Christopher Smyth

Christopher Smyth

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Rookery Bay FusariumMarco Island Naples Rookery BayHurricaneSea TurtlesSamplingApalachicola
Published on Nov 10, 2016

#TurtleThursday - Sea turtle hatchling

Need to get your mind off of politics? Look no further!  It took almost a full month of field work, but I was finally lucky enough to see a live sea turtle hatchling at my final field site! This is...

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Published on Nov 10, 2016

Finding Fusarium at Rookery Bay

*Hello, folks! It's been a while. Life has been crazy since arriving home from Florida - but I am now working to update you on all of my recent adventures. Enjoy!* Rookery Bay's sea turtle nests al...

Rookery Bay
Fusarium
Marco Island
Naples
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Published on Sep 21, 2016

Arriving in Rookery Bay - Sampling Adventure Part 2!

It was a long, tiring, and sporadically stormy drive down to Rookery Bay in Southwest Florida. I made it to the dorm around 9:30pm on the evening of 9/10, hit the sack, and was up early the next mo...

Rookery Bay
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Published on Sep 21, 2016

Catching up on lab notes: Last field day in Apalachicola

I realize I've been terrible at keeping you all up-to-date over the past week or so - my apologies. There have been lots of ups & downs that have kept me busier than I had anticipated! Never th...

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Published on Sep 08, 2016

A sea turtle nest the morning after it hatched!

I was fortunate enough to see a nest the morning after it hatched today! I'm not able to sample it because evaluations cannot be done until 3 days after hatching, at which point I will be in rooker...

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Published on Sep 07, 2016

Dodging Hermine: A lesson in planning for the unexpected

What a crazy week! Dodged a hurricane unscathed & made it to Apalachicola! Special shout out to Mike & Jill Davis for housing us in Palm Coast to wait out the storm, thank you both! I also ...

Hurricane
Sea Turtles
Sampling
Apalachicola
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Published on Sep 07, 2016

A few video updates from Apalachicola

The past week (or so) has been quite an adventure, including a dodged hurricane and sampling my first nest! I have some video updates I made a few days ago, which I haven't been able to share throu...

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Published on Aug 31, 2016

Supplies prepped, car packed and Florida-bound!

If you haven't heard much from me over the last week, it's because I've been locked up in the lab (alongside my incredible co-pilot, Courtney Davis) prepping to head to Florida! So let me take a mo...

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Reply to:Mary Ann BrunsMary Ann Bruns
Good question! Once the nests are laid, the grates are placed over them. Ideally, this prevents predation from animals like raccoons and coyotes. It's not 100% successful, but it has decreased the number of nests impacted by predation. The grates also do not prevent the hatchlings from getting ou...more
Sep 11, 2016
Project: Sea turtle egg fusariosis: unraveling the biology of an emerging fu...
Reply to:Courtney DavisCourtney Davis
Good question - it stems all the way back to being interested in marine biology in high school and college. Later in my college career I was introduced to the word of fungi, and I tried to combine both interests when I got to graduate school. I am fortunate to working in a lab that focuses on thi...more
Aug 05, 2016
Project: Sea turtle egg fusariosis: unraveling the biology of an emerging fu...
Reply to:Justine WardJustine Ward
Another important impact loss of sea turtle eggs could have would be on beaches! Sandy beaches are often low in food for other organisms to eat. Dead and decaying sea turtle eggs provide a really important source of nutrients for scavengers as well as plants, such as dune grass. You can find lots...more
Aug 05, 2016
Project: Sea turtle egg fusariosis: unraveling the biology of an emerging fu...
Reply to:Justine WardJustine Ward
Hi Justine! Good question! Losing sea turtles & their eggs could have quite a few ecological repercussions. First - sea turtles are some of the only animals that graze on sea grass beds! These large underwater lawns need to be "mowed" every now and again to keep them healthy and growing outward i...more
Aug 05, 2016
Project: Sea turtle egg fusariosis: unraveling the biology of an emerging fu...