Corkscrew Reflections

It's hard to believe that I only have a little under a month left here at Corkscrew. When I look back on everything that's happened these last few months, it amazes me just how quickly the time has flown, and how much I have learned.

It was a little overwhelming at first, trying to learn so many new plant species, not to mention trying to get used to working outside in Florida's heat and humidity. While the heat can still be rough, I think I can say with confidence that I can positively identify many more invasive plants than when I first started. And of course, I've gained plenty of other new experiences as well, like riding in an airboat, and learning to drive an ATV and a swamp buggy. And the next two weeks, I'll be helping out the research team with their work as well.

Not every aspect of my time here as been about work either. Most evenings I spend some time walking along the boardwalk and just soaking in the ambiance of the nature around me.

 

 

 I've gotten to see some incredible things while I've been here, and of course it's always a privilege to get to live and work in such a beautiful area. I've even been lucky enough to see not only a panther, but several bobcats and even otters as well! And of course I never remembered to have a camera with me to actually get pictures of these incredible creatures.

In a few weeks, I'll be heading back home to Ohio. I don't know what's ahead for me, by I look forward to meeting it when it comes. And I know that I'll always look back fondly on all the things I leaned and experienced here at Corkscrew Swamp.

~Amanda

New Conservation Research Intern: Lara

Hi all! My name is Lara Jones and I am from northern New Jersey. I just graduated from Wellesley College in June with a degree in Biological Sciences and a concentration in ecology and conservation. I’ve been passionate about wildlife for as long as I can remember, and my drive to understand as much as I can about the outdoors while simultaneously striving to protect it has led me to pursue the long and winding path of becoming a field research ecologist. 

In particular, I am fascinated by behavioral ecology. Observing animals interacting with their natural environment is an incredible way to learn more about the natural world, and almost always leads to a myriad of questions and hypotheses. What I love most about behavioral ecology is the element of the unknown – when you’re watching an animal, there are so many different ways that it might choose to behave, and so even if you feel that you understand a species completely and can predict their every last move, there is always the exciting chance that one day you’ll be left completely and utterly baffled and with a million new questions.

As an undergraduate, I wanted to be as involved in ecological research as I possibly could be while enrolled in a small, liberal arts college. During my first couple of years I helped my professor transcribe the nesting behaviors of a pair of ravens who had decided to build their nest on top of the campus’s science center using video footage taken by a camera set up at the ravens’ nest. I then joined a different lab that focuses on ecosystems ecology for my last year of undergraduate, and I studied something totally different – the interactions between types of mycorrhizal fungi, soil texture, and tree root length.

While my research experiences during the academic year were critical for shaping my relationships with professors and honing my critical thinking and data analysis skills, it was really my summer research excursions that threw me head-first into the world of field ecology and made me realize what I did and did not like. After my second year of college, I traveled to Manitoba, Canada to be a volunteer field research assistant on a wolf movement ecology project.

I was really excited to work on this project because I have loved wolves since I was young, and I (erroneously) equated loving an animal to loving researching that animal. Although I enjoyed my time as a field tech, hiking through the prairie and boggy wilderness that is much of Manitoba, most of the work consisted of searching for and collecting samples of ungulate carcasses and wolf scat. I never got to actually observe wildlife in action, and after that summer I realized that I wanted to participate in field research which would allow me to more tangibly study animals.

This aspiration came true big time during my third year of undergraduate, when I studied abroad for a semester in South Africa through the Organization for Tropical Studies’ Ecology and Conservation program. Those three months were some of the best of my life, and are impossible to summarize accurately in just a few sentences. While traveling around different beautiful areas of the country, I assisted in ecological research projects on African wildlife, learned about conservation practices in national parks, and had a few close encounters with amazing animals such as leopards and African elephants.

All of these vastly different research experiences have contributed enormously to my field skills and understanding of what it means to be an ecologist. However, the work I did over the last two summers truly kick-started and began to shape my newfound and intense interest in… birds! Over the past two summers I worked as an avian field intern at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. My first summer there, I designed and conducted a study to assess how birds are foraging in White ash trees in the forest in order to understand how avian communities will be impacted by the impending arrival of the invasive Emerald Ash Borer beetle, which has been killing ash trees as it spreads throughout North America.

