THE STAND UP! ACTION ART POSTCARD CAMPAIGN 2016

The library will participate in a Collaboration with the 

Climate Action Coalition of South Florida and Artists for Climate Action
 

This action art campaign will inform South Florida elected representatives at County, State and Federal levels about the strong constituent support for their action on these key issues that are part of the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Action Plan. Member organizations are reaching out for signatures, home and email addresses on the cards. After the November general election, CAC representatives will hand deliver the cards to the new representatives. THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING!

This message encourages action on the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Action Plan by County and Municipal elected officials, as the 110 SEFLRCAP recommendations are intended to be acted upon locally. Most of these should be inserted in county and municipality comprehensive plans. See: http://tinyurl.com/SEFLRCAP.

Very specific to Palm Beach County. The “Ag Reserve” is the fertile region between Florida’s Turnpike and the Everglades west of Delray Beach and Boynton Beach. The area is second to California as the prime supplier of winter vegetables. It was set aside years ago to protect wetlands and encourage small farming. This message encourages Palm Beach County Commissioners to reconsider their recent vote to allow more development in this area. Keeping development out will address food security and clean water needs. See: http://tinyurl.com/SAVEAGRESERVE

Protecting our health as climate related diseases increase with more flooding and heat requires improving the level and diversity of our health infrastructure. The Governor and Legislature must acknowledge that climate change is real by taking ACTION in preparation for mounting health problems. Federal representatives’ active support in seeking funding for this purpose is also crucial. This message will go to State and Federal elected representatives. See CAC member group Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Boca Raton’s pilot project Rising Together encouraging communities at most risk to organize and identify resources: http://tinyurl.com/FLRISINGTOGETHER

Studies and experience clearly demonstrate the danger of fracking chemicals to groundwater. Despite this evidence, the Governor and majority in the legislature continue to ignore these risks, and recently have threatened to remove the ability of county and municipality elected officials to ban fracking in their local areas. This message goes to State Senators and Representatives

These are the dates we will be out on campus with a table asking people to sign the postcards. Stop by our table.

Make a Difference (MAD) Monday

Event sponsored by SAVI (Students Advocating Volunteer Involvement)

                 Monday, Aug. 29^th 11 am – 1 pm
                  Location: Dining Hall (Check-In) and various locations on-campus (Service)

Clubfest
Event sponsored by COSO (Council of Student Organizations)

                 Thursday, Sept. 8^th 4-6 pm

                 Location: Rec Field or Burrow Student Union (rain location)

Manatee photo ID survey

Survey field notes: 7/8/2016 

Another manatee photo id survey was conducted at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute @ FAU at 1:45 pm – 2:20pm on July 8, 2016 with clear, sunny skies. One cow/calf pair was spotted in the channel. The pair were traveling along the seawall while nursing. They slowly crossed the channel into the shaded areas over by the submersible garage ramp.

No other animals were observed today. None were needed because there is nothing better than seeing a baby marine mammal. Here are the pictures to prove it! There is also a detail shot of the mother's tale fluke for identification purposes.

Manatee Photo ID survey

The Manatee Research team at FAU’s Harbor Branch campus regularly conducts photo id/surveys on Florida manatee that frequent campus. The Harbor Branch channel plays a vital role as a thermal refuge, with >100 manatees congregated in the basin during recent winter cold fronts. The goal of this research is to develop an integrated system using existing (photo-identification) and new (remote sensing) techniques to continuously monitor manatee behavior and habitat.

For the next two weeks, the library’s staff science guy (or gal) will be conducting these surveys and posting about it here. You can also find the HBOI research team on facebook here. Find them and follow, so you can keep updated on all things manatee!

Survey field notes: 7/6/2016

The survey was conducted on July 6, 2016 from 2:00 pm – 2:30pm. One adult manatee was present in the HBOI channel [located close to the small boat marina at a day dock area]. The manatee was observed surface resting, with very little activity. Breaths were taken every few minutes; with little movement, most of the body of the manatee was submerged. No manatee were spotted in the second survey location.

Here are the photos.

What’s the deal with the algae all over the manatee? Here are some peer reviewed articles on the topic.

Interactions between non-native armored suckermouth catfish (Loricariidae: Pterygoplichthys) and native Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) in artesian springs Leo G. Nico1*, William F. Loftus2 and James P. Reid1 1 U.S. Geological Survey, 7920 NW 71st Street, Gainesville, Florida 32653 USA 2 Aquatic Research & Communication, LLC, 1759 NW 20th St., Homestead, FL 33030 USA E-mail: LNico@usgs.gov (LGN), arc_wfl@bellsouth.net (WFL) * Corresponding author

The tanaid Hexapleomera robusta (Crustacea: Peracarida) from the Caribbean manatee, with comments on other crustacean epibionts. Benjamín Morales-Velaa1, Eduardo Suárez-Moralesa1 c1, Janneth Padilla-Saldívara1 and Richard W. Hearda. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK / Volume 88 / Issue 03 / May 2008, pp 591-596

A COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION TO THE BIOFOULING PROBLEM FOR THE ENDANGERED FLORIDA MANATEE AND OTHER SPECIES BY KATHLEEN D. OPPENHEIMER* AND TODD K. BENDOR. TOJCI.OPPENHEIMER.DOC

Here is some internet stuff on the topic:

The Benefits Of Having Stuff Grow All Over You. Cameron McCormick, 2009.

