Week 1: UNF

The first official week of this awesome field studies course has come to an end. My group and I spent our first week at UNF.  The first day we got to go out on boats and do some water quality sampling along the Saint Johns river. This was a great opportunity to familiarize ourselves with some of the equipment used in the field. The components of the water we were testing included, salinity, dissolved oxygen content, and turbidity. We also observed how these components change from the ocean to further into the freshwater influenced parts of the river. The next day was the long awaited 24-hour study. During this study we implemented the techniques we learned on the river to observe changes in the water over a 24-hour time period in 2 bodies of water that were separated by a water control structure. Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side so we were unable to take many of the samples during the night. It was still a great experience, and I learned a lot talking to the wonderful professors. The next activity we had was to go to different beach areas where we earned a little about these fragile and well adapted ecosystems. The coquina outcrops were my favorite thing to see along the beaches, I just think it’s so cool how crushed shells can turn into these huge rocks and form a small tidal habitat for animals. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next!