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Lined with mangroves on both sides, Zane Grey Creek proved to be a productive environment for tunicate-hunting scientists.
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Researcher Tara Pitts collects samples among the mangrove roots.
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Mangrove trees have adapted to a partially submerged existance. Their roots extend below the surface and anchor the plants in saltwater shallows.
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The roots of mangroves provide an excellent base for a variety of aquatic organisms, including marine invertebrates.
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Click below to learn a bit more about this precious protected zone...
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Do you have a question
about the 'Keys to Cures'
expedition?
Send an email to
AskAtSea@hboi.edu.
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Actually, for the first time since the expedition started, not many people were talking about sponges. The buzz word had become "biodiversity."
As the term implies, biodiversity is a measure of the variety of life in an environment. Largely accepted as a standard for measuring ecological health, the concept not only accounts for an environment's ability to sustain life, but also seeks to weigh the variety of that life. An environment with large diversity is, in theory, a healthy environment.
A biodiversity survey also can act as a snapshot of a particular area at a particular time. Future scientists may call upon that baseline information to see how this location has changed. Are the same species found in the same abundance? Have they been wiped out? Have they multiplied?
It is common to hear people say that the Florida Keys are getting worse. The reefs are dying. The waters are no longer as clear as they once were. While there certainly is evidence beyond local anecdotes to support these claims, there is still a tremendous amount to learn. Little hard data has been gathered about the shallows of the Keys. Even less -- often nothing -- is known about the deep-sea reaches of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
In a cooperative effort with the sanctuary, expedition scientists from the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution (HBOI) will be gathering biodiversity information on each of their remaining sub dives, scuba dives, and snorkeling excursions. All the information uncovered will be shared with the marine sanctuary in hopes of helping sanctuary managers make informed decisions.
Late this afternoon, I followed a small team of snorkelers into the waters of Zane Grey Creek -- a shallow, winding river penetrating the heart of Long Key. Mangrove trees lined both banks of the salty creek, thriving in their preferred, partially-submerged state. Mangrove root systems form their own underwater forests, impenetrable and dark -- a protective home to an abundance of small fishes. The roots are also covered in encrusting corals, algae, sponges and (of particular interest to this group of researchers) tunicates, known more humorously as sea squirts. Multitudes of microbes exist within these root-clinging organisms, symbionts mostly: bacteria, zooxanthellae, and others. The mangrove habitat is a pretty diverse place.
The snorkeling team was here to sample some of this abundance. In the dark waters of Zane Grey Creek, they collected grape-like clusters of tunicates growing on the mangrove roots. Like the sponges that came before, these sea squirts were destined for the laboratory and a litany of biomedical assays.
For over an hour, the team drifted down the channel, swimming freely with the incoming tide until softening daylight signaled the end of our excursion. Although it wasn't dark yet, we still had a long, bumpy ride ahead of us to get back to the EDWIN LINK.
August 22, 10:25am, 25 miles southeast of Long Key, Florida -- To plan, execute, launch, recover and maintain the JOHNSON-SEA-LINK submersible while twice a day, everyday, dropping four humans into the depths (in relative comfort) is a remarkable feat of both engineering and cooperation.
Since leaving Key West a few days ago, the sub has continued on its daily schedule, mainly exploring a series of deep sinkholes in the ocean floor. Beyond deep-water invertebrates, the scientists have also encountered a series of animals and oddities that warrant a closer look, if for no other reason than to gain insight into the remarkable, sometimes bizarre, nature of this unknown environment.
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A dolphin hangs in the air after breaching the bow-wake waters.
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CLICK HERE to learn more about
our correspondent, Mark Carroll.
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