Over the last 8 years or so, many Caribbean Islands have been challenged by massive Sargassum algae accumulations on beaches (a Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute fact sheet here, and a high resolution link to the poster here). These accumulations may have many deleterious effects on species that utilize beach habitat, including for nesting turtles. See for instance
After finishing nesting on Long Island, Antigua this past summer, this satellite-tagged hawksbill traveled for more than a month to Long Island, Bahamas. The Long Island-to-Long Island migration covered some 1,600 km, one of the longest migrations we have documented at the early stages of our satellite tracking efforts. A cool way to connect study areas among Layman Lab members! […]
It has been a slow fall for Abaco Scientist, but we will be ramping back up in the New Year. For now, here are some recent papers for your holiday reading. Some are straight forward; others a bit more technical. Click on “Holiday Reading” for a couple more papers.
I was recently sent a news clipping about an imaginative effort to rid the oceans of invasive lionfish: underwater fish-zapping ROBOTS! The group behind this effort is called RSE which is short for “Robots in Service of the Environment”. RSE is raising money through Kickstarter to support design of a robot, yes a robot, that will do […]
A new study found that Queen conch populations are not mixing across the Caribbean suggesting that there are multiple distinct populations. These findings have implications for management of conch fisheries and suggest that local management of populations may be crucial! Check out a popular news article featuring this work here and a link to the original research […]
A recent issue of the journal, International Reptile Conservation Federation (IRCF), contains two short articles featuring recent observations of two new species introductions to Abaco. Below, I relay these findings and offer a few thoughts on what these recent observations suggest for the future of Abaco’s fauna. […]
An interview I did a few months ago for Quarks and Quirks on CBC radio recently aired. Yes, of course, it is more about fish pee, but I thought I would post it all the same. It is pretty funny. Scroll down a bit for the actual interview.
This video is really cool.
A recent study found that corals influence the microbial community surrounding them by both consuming them and facilitating microbial growth. See popular news articles here and here and a brief summary below.
The researchers used a lab experiment to test how the presence and absence of corals affected microbial communities present in seawater. When corals were placed […]