Hot Topics
May 2008 | April 2008 | March 2008 | February 2008 | January 2008 | November 2007 | August/September 2007 | July 2007 | June 2007 | Archives
SFCN installs DRTO coral monitoring sites
On two separate cruises, from May 11-16 and May 25-31, SFCN installed
and conducted their first monitoring videos at most of their high frequency
revisit coral monitoring sites in the new extensive design at Dry Tortugas
National Park. SFCN was joined by the RSMAS/Univ. of North Carolina
Southeast Florida Coral Reef Evaluation and Monitoring Program “SCREAM”
team who also conducted their coral/sponge/algal monitoring protocol
on the SFCN transects. This will allow the two groups to compare their
methods and it is hoped will also allow SFCN permanent transects to
be relatable to the random transects conducted by the SCREAM team in
tandem with the RSMAS/NOAA fish monitoring conducted at DRTO. Both trips
utilized the M/V Fort Jefferson as well as SFCN’s new boat.
Ben Ruttenberg joins SFCN as Marine Ecologist
Benjamin Ruttenberg recently joined the SFCN as the Marine Ecologist.
He moved to Florida from the west coast, where he had been working in
a variety of postdoctoral positions at Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
Universidad Autonoma de Baja California-Ensenada, and the University
of California Santa Barbara. His postdoctoral research focused on large-scale
patterns in community structure and recruitment in intertidal communities
and the biological effects of marine reserves. During this time, he
also served as project coordinator for the Science of Marine Reserves
in Latin America and the Caribbean, which resulted in the publication
of outreach materials in English and Spanish for non-specialists about
marine reserves (see http://www.piscoweb.org/outreach/pubs/reserves
for more information and free pdfs of the materials).
Ben’s research interests include many aspects of marine ecology, including macroecology, dispersal and recruitment of marine organisms, demography, and coral reef ecology. Before coming to SCFN, Ben conducted research in a number of coral reef ecosystems worldwide, including the Galapagos Islands, Hawaii, the Line Islands, St. Croix, and the Philippines. Ben received his Ph.D. from the University of California Santa Barbara, his master’s from the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and his B.A. from Tufts University.
Steve Wathen joins SFCN as a post-doc working for both SFCN and Prof.
Jennifer Richards at Florida International University, Miami ,Florida
Steve Wathen has joined SFCN as a post-doc designing vegetation monitoring
plan and protocols for the SFCN parks. Steve will be considering where
to collaborate with existing programs and where SFCN will be providing
new monitoring. Steve received his Ph.D. from the University of California
at Davis where he studied lake sediments to elucidate a 8,500 year history
of fire, vegetation, and geomorphological change within the northern
Sierra Nevada, Steve employed paleomagnetic techniques to derive a 8,500
year record of secular variation for the sediments from the lake and
applied dendrochronologic techniques to fire-scarred trees and stumps
to determine the timing, size, and geographic distribution of fires
within the same watershed to over the past 300 years.
Steve’s primary research interest currently is studying long-term vegetation and environmental change at the local, landscape and larger scales. Steve has an extensive background in studying plant communities; as well as independently designing and implementing complex ecological studies for the National Park Service, the Nature Conservancy, and the U.S. Forest Service. At Dinosaur National Monument, he inventoried and monitored peregrine falcon reproduction and classified park vegetation. At Lassen Volcanic National Park, he studied peregrine falcons, golden eagles, bald eagles, bufflehead ducks, Sierra red foxes, and native vegetation. Steve also worked as a silviculturalist with the U.S. Forest Service and as a reclamation specialist and surface water hydrologist with the State of Colorado. His MS from the School of Forestry at Northern Arizona University investigated the spatial extent and species composition of conifer invasion of aspen stands relative to variations in slope, elevation, aspect, and topographic position on the San Francisco Peaks of northern Arizona.
Jonathan Moser joins as first ReMI/FIU intern
Jonathan Moser has joined SFCN as our first Resource Management Intern
(ReMI) from Florida International University. He is currently working
on a vegetation map for BUIS as well as on working out the details of
our new weather stations and various work involving sediment elevation
tables in Biscayne National Park. Previously Jonathan had done volunteer
work for the South Florida/Caribbean Network (SFCN) since September,
2007. Jonathan received a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Florida International
University in 2008. Jonathan is planning on pursuing graduate studies
relating to conservation biology and zoology.
Other news
Kevin Whelan joined Jimi Sadle for a week-long trip to monitor vegetation
transects the park had previously established at DRTO. This gave Kevin
a great opportunity to see the protocol in action and discuss data management
and reporting. Kevin Whelan and Raul Urgelles helped organize a presentation
to BICY staff for Shawn Liston to report on freshwater fish monitoring
results funded by CERP underway in the park and resulted in improved
collaboration on monitoring efforts in the park. Andrea Atkinson and
Steve Wathen attended a CERP Assessment Team Meeting.