I returned to Hubbard Brook this past summer as an intern with the Smithsonian to collect field data for a long-term study on the breeding population of Black-throated blue warblers that nest in the forest. While it isn’t particularly easy to find softball-sized nests in an expanse of trees with a dense understory, I absolutely loved this job because it involved using my knowledge of avian behavior to locate nests and then closely monitor their progress.

Through these internships, I’ve come to learn that birds are great subjects to use in studying behavioral ecology because, well, they’re everywhere, and they are also relatively easy to observe.

I’m thrilled to be working at Corkscrew this fall and winter, and am especially looking forward to getting to know all the different bird species and herpetofauna down here in the western everglades. Outside of field work, I really enjoy hiking, birding (duh), and reading fantasy/sci-fi books. I anticipate that working at CSS will bring me new and exciting skills and experiences – I’ve only been here for a little over one week now and have already seen so many new things! My hope is that this internship will assist me on my path to attaining a graduate degree and a career in wildlife ecology and conservation, and I’m really looking forward to documenting my experience along the way.

~Lara

CSS Newest Intern: Evan Flynn

Hello everyone! My name is Evan Flynn and I am the newest conservation intern at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary!

    

          I was born and raised in Golden, Colorado where from a young age I learned to love the outdoors. However, I first realized my passion for the marine environment through several family and school trips to go snorkeling and hiking along the California and Hawaiian coastlines. Ever since I can remember I have wanted to study the marine environment in one way or another. I decided to pursue my passion further in college, leaving my Colorado home to study marine science at Eckerd College in St Petersburg, Florida. At Eckerd my interest in marine science began to focus on marine geology and coastal geomorphology. My freshman year I began research under a sedimentology professor, studying sedimentation pulses in the Gulf of Mexico that had resulted from the BP Deep Horizon oil spill of 2010. From there, I took on a summer internship at Texas A&M University at Galveston where I studied changes in mercury deposition offshore of the Brazos River just south of Galveston Bay and the Houston Shipping Channel. I found a great interest in investigating the sources, frequency, and mechanisms involved in mercury deposition in the marine environment. Working hand in hand with both Eckerd College and Texas A&M I was able to conduct my own senior thesis researching mercury pollution offshore of northwestern Cuba that had been associated with previous mining activity on the island. Through this multitude of projects I have learned many diverse things about the marine environment and the geology that it is composed of; however, one this has stayed constant and that is my desire to keep the beautiful environment that I love protected. 

       I graduated from Eckerd College in May 2018 finishing with a BS in Marine Science and minors in Chemistry and Coastal Management. I hope to continue my education into graduate school with the goal of one day achieving a PhD in Geological Oceanography, and ultimately pursue a career in coastal research and conservation. I truly believe that my experiences here in the WINGS internship program will help me achieve my goals as I learn more about wetland research methodology and conservation/resource management and policy. I also hope to learn about the relationship between research and management as I one day hope to produce research that will be as effective introducing and promoting ethical and pragmatic management policy and techniques in the field of coastal conservation.  

   

Ruminations from a Severely Amateur Ethologist

Something that never ceases to amaze me no matter how many times I see it? Animal behavior. The study of animal behavior is called ethology, and one of the reasons I’m so fascinated by it is I know close to nothing about it. Observation leads to curiosity, curiosity leads to questions, and questions inevitably get typed in the Google Scholar search box. In my first month here at Corkscrew, I’ve had a lot of questions. Here’s a brief glimpse into the mind of a severely amateur ethologist:

- What is that colorful flap of skin that anole keeps displaying below its neck?

- Why is it extending that flap of skin? (To threaten? Attract mates? Communicate with conspecifics?)

- Is that flap of skin found on males and females, or is it an example of sexual dimorphism?

- Oh, it’s doing pushups! See second question.

- It’s bobbing its head! See second question.

Exciting stuff, right? The beauty of simple questions like these is that they usually already have answers. That flap of skin? Called a dewlap. Why is it doing “x” behavior? Could be a number of things, but it's probably a method of communication, whether that be to attract mates or establish territorial boundaries, etc. Found on males or females? Dewlaps can be found on both sexes, although it is generally larger and more colorful on males (which could suggest it’s used in sexual selection?). Answered questions usually lead to more questions, which is what I find so alluring about science.

