Coastal Wetlands Ecology

our field trips are always SO great!

we just got back from our Coastal Wetlands Ecology field trip. it was 3 days and 2 nights in Louisiana to look at a bunch of different wetland types. Louisiana has almost 40% of the nation's wetlands, so it was definitely an appropriate place to visit for our class.
we left around 5:30am on Thursday morning. yes, it was painful (most of you know that i'm definitely not a morning person). but our car was awesome and we listened to some sweet jamz on the ride.

our first stop was at Big Branch Marsh which is in north Lake Pontchartrain. this is the main headquarters for the southeastern Louisiana Fish and Wildlife Refuges. we got to go out on a airboat ride for a few hours, which was an awesome start to the field trip.

some of the class on one of the other airboats

a glimpse of this fresh and brackish marsh.
feral hogs are an issue in these marshes, and we came across one on our boat ride.
yes, Pon (our airboat captain) indeed does swerve to hit the hog, and yes, we were successful.
it was pretty neat.

more of the marsh

Dr. Lee Stanton, our professor.

we departed Big Branch Marsh and set out for Jean Lafitte National Park. we went on their very nice walking trail. we got to see many of the plants we have been learning about and even a few of Louisiana's charismatic megafauna- Alligators. as Le Stank (Dr. Stanton) says, "they're about as common as squirrels around here."

Lacy checking out the water hyacinth

this is water hyacinth, its a very invasive species and it uses it roots to suck nutrients from the water. it lowers the water quality of the area
it has a pretty purple flower

a large Oak's exposed root system

Typha (cattail)

Cephalanthes occidentalis (button bush)

spanish moss, named for the spanish conquistadors.
when they arrived in Louisiana the spaniards had long gray beards, and the native americans thought they had moss growing on their face

Cypress pneumatophores. for gas exchange and tree stability

Barataria Basin

after Jean Lafitte Park we drove to Houma, Louisiana. we ate some good seafood for dinner and were surrounded by the "colorful" locals

Matt, one of the Mandalay Refuge guys that took us out on the boat the following day (he was from Montgomery!) said that its even better to spot these on men wearing business suits.

the next morning we went to Mandalay Fish and Wildlife Refuge in Houma. it was really cool to be able to see the differences in vegetation between the brackish marsh at Big Branch and the freshwater marsh at Mandalay.

Dr. Stanton
Hydrilla underwater and the American Lotus above water.
The American Lotus smells great!

American Lotus

a glimpse of Mandalay NWR

Lindsey and Yak

and because our teacher is awesome, we got to spend a few hours in my favorite city.

we stayed in Slidell, and woke up and drove to the White Kitchen floating marsh, off the Pearl River. floating marshes are so cool! its like walking on a waterbed.

Dr. Stanton explaining to us the layers of a floating marsh

this is pretty much how deep the soil is. below this is watery peat

and i definitely discovered that the non vegetated areas are not very stable. Alyssa's picture of me after i fell through. haha. almost to my waist!

after playing around on the floating marsh...and getting a little dirty...we headed to take our Swamp Tour of the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area.

everyone's excited to see some cool plants and gators

we sure did see a lot of them!

Cypress knees

a 200 year old Bald Cypress
the location of many whiskey trades during the prohibition

the Swamp Tour was great! we saw lots of birds, including an owl!

this was our last stop on our field trip. we said goodbye to Louisiana and started the trek back to Dauphin Island.

we got back yesterday (Saturday) around 3pm and i hit the road for Fairhope to hang out with the family and Jackson, get some delicious momma cooking (shrimp cakes yummmmm), and do some laundry. Matt was heading back to Camp Beckwith (where he is running waterfront this summer) at the same time as i was leaving for Dauphin Island. our family goodbyes are so cute. we like to hug. it makes me happy.
i love my family.

we had our White Trash Bash at the dorms last night. everyone dressed up and it was great! so classy.

i spent a nice day on the beach today, but received some sad news this evening. Mrs. Kathryn Tucker Windham passed away in her sleep today around 4:45 pm.
i will treasure the memories i have with this beautiful woman.

"I think we need to be put back in touch with our childhood...to be reminded of what's important, like memories about people we loved, or things that happened to us that affected our lives, things we can laugh about and shed a few tears about... I think storytelling is a way of saying 'I love you. I love you enough to tell you something that means a great deal to me.' "
-- Kathryn Tucker Windham
June 2, 1918- June 12, 2011