GIS and Data Management Conference
From March 31 – April 3, Brian Witcher and Judd Patterson attended
the 2008 GIS and Data Management Conference in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Judd presented “Modeling and Mapping Underwater Monitoring Sites,”
which showcased 3D animation as well as a way to improve integration
and exploration of both tabular data and imagery in ArcMap documents.
Brian helped lead an evening discussion on image management requirements
and functional categories.
SFCN Visits Western Everglades Sites
Kevin Whelan, Raul Urgelles, Lindsay Wieland, and Jonathan Moser visited
9 mangrove lightning gap Sediment Elevation Tables (SET) along the western
coast of Everglades National Park. These SETs will be incorporated into
SFCN long-term monitoring of soil accretion/erosion.
SFCN Completes Annual Buck Island Reef NM Coral Monitoring
SFCN scientists stationed in the Virgin Islands completed the 8th consecutive
year of annual coral monitoring at the W. Spur and Groove study site
in Buck Island Reef National Monument. During this monitoring, benthic
cover is monitored using a digital video camera, along with surveys
for coral disease, and the long-spined urchin, Diadema antillarum. To
accomplish the monitoring, the scientists safely completed 13 dives
with just-under 22 hours of bottom time.
SFCN Vital Signs WASO Review
Steve Fancy visited SFCN from April 29-May 1 to help edit the network’s
Vital Signs Monitoring Plan. Accomplishments included reviewing monitoring
objectives for each vital sign and editing when necessary.
SFCN Assists with Dry Tortugas Bird Monitoring
Judd Patterson spent April 22-24 assisting Everglades wildlife biologist
Sonny Bass with his research in Dry Tortugas National Park. Sooty Tern
adults and chicks were banded, bird nest counts conducted, and Roseate
Tern decoys and were once again deployed to encourage that species to
nest on Long Key.
Meetings and Training attended
On April 9 Andrea Atkinson attended an assessment team meeting on wetland
landscapes and plant communities. Kevin Whelan and Raul Urgelles attended
the April 11 assessment team meeting on predator-prey relationships,
wading birds, and aquatic bait. On April 16 Kevin Whelan, Brian Witcher,
and Judd Patterson attended a meeting in Davie to obtain the latest
EVER/BICY small and medium mammals inventory photo database. Rob Waara,
Brian Witcher, and Mike Echevarria participated in the 24 hour NPS SCUBA
refresher training in BISC April 28-30.
South Florida Reef Fish Monitoring Workshop
On March 26, SFCN hosted the South Florida Reef Fish Sampling Methodology
meeting organized by Todd Kellison of NOAA. There were about 29 attendees
from NOAA, U of Miami-RSMAS, FWRI, and NPS present. The revised “Draft
Cooperative Reef Fish Sampling Protocol” is a joint effort to
standardize reef fish monitoring protocols and sampling design in the
Florida Keys ranging from Biscayne National Park through Dry Tortugas
National Park. The meeting helped familiarize everyone involved with
the different aspects of the newly revised protocol, answer questions,
get agreement on definitions, identify areas that needed adjusting,
agree on the different types of training that will occur, and assign
leads. SFCN staff assisted with taking notes during the meeting.
Developing a Data Driven Classification of South Florida Plant Communities
Workshop
On March 21, as part of a cooperative agreement with SFCN, Prof. Mike
Ross and Jay Sah of FIU held a workshop to present a database of vegetation
data compiled from 33 data sets and 18 principle investigators to assist
testing of the South Florida Vegetation Classification with field data.
An initial vegetation classification analysis conducted on the marshes
and prairies data was also presented. The workshop discussed next steps
to be taken with the data, additional data sets that could be added,
priorities for classification (e.g. coastal wetlands), funding sources
for additional analyses, and additional uses for the data if the PIs
are in agreement. This work was funded by the NPS National Mapping Program.
BICY/EVER Vegetation Map 3rd Section deliverable accepted
The second delivery of the 3rd section of the western BICY/EVER vegetation
map project was accepted by SFCN after it was evaluated to have a raw
classification accuracy of 84% with a lower 90% confidence level of
80.2% accuracy. The 1st delivery of the 4th and final map section is
expected soon.
Meetings and Training attended
Kevin Whelan and Andrea Atkinson attended a week-long geospatial statistics
course in Gainesville, Florida taught by Pierre Goovaerts. Kevin Whelan,
Brian Witcher and Judd Patterson took turns attending the Florida Coastal
Everglades Long Term Ecological Research Meeting on March 17-18. On
March 25 Kevin Whelan attended the CERP-MAP meeting on “Coastal
transgression, tidal channel characteristics, salinity gradients, and
mangrove forest productivity” to discuss work accomplished and
revisions to the Monitoring and Assessment Plan.
