26/02/19
We visited three places on this day. FGCU Everglades Wetlands Research Park, The Naples Botanical Gardens and The Everglades.
FGCU Everglades Wetlands Research Park
We started off with a tour of one of the labs where we got shown a few machines. One is used to measure methane levels in wetlands, another measures carbon levels in soil and the last one we got shown measures nutrients in the water, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. They also have a “Dry Oven” which is used to dry collected soil samples out.
The classroom isn’t used so much as its a fair distance from the uni, we got a talk here from Joan Garcia who was carrying out research into water quality and consumption in the Everglades. He’s aware that there are high levels of eutrophication occurring within the Everglades, largely due to agriculture activity. Water flow can be turbulent (mixing) or laminar (straight). In wetlands its very laminar because its slow moving, this means that phosphorus reactions will drop to the bottom so new water rarely mixes and reacts. His overall plan was to get water to move through the bottom of the wetlands to create a more turbulent flow.
We also got a brief talk from a student called Christina who studied environmental science. Her study focused on how wetlands can control waste water and salt waste water. She found that using a vertical flow was more effective than a floating system as waste was very inorganic.
Naples Botanical Gardens
We then spent a few hours at the Botanical Gardens. They had an Orchid show on and it was amazing being able to see so many Orchids in one place.
Everglades
After this we took a fairly long drive to the Everglades where we went on an airboat tour. On the journey we stopped as we saw some Alligators, we got so close we could’ve touched them.
Many of us founds the airboat site controversial as they had captive “rescued” alligators in very small enclosures with poor facilities. Alongside snapping turtles and a selection of snakes (including a Colombian Boa Constrictor) whos enclosures were also not to a high standard.
The airboat tour itself made it very difficult to see anything due to the extremely loud noise emitted by the boat. We did however see some alligators and a few birds and plants.
Life of El 