We had a really great opportunity to go out in the field with the FAU Harbor Branch Marine Botany Program. This team has been monitoring the health and abundance of local seagrass beds between Fort Pierce and Vero Beach since 2005! Seagrass communities are vital because they serve as a nursery habitat and food source for many organisms, and they are also very productive environments! In 2015, the Marine Botany Team began collaborating with the FAU Harbor Branch Aquaculture Program to create closed, land-based nursery tanks for seagrass restoration efforts.
Here is the team getting ready to teach us how they collect their seagrass planting units to later put in the nursery tanks!
We used a large seiving pan to separate the seagrass and sediments.
The collected seagrasses were sorted through and the root systems that had 5+ shoots were kept in the containers until we were back to the Aquaculture Park.
Later we went back to their nursery tanks to watch the team plant the seagrass! These established tanks will allow the seagrasses to grow in conditions that don't threaten their health until they are healthy, self-sustained and ready to be planted back into the Lagoon! Throughout the years, there has been a 60% loss of seagrass beds in the Indian River Lagoon, so these restoration efforts can help restore these vital habitats.
While we were out at the monitored seagrass site, Brandon and I seined for fish and invertebrates to add to new display! We pulled this large net about 5 times total and sorted through what we had collected to determine which organisms were best suitable for the seagrass aquarium.
Here are the fish and invertebrates that we decided would be best for the tank!
The invertebrates could be placed into the seagrass aquarium right away. The fish were put in a quarantine tank for 3 weeks and treated with PraziPro and Copper to ensure they had no parasites.
After the 3 weeks, we collected them from the quarantine tank, acclimated them to the new aquarium, then carefully put them in!
Thank you for following along Stay tuned for my last post on this thread to see our final product!!
Here is the team getting ready to teach us how they collect their seagrass planting units to later put in the nursery tanks!
We used a large seiving pan to separate the seagrass and sediments.
The collected seagrasses were sorted through and the root systems that had 5+ shoots were kept in the containers until we were back to the Aquaculture Park.
Later we went back to their nursery tanks to watch the team plant the seagrass! These established tanks will allow the seagrasses to grow in conditions that don't threaten their health until they are healthy, self-sustained and ready to be planted back into the Lagoon! Throughout the years, there has been a 60% loss of seagrass beds in the Indian River Lagoon, so these restoration efforts can help restore these vital habitats.
While we were out at the monitored seagrass site, Brandon and I seined for fish and invertebrates to add to new display! We pulled this large net about 5 times total and sorted through what we had collected to determine which organisms were best suitable for the seagrass aquarium.
Here are the fish and invertebrates that we decided would be best for the tank!
The invertebrates could be placed into the seagrass aquarium right away. The fish were put in a quarantine tank for 3 weeks and treated with PraziPro and Copper to ensure they had no parasites.
After the 3 weeks, we collected them from the quarantine tank, acclimated them to the new aquarium, then carefully put them in!
Thank you for following along Stay tuned for my last post on this thread to see our final product!!