Nature-Based Stormwater Solutions in the Florida Panhandle
Summertime always makes me think of the supermarket. At least one time each of the past few summers, I clearly remember being at the supermarket during a rainstorm and watching the water wash over the parking lot, talking with all the other people debating whether to...
The Molting of Crabs
One of the community science volunteer projects I oversee in the Pensacola area is the Florida Horseshoe Crab Watch. The first objective of this project is to determine whether horseshoe cabs exist in your bay – FYI, they do exist in Pensacola Bay. The...
Deep Sea Submersibles
In the diving world there are basically three forms of diving: free diving, compressed air diving, and 1-Atmosphere diving. After the recent accident with the OceanGate Titian we thought we would give some basics as to how this form of diving works. Let’s...
Septic System Care After a Storm
Flooding after a storm can damage septic systems, causing them to fail. Image: B White, NASA Public Domain After floods or heavy rains, the soil in your septic system drainfield can become waterlogged. But, for your septic system to treat wastewater, water needs to...
Summer is Prime Time for Bats
Bats get a bad rap. They give people the creeps and can show up in unwanted places (like attics and sheds). But collectively, the bats in our communities eat millions of mosquitoes and agricultural pests every night. Without them, we’d be overrun with insects,...
50 Years of the Endangered Species Act; Part 2 – The Perdido Key Beach Mouse
“I can’t do what? – because of a mouse? – it’s only a mouse.” This was a comment made by many who lived on Perdido Key when a small beach mouse found only there was added to the endangered species list. It is a comment heard often when many species are...
A Sea of Grass; Part 10 – The Fish
When visiting and exploring seagrass beds, most are hoping, and expecting, to see fish. As we have seen in this series, there are a lot of creatures that can be found living within a seagrass meadow, but it is the fish that get our attention and what we talk...
50 Years of the Endangered Species Act Part 1
In 1973 the United States Congress passed the Endangered Species Act. Controversial at the time, and still is today, the law was designed to help protect, and possibly restore, species that were near extinction within the boundaries of the United States....
A Sea of Grass Part 9 The Rays
As I write this article it is mid spring, and the rays are bedding on the edges of our seagrass beds. The most common species seen is the Atlantic Stingray (Dasyatis sabina). They are often found in the sandy areas near the grass where they bury in the...
Why white-tailed deer have spots
About now a doe is searching among the shrubs and grasses. She is looking for a site to have her fawns.White-tailed deer fawn season will peak in the summer across the Florida Panhandle. In the first weeks of life, fawns are not able to follow their mother and spend...