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The WFSU Ecology Blog

  • Home
    • About
    • EcoAdventures
      • Kayak and Canoe Adventures
      • Hiking
      • Wildlife Watching
    • WFSU Public Media Home
  • Documentaries
    • EcoCitizen Show | Seasons in South Tallahassee
    • Red Wolf Family Celebrates First Year at the Tallahassee Museum
    • Roaming the Red Hills
    • Oyster Doctors
    • Testing the Ecology of Fear
    • EcoShakespeare
    • Stories from the Apalachicola
    • Classic WFSU Ecology Documentaries
  • Habitats
    • Estuaries
      • Oyster Reef
        • The Effects of Predators and Fear on Oyster Reefs
        • Apalachicola Oyster Research
        • Animal Species in a North Florida Intertidal Oyster Reef
        • Oyster Reef Ecology | On the Reef
      • Salt Marsh
        • In the Grass- Salt Marsh Biodiversity Study
        • Plants and Animals of a North Florida Salt Marsh
        • Salt Marsh Ecology | In the Grass
      • Seagrass Bed
        • Predatory Snails, and Prey, of the Bay Mouth Bar Seagrass Beds
      • In the Grass, On the Reef Glossary
    • Waterways Big and Small
      • Apalachicola Basin
        • Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines | Virtual Field Trip
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Ecology in Art & Literature

In the Grass, On the Reef, Over the Airwaves

by Rob Diaz de Villegas May 18, 2011
by Rob Diaz de Villegas May 18, 2011 1 comment

In the Grass, On the Reef

June 29, 2011 at 7:30 PM/ ET

WFSU-TV

Rob Diaz de Villegas WFSU-TV

A little over a year ago, when the FSU Coastal & Marine Laboratory and WFSU-TV – a TV station – started this online enterprise, the understanding was that at some point this would end up being a show.  And so here we are.  As you may have gathered from that video up there, this will be about predators and prey: who’s eating whom, and who’s scaring whom.  We will of course be doing this through the prism of David and Randall’s studies: the consumptive and non-consumptive effects of predators in salt marshes and oyster reefs, and the methods used to shine a light on these interactions.

Horse conch and lighting whelk by size 13 shoeWe’ll also spend some time just off of those Alligator Harbor oyster reefs, on Bay Mouth Bar.  I was just out there Monday, getting footage for the documentary (we’ll keep shooting until the beginning of June and finish editing mid-month).  When we got there, low tide was still a few hours away and we had to anchor our kayaks as the flats were submerged.  As the tide went out, several large horse conchs were stranded in the newly exposed seagrass beds.  The one in this photo is about as large as they get.  That’s a men’s size 13 sneaker next to the conch.  To the right of the conch is a snail one might consider large in another context, a lightning whelk.  Having withdrawn its bright orange body into its shell until the tide returns, the horse conch poses no threat to the other gastropod, a species on which it preys.

We’ll take you snail-and-crab-level into the grasses and into the crevices between oysters to make large the world of relatively small creatures.  It’s been addicting to me to get close up with a camera and see grass that was waist high turn into the towering forest it is for a periwinkle snail.  We’ll spend some time following these little guys around and get a closer look at how they live, and as always we’ll look at all of the work done to understand how this all works.  These critters are important to their habitats, which are in turn crucial to us.  We hope you’ll join us in learning about their world.

This marsh periwinkle climbs a cordgrass shoot as water- along with crown conchs and blue crabs – enters the marsh.

P1030337

This PrEditor (Producer/ Editor, silhoutted) has lured his prey from its habitat and into his own:

David interviewed

Images in the video are (in order):

  1. Grey wolf (Seacrest Wolf Preserve)
  2. Alligator (St. Vincent Island)
  3. Crown conch (St. Joseph Bay)
  4. Salt marsh (Saint Joseph Bay)
  5. Marsh periwinkle climbing cordgrass (St. Joseph Bay)
  6. Dr. Randall Hughes
  7. Dr. David Kimbro
  8. Mud crab on oyster clump (FSU Coastal & Marine Lab)
  9. Crown conchs eating fiddler crab (St. Joseph Bay)
  10. Hardhead catfish (Alligator Harbor)
  11. A baker’s dozen raw oysters on the half shell (Apalachicola)
  12. The three picture-in-pictures are a seagrass bed (SJB), an oyster reef (AH), and a close-up of smooth cordgrass (SJB).
David & Randall’s research is funded by the National Science Foundation.
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Bay Mouth Barcoastal ecologycrown conchFlorida State Universityforgotten coastFSU Coastal and Marine Labgulf of mexicohorse conchmarine biologymarine ecologymud crabsoysteroyster reefperiwinkle snailspredatorpreyWFSU-TV
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Rob Diaz de Villegas

Rob Diaz de Villegas is a senior producer for WFSU-TV, covering outdoors and ecology. After years of producing the music program OutLoud, Rob found himself in a salt marsh with a camera, and found a new professional calling as well. That project, the National Science Foundation funded "In the Grass, On the Reef," spawned the award winning WFSU Ecology Blog. Now in its tenth year, the Ecology Blog recently wrapped its most ambitious endeavor, the EcoCitizen Project. Rob is married with two young sons, who make a pretty fantastic adventure squad.

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1 comment

Beth Kostka May 19, 2011 - 8:23 am

Rob, that is great!!! Keep up the wonderful work. I will definitely watch! Beth

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Florida milkvetch

Florida milkvetch (Astragalus obcordatus) in the Munson Sandhills

When I test out a new camera, I usually head to a random spot in the Munson Sandhills and take a series of videos and photos. This small flower caught my eye, as almost nothing was in bloom. I identified it as Florida milkvetch (Astragalus obcordatus) in iNaturalist, and it was confirmed.
I then saw a photo of this plant in a Facebook group for native plant enthusiasts. It turns out this is kind of a rare plant, and one botanist went so far as to classify it as imperiled. It pays to keep your eyes down by your feet when walking in the sandhills.

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Cedar waxwings eating glossy privet berries.

Cedar waxwings eating glossy privet berries.

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iNaturalist became a part of the WFSU Ecology Blog during the EcoCitizen Project in 2019.  Since then, we’ve used it to help identify the many plants and animals we see on our shoots.  And on the Backyard Blog, we show how it can be used to identify weeds and garden insects, to help figure out what’s beneficial or a possible pest.  Below is the iNaturalist profile belonging to WFSU Ecology producer Rob Diaz de Villegas.

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