2016 Summer Course: Marine Field Ecology (Cr.3). Florida Keys 7/1-7/31 Time by arrangement; trip to Florida (tentative: 7/6-7/16) Instructor: Dr. Alejandro Vagelli Email: avagelli@camden.rutgers.edu; Tel: 856-361-1026 Pre-requisite: Ecology, Marine biology, or by permission of instructor. Off campus course held in Florida Keys. This is an intensive field 10-days summer session course which will be held at Sugarloaf, and … Continue reading 2016 Summer Course: Marine Field Ecology
John Dell’Angelo’s Master’s Project
Below is information provided by John Dell'Angelo regarding the Lobster Experiment: A component of last year’s marine field ecology course was the survey of a channel-bay located on the gulf side of Cudjoe Key. We found an area inhabited by numerous spiny lobsters, Panulirus argus, that were associated with the vase sponge, Ircinia campana, and the loggerhead sponge, Spheciospongia vesparium. Also, … Continue reading John Dell’Angelo’s Master’s Project
Lobsters & Polychaetes in Cudjoe Key
Originally, we were going to do some observational work with the long spine sea urchins and compare our findings to a few scientific articles that we read. However, since we were unable to locate the sea urchins, we had to come up with another activity for our class. As a group we developed the lobster … Continue reading Lobsters & Polychaetes in Cudjoe Key
Another Day @ Looe Key
Our second day in the Looe Key Marine Sanctuary was much better! The water was clear and we were able to explore quite a bit. After descending, we grouped together and waited for instructions from Dr. Vagelli. Since the area is protected and it is illegal to collect anything, we only conducted observational work. We … Continue reading Another Day @ Looe Key
Key West
On Saturday, we took a much needed break and ventured to Key West for dinner sporting our class shirts. We dined at Sloppy Joe's where there was live music playing. Yes, they served sloppy joe's and it was delicious! During our meal, the singer stopped in between her songs and asked us what our shirts … Continue reading Key West
“Mangrove Island”
Today we rented a boat and returned to the "mangrove island" where we first collected our polychaete egg masses last year. Our hope was to collect the same type of egg masses. While we did successfully collect more egg masses from this area along with some polychaete tubes, at this time we are unsure if … Continue reading “Mangrove Island”
Cudjoe Key
Today was a super long day! We went to an area in Cudjoe Key where we visited last year and ran into an octopus. No octopuses this time, but the area was a prime place to practice a multi-person transect. We lined up and swam together scouting our "lanes" for lobsters in sponges. This proved … Continue reading Cudjoe Key
Looe Key Marine Sanctuary
After we finished exploring the Sugarloaf area, we headed over to Strike Zone Charters for our afternoon coral reef dive in Looe Key. The visibility was poor, but we did not let that stop us from having a great dive!
Sugarloaf Key
Today we ventured to what we thought was an abandoned airstrip on Sugarloaf Key. The area surrounding the airstrip seemed like it could potentially be a worthy place to snorkel. When we arrived, we learned that the airstrip was still active and used for sky diving. We were told that we could not go down … Continue reading Sugarloaf Key
Ohio Key & Big Pine Key
Today we traveled to Ohio Key in search of polychaetes and black, long spine sea urchins. Before we ventured into the water, we had to locate a boat rental along with dive gear for later in the week and make our reservations for diving in Looe Key Marine Sanctuary. During this process, we were told … Continue reading Ohio Key & Big Pine Key
Marine Field Ecology Course – Rutgers University 