SFCN attends Mammal Advisory Group meeting – Matt Patterson, Dr. Kevin Whelan, and Dr. Andrea Atkinson met with EVER and BICY Wildlife Biologists and inventory project personnel to discuss the first year of progress of the small and medium sized mammal inventory of both parks. Progress is producing good results with about 80% of the expected mammal species documented in both parks using IR triggered digital camera stations, owl pellets dissections, live trapping, and investigating tracks.
SFCN evaluates preliminary vegetation map with Avineon
Dr. Kevin Whelan (SFCN) and Dr. Jim Burch (BICY) along with contractors
from
Avineon visited multiple sites in the field to help determine vegetation
signatures for photo interpretation of the Big Cypress vegetation map.
Two sites visits occurred in Big Cypress National Preserve (BICY) and
one in Everglades City Region of Everglades National Park (EVER). Law
enforcement rangers (Sean Blake and Cliff Edwards) from the Gulf Coast
Region provided logistical assistance for access to field locations.
Sites visited and data collected will assist the contractor in photo-interpreting
some difficult classification areas.
SFCN attends Water Resources Division Water Professional Meeting – Dr. Kevin Whelan attended the Water Professional Meeting in Fort Collins February 11 to 15. There were numerous presentations regarding network water quality sampling, aquatic indicator sampling protocols and lessons learn. The attentive audience had numerous opportunities to ask questions and get feed back about upcoming issues to I and M. Additionally Kevin met with the WRD group about the SFCN water indicators to help communicate our plan forward regarding comments received on Phase 3.
SFCN meets about Biscayne National Park Vegetation Map
Dr. Kevin Whelan and Brian Witcher met with Pablo Ruiz of Florida International
University to evaluate the progress being made on the Biscayne National
Park Vegetation Map. There was discussion concerning potential vegetation
types and how to handle upcoming accuracy assessment of the map.
SFCN meets with Everglades Hydrologists
Brian Witcher and Judd Patterson met with Kevin Kotun and Erik Stabenau
to discuss storage of SFCN data in the Data ForEVER database as well
as access to EVER water data and possible longterm storage of EVER data
on the EPA STORET database.
SFCN meets with fish monitoring experts across South Florida
Matt Patterson, Dr. Andrea Atkinson, Dr. Marilyn Brandt, and Brian Witcher
met with fisheries biologists from NOAA, University of Miami, and Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to jointly develop shared
reef fish monitoring methodologies across the Florida Reef Tract in
order to help create a comparable data set and improve sampling efficiencies.
Past years have had two disparate methods of reef fish visual surveys,
and last Spring, a meeting was held which for the first time provided
for the consolidation of a single method of monitoring the reef fish
across all agencies.
Recent discussions continue to remove the differences of methods, data collection and archiving, data analysis, and reporting. Training is planned for March and April, with classroom training on the revised, shared protocol, and in-water training to examine biologists ability to determine distance from the observer, fish species, and fish length to better calibrate the many observers involved.
SFCN SCA Eric Sudalter completes his internship - Eric Sudalter worked with the SFCN Palmetto Bay office for 6 months. He drafted a vegetation map for DeSoto National Memorial and assisted with many GIS projects during his internship. Eric did a great job and will be missed.
SFCN gets new wildlife biologic technician - Raul Urgelles started with the SFCN on January 22, 2008 as the new wildlife biological technician working with Dr. Kevin Whelan monitoring colonial nesting birds, amphibians, freshwater fish and macroinvetebrates primarily. Raul had been the lab manager for Dr. Joel Trexler at Florida International University, organizing field work activities focused on freshwater fish monitoring across the Everglades.
SFCN hires postdoc to focus on Marine Fish Communities Vital Sign - Dr. Marilyn Brandt started working with Dr. Andrea Atkinson to evaluate existing data sets for network marine parks to determine how well the parks are sampled for determining fish communities and how the change over time. She will assist NOAA to develop a protocol during her 2 year appointment.
SFCN and Florida/Caribbean EPMT receive airboat - The SFCN and FLC EPMT purchased a 14 foot Panther airboat to be shared between both programs. It will be used for both exotic treatment activities as well as monitoring.
SFCN holds their Science and Technical Committee meeting and Board of Directors Meeting - The SFCN Science and Technical Committee meeting was held on December 10-11, 2007 to review the Phase 3 SFCN Vital Signs Monitoring Plan and the FY0708 Annual Administrative Report and Workplan. The reviews went well and the network parks all provided valuable input for both documents. The SFCN Board of Directors meeting was held on January 24, 2008. We were fortunate to have all of the Board in attendance, as well as both Sherri Fields and Paul Hartwig from Atlanta. The SFCN presented both the Phase 3 Vital Signs Monitoring Plan and the FY0708 Annual Administrative Report and Workplan, as well as discussed future staffing and communications strategies. Both documents were signed at the meeting by the attendees for review by the regional director.
