Featured Posts
Encouraging Comments on Conch Conservation
Encouraging comments from Agriculture and Marine Resources Minister Michael Pintard following the recent study on a potential collapse in the conch fishery. I met Minister Pintard recently when a Bahamian delegation visited North Carolina, and he [...]
Will The Bahamas Have Conch in Twenty Years?
An excellent review paper on the status on the conch fishery in The Bahamas, based on research spanning more than 22 years. Much of this research associated with the organization Community Conch (www.communityconch.org). At the [...]
Droning On (In a Good Way)
Enie Hensel's drone research featured by NCSU (story here and paper here). Nice job Enie! The paper Abstract to follow.... Large-bodied animals, megafauna, are disproportionately threatened and yet, remain relatively difficult to monitor. This is [...]
At the Nexus of People and Basic Science
Our own Jake Allgeier has a feature blog post in Science, the world's foremost scientific journal (link here). Great to see his research and outreach in Haiti being recognized!
Illegal Harvest and Colonial Governance
Each summer NCSU professors Nils Peterson and Brian Langerhans teach a course at Forfar Field Station. As part of this course, they always include a sociological study on Andros. This year they looked at local [...]
Never Home Alone
A really fascinating new book by my colleague Rob Dunn - an absolute must read. It details the incredible world of life that lives in your homes. Here is the Amazon link and review. Even [...]
Lost and Found: Israel Point Cave
A guest post from Ali Ball. What a cool find! Thanks Ali. LOST AND FOUND: ISRAEL POINT CAVE In July of 1904, American zoologist Glover M. Allen visited various caves in Abaco to collect bat [...]
Contemporary and Emerging Fisheries in The Bahamas
A recent, easy-to-read, review paper on the state of fishery resources in The Bahamas. A great starting point for assessing the many conservation challenges ahead.
Sargassum Accumulations on Caribbean Beaches
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 [...]
Pufferfish Here, Pufferfish There
We have posted some natural history observations on the checkered puffer before (see here and here and here), and now the scientific paper on their dietary habitats has been published (here). We think this species is [...]
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 [...]
Antigua to Bahamas hawksbill migration
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 [...]
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.
Ryann Rossi’s Research Featured by NCSU
Video link here. Great job Ryann!
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 [...]
Artificial reefs in Haiti – ampil poisson!
We have been reporting on our long-term artificial reef research in Haiti for a few years now. This year we were pleased to learn that not only did our reefs survive the massive hurricane Mathew, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Animal Pee in the Sea
Yes. That again. I gave a department seminar yesterday that compiles all we have been doing over the last couple of years, so thought I would throw it up (Link here). Might be hard to [...]
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. [...]