Marine Ecology Guides

The Role of Animal Rescue, Rehabilitation, and Release in Marine Conservation   By, McKenna Longo Introduction Rescue, rehabilitation, and release is the process of finding a sick or injured organism taking it in for treatment, and then releasing and tracking it once treatment is completed. Recently, there has been a growing need for rescue, rehabilitation, and release practices due to the ongoing anthropogenic causes of mortality from fisheries and other human activity.  Marine mammals such as cetaceans, sea turtles, marine bird species, and pinnipeds are some of the most affected marine organisms by anthropogenic causes of mortality.  Anthropogenic Causes of Mortality Anthropogenic causes of mortality are human-caused events or threats to terrestrial or marine ecosystems that have a fatal effect on wildlife. Specifically, the marine environment faces anthropogenic threats from, fisheries, sound pollution, etc.  There is no doubt that since the industrial revol...

Effects of Oyster Reef Loss on Marine Food Webs in Southwest Florida By Jolie Alberty Crassostrea virginica oyster reef exposed during low tide. Photo found on Sanibel Sea School webpage (Lucas) Brief Introduction Crassostrea virginica  are the bivalves which glue together and create oyster reefs. These oysters are filter feeders that remove organic material in the water column, increasing water quality in the waters that they inhabit (Luckenbach et al., 2005). Oyster reefs are unique biogenic structures (i.e., structures made by living organisms) that provide valuable ecosystem services for humans and the surrounding organisms that depend on them. Ecosystem services are defined as any service that the environment naturally provides which are financially beneficial to humans. Native to the West Atlantic Ocean, eastern oysters are commercially and ecologically important because they are so ubiquitous and available to provide food as well as livelihood for humans (Pinel, 2021). Cras...