Research Field Notes: No. 8

5/22/2014. Dolphin Boat Survey

Today’s survey extended from the Jupiter Inlet (N 260 56.624' W 800 03.805') down to the Lake Worth Inlet [aka the Palm Beach Inlet] (N 260 46.300' W 800 03.500').

Research Organization: Taras Oceanographic Foundation

Wind/Water conditions: S,SE 0-10. Seas 0-2’

Duration: 8am-12:30pm

Dolphin encounters: Today we had two encounters. During the first survey we had a very nice encounter with 5-6 individuals that were very active. They were displaying several behaviors such as chuffing, rolling, tail slaps, upside down tail slaps, jumps, lunge fishing and travel. The encounter lasted approximately 40 minutes.

During Survey two, we encountered 2-3 tursiops. There was a big thunderstorm chasing us, so it prevented us from observing these animals for very long. What we did observe were long dives with short surface behaviors. It may have been weather related or fishing activity. This encounter lasted 10 minutes.

OTHER: Turtle counts: 9   Trash count: 8

Here is a short video of the chuffing behavior. (Please note all images and video are property of Taras under the authority NMFS (GA LOC) No.13386).

Research Field Notes: No. 6

6/26/2014. Dolphin Boat Survey

Today’s survey extended from the Jupiter Inlet (N 260 56.624' W 800 03.805') down to the Lake Worth Pier (26°37′11″N 80°3′31″W)

Water conditions: 0-1’

Winds: SE 0-5

Duration: 8:30am-4:00pm

Research Organization: Taras Oceanographic Foundation

Encounters: Three with a total of approximately 60+ dolphins. The first encounter was with tursiops (Bottlenose). This was a small group feeding. Encounter 2 was with a large group of stenella (Spotted dolphin). This group was very playful and was comprised of several mother/calf pairs! They put on quite the show with bow riding, wake surfing, tail slaps, all around the boat. This one went on for quite some time. The final encounter was tursiops again, but this time a very large group or 25+. This group of bottlenose was more cooperative with our boat and we got some nice shots. There were also babies in this group. One dolphin (Slappy) kept them all in line with tail slaps throughout the encounter.

[Personal notes:  SQEEEEEEE!!! Teeny tiny baby dolphins are so very cute!!]

Additional Sightings: We recorded approximately 32 sea turtles. We have also begun trash counts. Today we saw 16 trash items in the water. We try to recover these items and keep the plastic out of the ocean. Our big score this trip was recovering a large bunch of silver helium balloons. People should be aware that releasing balloons into the sky, usually ends up littering places that do not need any more trash. Shiny balloons look like bait fish sparkling in the sun. 

This is the perfect opportunity to talk about ocean plastics. Plastic is not like other kinds of trash. Trash bio-degrades. Plastic photo-degrades with the sunlight. This means it keeps breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces. It never goes away. These pieces of plastic are ingested by animals and eventually kill them; the microscopic plastic dust attracts more debris resulting in huge garbage patches. Plastic does not belong in the ocean.

Other: Here is a short movie of the crew today. Unfortunately we have no dolphin footage again, but will try next trip to get it!! There are many jobs happening at once while we are on fins, so filming is not always possible [P.S. The survey boat is usually not moving this fast. It is harder to spot any dolphin if the boat is moving fast!].

Research Field Notes: No. 3

6/04/2014 Dolphin Boat Survey

Due to conditions out on the open ocean; the morning survey did not take place. Conditions did not improve for the afternoon; however we had received several reports of dolphin sightings in the Lake Worth Lagoon (26°40′53″N 80°02′45″W) over the past several days, so we decided to head down to the area travelling in the intracoastal waterways. We were not successful in sighting any dolphins. The research team spent the first part of the day in the office doing data analysis.

Conditions: Seas 3-5 feet. Winds E/SE 10 knots

Duration: 12:00pm – 5:00pm

Research Organization: Taras Oceanographic Foundation

Recorded dolphin photo ID: zero encounters on this trip.

 

Other: Behind the scenes. The boat survey is only a small portion of the work that is needed to be done for photo ID and habitat utilization studies. Each trip can produce a few hundred to even a thousand images. Once the team heads back to the office, the photos need to be downloaded, sorted and compared. The best images of each animal are organized into their own file. This step is the most labor intensive. Illustrated by the fact that the researcher has to figure out which images are of one animal [this is done from comparing distinct dorsal fin markings]; how many times you have seen each animal; and compare it to the existing ID catalog.

They are several ways of organizing these ID photos and each researcher develops their own system. There are however universal ID methods and protocol that are utilized. These processes take countless hours. There is also GIS mapping data; habitat and COA (coefficient of association) data files, etc. that need organized and analyzed depending on what the research team is investigating.

Students doing field work or internships soon learn the field part is actually a very small portion of the entire research process.