There is something special about viewing an animal in the wild. In the wild, an animal is not a captive spectacle. It is free to behave how it wishes, without the added variables of walls and crowds of strange bipedal creatures staring through the glass. Their behavior is pure, unfiltered. A chance encounter with an endangered Florida Panther (Puma concolor) here at Corkscrew is to me something infinitely more special than seeing one in an exhibit. I value zoos, wildlife centers, and aquariums for their educational objective and making animals most people don’t have the chance to see easily accessible. But I’d still take sitting on the boardwalk for 30 minutes watching the interaction between an invasive Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei) and a native Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis) over going to see lizards at the zoo.

Speaking of that particular interaction between anoles, I had a prediction of what would happen. I thought that the Brown Anole, known and rather scorned for its nonnative, invasive status, would surely be aggressive and chase the Green Anole from its perch on the other end of the railing. Staring through the viewfinder of my camera, I could only see one lizard at a time. I watched the Brown Anole flare its dewlap and perform pushups. Panning the camera, I watched the Green Anole simply sit there. Panning back to the Brown Anole, I saw it dash forward and around the post separating the two. Now they were only about a meter apart, practically face to face. I kept my focus on the Brown Anole. It dashed forward again. This was it! The Brown Anole reached the end of the railing where the Green Anole had been. Wait, where had it gone? I removed my gaze from the narrow perspective of the viewfinder and found my answer. The Green Anole had jumped down to the rail below, avoiding direct contact with the Brown Anole. Both lizards continued in opposite directions, none the worse for wear. Perhaps the Green Anole had been occupying a prime basking spot, or maybe one with better access to other resources like food. Regardless of the reason, the Green Anole had avoided confrontation, allowing the Brown Anole to take its spot without putting up a fight. Knowing this, it’s not surprising that studies have found that Green Anoles have evolved larger, stickier toepads to occupy a new niche, higher up in the trees. Behavior influences evolution, and evolution drives behavior. 

- Randi Bowman, Research Intern

Popcorn Sedge

One invasive species that we commonly deal with here at Corkscrew is Scleria lacustris, known commonly as Popcorn Sedge or Wright's nutrush. Popcorn sedge is a wetland growing species, and can grow up to six feet tall, and sometimes even higher. This species is a particularly persistent invasive because of how well it establishes a seed bank in wetland areas. While there are several Scleria plants native to Florida, there are often easily distinguished by their much smaller size, and tendency to grow in less wet areas.

Cluster of Scleria plants growing in the marsh

Once seed heads are present on the plant, the primary method of treatment is mechanical removal, in order to prevent further establishment of the seed bank, which is what we have been doing for the last few days here at Corkscrew. First thing in the morning, we drive out to the site and unload all our materials onto the skiff. Then we float the boat through the marsh out to the cluster of plants we plan to tackle for the day. Once we arrive, we climb out into the knee-deep water, and begin removing the seed heads.

Seed head of Scleria lacustris

We always make sure to wear gloves when handling the Popcorn sedge. The edges of this plant are very sharp, and you can easily cut yourself even just brushing against it the wrong way, kind of similar to getting a paper cut. Once the seed heads are removed, we immediately place them in a garbage bag, which we dispose of at the end of the day. After all the seeds from one stalk are removed, we uproot the entire thing and make a pile up out of the water.

Pile of de-seeded Scleria plants

It took several days and at least ten bags of seeds to clear just one area, but it feels well worth it when you look and can really see the difference from when you started. 

Until next time!

~Amanda

New Conservation Intern Randi Bowman

Conservation. Discovery. Adventure. These words and many others describe my interest and fascination with studying ecology in aquatic ecosystems. My name is Randi Bowman, and I have been doing biological field work since the summer I graduated high school in 2014. My first job, with Washington Department of Fish and Game, involved mapping invasive plant species for herbicide application in the desert of Eastern Washington. The following fall sent me to Lewis-Clark State College (LCSC) in Idaho to study biology. I spent the next summer working for Idaho Fish and Game, where I got to backpack electroshock to determine the abundance and distribution of our target species, steelhead, in the streams of the wild and beautiful Idaho forests.

