Featured Posts
Dear Sponge – I Am Breaking Up With You
To help us understand the complexities of nature, we often use simple classifications to help wrap our minds various intricacies. Think about how we classify species interactions: predation, mutualisms, parasitisms, commensalisms, etc. Simple. But complications [...]
Are Dogs Cooler than Flamingos?
Kids on Andros Island seem to think so. Researchers from North Carolina State University authored this study, comparing kids' preferences for animals in The Bahamas and North Carolina. The base question posed was: "“What are [...]
New Study: Queen Conch Populations are Fragmented
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 [...]
Thoughts on recent animal introductions to Abaco
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 [...]
Mangrove Disease Poster
We are presenting our mangrove disease research at the American Phytopathological Society (APS) conference this week. View a PDF of the poster here.
Hear the roar of the lionfish recorded for the first time
Here is a popular press piece (link here) on the first documented sound production in lionfish. The original paper well qualifies that these data are just preliminary, but very interesting what role this sound production [...]
Fish pee on coral reefs in the Caribbean makes Canadian Broadcasting Company
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 [...]
Sharks Can Make You Rich
New socio-economic study on the value of sharks in The Bahamas (paper here). The paper Abstract summarizes the findings well: Elasmobranch populations in The Bahamas offer a unique juxtaposition to the widespread decline of many [...]
Lobster, clams and chemistry
Guest post from Nicholas Higgs at the University of Plymouth. Thanks Nick! New research by Bahamian marine scientist Dr Nick Higgs and colleagues has shown that Caribbean spiny lobsters (aka crawfish) get a big chunk of their [...]
‘What will happen to the Bahamas when all the Conch is gone?’
“Let’s think about tomorrow, there are some simple rules to follow: preservation, moderation, we need some Conchservation. Conch Gone!” Under the direction of Lavado Stubbs, ConchBoy films, with several musicians, a new music video came [...]
Summary of on-going mangrove die-off research
Here is a video update on the on-going mangrove die-off research. See video here.
Recent work on Nassau Grouper spawning aggregations asks us to rethink current fishing regulations
An exciting new publication just came out helping us better understand Nassau grouper populations in The Bahamas (article here). Using acoustic telemetry data, Dr. Craig Dahlgren and others recorded the movements of different sized Nassau [...]
Hilarious new educational film on our research in Haiti – in Haitian Creole
We have been working with Loggerhead Productions for the past few years on creating films and documentaries about our work in Haiti. Recently Matt just finished a new education film on our local work in [...]
Are you productive? Or just attractive?
We have posted much about our fish pee research (nutrient provision by the animals in their excretion), using artificial reefs as the experimental tools (here is video footage of one of our most successful reefs). In a [...]
Progress with Mangrove Fungus Biotechnology Project
We recently posted about investigating whether the mangrove fungus we find on infected leaves may have potential uses in biotechnology (see here). The images above show how some Pestalotiopsis cultures we have isolated from infected mangrove leaves [...]
New Reefs Are Born: ampil pipi poisson
As an extension of our on-going research in Haiti, we recently kicked off a new artificial reef project. Working with local fishers, we have constructed two clusters of artificial reefs, one of which the locals will actively [...]
Is every Nassau grouper the same?
The Nassau grouper, Epinephelus striatus, is an iconic species here in The Bahamas and throughout the Caribbean. They are the highlight of a dive in the tourism industry as well as an extremely important commercial fishery. [...]
New species of boa found in The Bahamas
Finding new species these days is usually the business of researchers who work with small things like insects and crustaceans. However, every once in a while researchers uncover big animals. These rarities have hidden away in [...]
Fish Rules
A substantially revised version of the fishing regulations app Fish Rules is out. It is really cool - check it out.
Rats!
Over the last few weeks I've been noticing extensive damage to shrubs and small trees. The bark has been removed over long sections of living and (now) dead plants. I wondered what could be doing [...]
A closer look at a mangrove die-off
The first day of the 7th biennial ASAC meeting has come to an end! Here is a link to the talk about the mangrove die-off in The Marls: A closer look at a mangrove die-off [...]
What if we are wrong about the lionfish invasion?
The bi-annual Abaco Science Alliance Conference is here. We want to get all posters and talks featured on Abaco Scientist (the first poster is up so far). One talk on Friday will hopefully generate discussion [...]
Andros Creek Restorations Ten Years On
We headed to Andros last week to check up on previous projects and think about future directions. I was excited to see how well our first two small creek restoration projects looked. When you restore flow [...]
Controversies and consensus on the lionfish invasion in the Western Atlantic Ocean
A very interesting perspective on the lionfish invasion in this new paper (it is long, but an easy read). The author takes a social science perspective, assessing how the media, resource managers and other stakeholders view [...]
Humans drive coloration shifts in Bahamian mosquiotofish
Back in August we published a paper in Evolutionary Applications that we've been working on for a few years. It's finally out, here's the link: Link to .pdf. But read below for a brief summary: Humans [...]