I did notice that the East Dunes have the most movement versus the West Dunes which makes sense. The West Dunes get a lot less wind.

Dunes at Ponce Inlet.

Dr. Woodall making sure Houston is on his game.

This is the initial spot where we measure out 22 m and set up the auto-level.

When the Stadia Rod is extended, it becomes quite a challenge to hold it steady.

What a great day and place to have our lab!

Yes, we celebrate at the end of every lab! We love lab!!

Project

Well, the deeper into this project we become, the more questions and ideas pop into our heads!

How does the depth of the water affect our project? Or a turbine?

How does the topography of the river bottom affect the project? Or a turbine?

Where are we going to launch our accelerometer? (I got the how figured out. We bought a sailboat.)

Does our CMD (Current Measuring Device) float on the water or set on the bottom?

And so on...

However, we have figured out (hypothetically) enough info to launch our proto-type into the pool.
Does it sink or float...

Next objective after the pool, see if we can go to the Oceanwalk and use their lazy river.

We sat in on part of the webinar to teach us how to use the software that has been developed to work with our HOBO (accelerometer). It shouldn't be that hard. We found a lot of info and help.

So...see ya next week!

Turbines by Jeffrey

For those of you checking in for the first time; De and I are working on an unmanned instrument that will collect tidal energy data, current measuring device (CMD). Based on our data we will determine if tidal energy is a viable alternative and renewable source of electricity.

In this blog I'm going to share some water turbines that are designed to harness tidal current. Each of these units are designed to meet the topography and the logistical needs to be effective and efficient.

Let's look at some designs that are currently in use:


Pelamis

The Pelamis design converts wave energy into electricity through the use of hydraulic rams.


Tidal Turbine

The Tidal Turbine is designed to work in deep river channels and pivots with the current.









Horizontal Seafloor Turbine

The next three types use a helical blade design. The blade is multi-directional by design and from my research requires the least current flow to be effective.




River Turbine





 







Axial Flow Turbine

There are a variety of designs that I have not researched yet. Here are the names of a few of them: tidal kite, reciprocating hydrofoil, clustered hydrocoil, and an Archimedes screw. Stay tuned!!



                                                                                                                  

Optimum seagrass conditions- Seaira

This week I feel good about my project and what I can accomplish in the semester time frame. After a suggestion from Dr. Woodall I have a straight forward objective as to my research to observe the seagrass I care about so deeply. I would like to take five samples from different locations in the Indian River Lagoon, and bring them back to the lab to test for nitrates, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and chlorophyll content. I will most likely also test for pH and salinity for extra data to create comparative graphs. My goal is to compare the averages of the nutrient levels in the Indian River Lagoon, to that of ideal conditions for seagrass beds in the lagoon. This week I discovered that there are seven species of seagrass that inhabit the lagoon, these include: turtle grass, manatee grass, shoal grass, Johnson's sea grass, star grass, paddle grass, and widgeon grass. While I am collecting my water samples for testing I will hopefully be able to locate and identify at least the more dominant grasses (shoal and manatee) to take plant press samples of. I also discovered that based on research done by the University of Florida light attenuation is the most important factor in seagrass health and population growth. Most of the sediments at the bottom of the lagoon are silt and sand based, which when disturbed by motor activity and dredging can reduce water clarity and increase TSS. Based on this information I think recording turbidity and chlorophyll levels will be beneficial in my comparisons to determine a profile of the lagoon habitat. I also discovered in my readings that seagrass communities prefer a salinity of 20 ppt, which is classified as brackish water. I am able to test this directly in the field with a refractometer.

This is an image of the Indian River Lagoon in September 2012 when a large algae bloom was taking place. I wonder what the TSS reading for this site looks like?

Angela - Pompano & North Miami Beach

On my plastic quest, in order to compare Florida's east coast to west coast plastic content, I visited Pompano Beach and North Miami Beach on October 26, 2013.

Pompano Beach

Tractor cleaning beach

Observation 1: The beach is lined with high rise buildings and a wide stretch of sand separates them from the shore. Interestingly enough, I noticed that the stretch of beach, as well as the high tide line, was littered with small (less than 1 inch) plastic pieces; then I almost got run over by a tractor-like vehicle that had a giant metal sieve basket connected to the back.

I think it is great that the city is trying to keep its beach clean, but I hypothesize this vehicle created the majority of the small plastic pieces, which could get washed or blown into the ocean.

Pompano Beach haul

Observation 2: This is the first time I collected at a beach during high tide, and it was fascinating! After the tractor had rolled by I figured I'd only find small pieces, but pieces ranging from pea to bottle size were continuously washing up with each wave. The only caveat:  sometimes I'd lean down to pick up a piece with my tweezers, when a wave rolled in and washed it away. I had to travel 485 feet to collect a 2-quart jar full of plastic within in an hour (Melbourne:340ft, Ft. Piece: 133ft), and once I made my way back up the beach the entire area I had just "cleaned" was re-littered. :( 

Measuring wrack swath

North Miami Beach

Both at North Miami Beach and Pompano Beach, each had about a 70 inch swath of scattered wrack -marine vegetation such as seaweed; however, in Pompano Beach only about 25% of the swath was covered in wrack whereas North Miami Beach had about 65% coverage. Based on previous observations, I presumed I'd find my 2-quarts of plastic in a shorter distance, however, I had to travel 687 feet; ergo more seaweed does not necessarily mean more plastic content as I had hypothesized. I definitely need to look at how currents and eddies, circular whirlpool-like currents caused by main current encountering obstacles, hit the Florida coast.