Middle School Summer Science Research Opportunity

June 20 - July 3, 2012

FGCU Faculty: Brian Bovard (plant and wetland ecology) and David Green (aquatic food-web ecology).

This summer’s middle school Science Research Opportunity (SRO) will be structured around an interdisciplinary research project. The class will collaborate on a complete and original research problem from hypothesis generation and initial design, through field and laboratory data collection, and culminating in data analysis and interpretation. The project concerns an issue of importance to environmental management and development of Southwest Florida and unites concepts and techniques from ecology, atmospheric chemistry, and biogeochemistry. Students will spend time collecting data at field sites located in coastal regions in and around Lee County and will analyze samples and data in the laboratories at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). At the conclusion of the experience students will present their findings. Participants will leave the SRO program as evidence-seekers, critical thinkers, and community-minded individuals who have gained an ecological perspective on life in an urbanized, coastal region.

Project Title and Description

Southwest Florida and Global Change:

Human Impacts on Coastal Ecosystem Processes

Human activities like fossil fuel combustion and land use practices like forest clearing and agriculture have had unprecedented impacts on the natural functioning of Earth’s biological, chemical and physical processes. These changes are what scientists refer to as “Global Change.” Locally, south Florida ecosystems have been greatly transformed by human activities. During the last century, the use of canals to control water flow, dredging of coastal waterways and the destruction of large wetland habitats for development and agriculture purposes in south Florida have dramatically altered hydrological and ecological processes. These human activities and their associated impacts have led to the largest and most expensive ecological restoration project ever attempted, the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP)(Clarke and Dalrymple 2003). This project and many other efforts like it aim to restore ecosystem functions in these systems to more natural states.

Coastal ecosystems are important in southwest Florida because we rely heavily on their services for economic reasons. Coastal terrestrial and coastal wetland ecosystems provide energy resources that downstream aquatic systems rely upon to sustain commercially-important fish and shellfish species. Mangroves act as a line of defense against hurricanes and coastal erosion. These systems also help to alleviate high nutrient loads that can potentially lead to eutrophication and harmful algal blooms (e.g. red tide). Warmer global temperatures will also bring new management issues to coastal ecosystems of southwest Florida in the coming century. Specifically, sea-level rise will affect waterfront properties, cause saltwater to encroach into freshwater aquifers, and it will subject freshwater-adapted plant and animal communities to physiological stress. Restoring disturbed coastal areas will become a greater challenge in the future due to these potential impacts of global change. To reduce or prevent global change impacts and to restore coastal ecosystems, it is critical to understand the role human activities play on the function of natural ecosystem processes and associated natural services from which humans indirectly benefit. Since more than half of the world’s population now resides in coastal zones, connections between the economy, ecology, and humanity’s well-being should be examined.

This summer, SRO participants will investigate the impact of human activities on coastal ecosystem processes in southwest Florida along the lines of the following questions:

  1. How does urbanization of coastal areas influence coastal ecosystems in southwest Florida?
  2. What is the role of southwest Florida coastal ecosystems in offsetting the impacts of urbanization?
  3. How do invasive species and invasive species management impact ecosystem function in coastal ecosystems in southwest Florida?

The following list summarizes the potential types of field and laboratory activities the group will experience:

  • Greenhouse gas emission measurements from soil
  • Leaf-level photosynthesis and respiration measurements
  • Tree coring to estimate net primary production
  • Basal area measurements of tree species
  • Stand-level measurements of ecosystem productivity
  • Plant species identification
  • Animal species identification
  • Animal behavioral analyses
  • Terrestrial-Marine interactions
  • Leaf litter production measurements
  • Soil coring and soil respiration measurements.
  • Soil percent carbon, temperature and moisture measurements.
  • Use of Microsoft EXCEL and ACCESS for data management and analysis
  • Use of gas chromatograph for analysis of air samples for greenhouse gases
  • Determination of biomass production through analysis of forest litter and long-term forest growth

For additional details contact Shirley Morrison at

239.839.7012

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