Around the same time, I started getting involved with LCSC’s research program. First, I volunteered on the weekends collecting population dynamic data for the eastern fox squirrel, in order to detect seasonal patterns in daily activity. Involvement in a field biology course got me into working with snakes, collecting morphological and dietary data of the Western Terrestrial Garter Snake to determine the effect of prey selection on head morphology in geographically separate populations. Finally, I started a research project closer to my own interests, studying macroinvertebrate assemblages in the Snake River drainage (Oregon) to ascertain the effects of agriculture and mining on the health of aquatic ecosystems. Involvement in these research projects gave me great experience in the field as well as with scientific writing, as I was given the opportunity to write 3 manuscripts for publication in scientific journals (1 published in Scientific Reports (link), 2 currently in preparation/review).

After graduating in December 2016, I worked as a Fisheries Technician for Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission in Randle, WA. My daily duties involved fish work-up and maintenance with regard to the North Shore Collector at the Cowlitz Falls Dam. Being ideally located between Washington’s idyllic volcanoes and national forests/parks, I decided to live in my van (and then Honda CRV) for the duration of my position, facilitating awesome adventures and camping trips that I often look back on with longing.

Following the end of that seasonal position, I decided to follow my dream of moving to the southeast. I took the first opportunity that was offered, a research internship starting January 2018 at Nemours Wildlife Foundation in Yemassee, SC. I was hired primarily to process macroinvertebrates that had been collected in previous field seasons, but I wrapped that up in my first 4.5 months, opening my opportunities for involvement in other research capacities. April brought alligator research, which proved an exciting addition to my intern responsibilities. It was conducted as part of a Clemson University student’s PhD dissertation, funded by Nemours Wildlife Foundation and several coastal communities who wanted to support the research because it will be helpful in their future alligator management decision-making. It has also proved to be a great educational opportunity for their residents and visitors. I was trained in the surgery aspect of the research, attaching radio transmitters to the alligators’ nuchal rosettes. Besides the alligator project, I gained experience monitoring endangered species (red-cockaded woodpecker, black rails), using trail cameras and recording units, conducting callback, vegetation surveys, and songbird point counts, along with prescribed burns and radio tracking alligators, eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, and fox squirrels. The diversity and quality of the experiences I gained as an intern at Nemours was amazing, and have already proved useful in my first few days as a Conservation Intern at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.

I look forward to continued learning and the development of further research skills as an intern at Corkscrew. While not working, I enjoy scuba diving, snorkeling, kayaking, and hiking. Beyond this position, I will pursue graduate school with the aim of studying anthropogenic impacts in coral reef ecosystems. My career goals include becoming a research scientist, either in a nonprofit or academic capacity, studying coral ecology and contributing to conservation and restoration efforts. Since my focus is more in aquatics, I hope to bring that perspective to my social media posts while at Corkscrew. I’m sure I will have many things to share as I learn more about what makes Corkscrew special; even in my first week I have been blown away by the beauty and biodiversity I see here.  

- Randi Bowman, Conservation Intern

Apple Snails

Here in Florida, we have several species of Apple Snails. Unfortunately, only one of these species is native. The Florida Apple Snail (Pomacea paludosa), is a large freshwater snail, and is the preferred prey of the locally endangered Snail Kite.

Both the native and invasive snails in Florida lay clusters of eggs just above the water line, typically on the stems of plants such as Pickerel Weed. However, while native snails lay clusters of up to 80 large white-ish eggs, the Island Apple Snail (Pomacea maculata) lays clusters of tiny pink eggs that can have up to 2000 eggs per cluster.

Invasive Apple Snail Eggs

In addition, these snails also mature faster and grow to be much larger than the native snails, which may make them more difficult for snail kites and other predators to eat. For these reasons, there is worry over the possibility of our native Apple Snails being outcompeted and displaced.

Last week, the other interns and myself, as well as several volunteers, spent three days removing egg clusters and adult snails from a section of the Panther Island Mitigation Bank. Often, we saw as many as 20 egg clusters just on a single plant. And sometimes we'd come back the next day just to see new eggs in an area we'd already cleared. By the end of our three days, we'd removed several hundred adult snails, and several thousand egg clusters, for a probable total of over a million eggs!

It was pretty exhausting work, but it was interesting to see a different side of conservation work. I've got to admit though, I'm pretty happy to go back to just dealing with invasive plants again.

See you next time!
~Amanda