SFCN hosts the SER Ocean and Coastal Steering Committee meeting - SFCN hosted the regional Ocean and Coastal Steering Committee on January 23, 2008 in Palmetto Bay, Fl. The meeting was to develop the regions strategy toward better ocean and coastal park stewardship, in preparation for the DOI meeting this spring.
top of pageSFCN completed annual coral reef monitoring at three index sites - Amanda’s and Ball Buoy Reef in Biscayne NP, and Mennebeck Reef in Virgin Islands NP. Monitoring includes filming 60 transects (in total), and collecting data on the presence of black spiny sea urchins and coral disease. Additional measurements in rugosity, the verticality of the reef was measured along each transect. At ball Buoy and Amanda's Reef index sites, comparison transects were filmed with both Digital Video (DV) and High Definition Digital Video (HD) to evaluate the transition to HD video transects in the future.
SFCN Data Management/GIS Technician starts on October 28, 2007 - SFCN welcomes back Judd Patterson to South Florida. Judd has been hired through a Student Career Employment Program (SCEP) appointment as he finishes his Master's degree at Kansas State University. Judd was first employed with the SFCN as a research assistant through a CESU agreement with Kansas State University to produce digital map atlases from Experimental Advanced Airborne Research LIDAR (EAARL) raw data sets to make them easier to use for NPS end users at the parks. Judd left SFCN to pursue graduate school, and we welcome him back. Judd will be working in the Data Management branch working closely with Brian Witcher and Andrea Atkinson developing databases and consolidating working GIS files to allow for sharing across parks and with partners.
SFCN releases the DRAFT South Florida/Caribbean Vital Signs Monitoring Plan for internal Network review on October 16th, 2007. This Phase 3 draft is the culmination of 3 years of planning and the development of a prioritized list of Vital Sign ecosystem indicators. The Phase 3 plan provides additional information about sampling design, sampling protocols, data management, Data Analysis and Reporting, Administration, Schedule and Budget, In addition the revised plan includes protocol development summaries for all 41 vital sign indicators. Draft protocols for coral monitoring of index sites and coral reef water temperature monitoring will be available for revue as well. We appreciate the effort the parks are going through now reviewing the plan and providing the feedback we will need to ensure it meets the needs of our network of parks. Congratulations to the entire SFCN team for producing a great draft document, I am proud of this accomplishment! It can be downloaded from: phase3.cfm
NOAA Fish Blitz SFCN scientists, Andy Davis and Jeff Miller partnered with NOAA’s biogeography program during the 6th annual fish survey and habitat characterization from July 9-20, 2007. During this two week mission, 13 divers participated in surveying over 150 sites around Virgin Islands National Park and Coral Reef National Monument.
Server Upgrade in St. John – SFCN Data Manager, Brian Witcher, traveled to Virgin Islands National Park to replace the network’s antiquated server. The new server provides over 600GB and provides the capacity for a daily tape backup of all data. This server meets all current DOI-NPS security requirements and allows for the server to be added to the NPS active directory structure. With this new configuration the network offices in South Florida and in St John will be able to perform direct data transfers instead of relying on FEDEX to provide data connectivity.
SFCN attends regional coral bleaching meeting – Matt Patterson attended a meeting with Mark Lewis, Elsa Alvear, and Richard Curry and other regional scientists and managers in Key Largo on July 17, 2007 at the Key Largo Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary office. Discussions focused on how best to coordinate any potential bleaching event response from both the science side and the outreach side if the situation were to arise during the summer and fall of 2007.
SFCN attends Biscayne Bay Modeling Meeting – Matt Patterson attended a workshop hosted by the South Florida Water Management District on July 10-11 in West Palm Beach. The workshop was held to discuss current numerical models of Biscayne Bay and potential needs for future modeling.
SFCN participates in BISC Dive Refresher training – Matt Patterson and Brian Witcher attended the annual SCUBA diving refresher training hosted by Biscayne National Park on August 15, 2007. Review of underwater skills included buddy breathing, ditch and don of all SCUBA gear, and recovery of unconscious diver drills.
SFCN takes delivery of monitoring vessel – On August 9, 2007 the SFCN received it’s new monitoring vessel. The 29 foot long TwinVee power catamaran will be used for transportation to monitoring sites around South Florida for various vital sign monitoring activities.
SFCN attends Mammal Advisory Group meeting – Matt patterson and Dr. Kevin Whelan met with EVER and BICY Wildlife Biologists and inventory project personnel to discuss the first 6 months progress of the small and medium sized mammal inventory of both parks. Progress is producing good results with well over half of the expected mammal species documented in both parks using IR triggered digital camera stations.
SFCN conducts DRTO exploratory fieldwork for coral monitoring – Matt Patterson, Andy Davis, and Brian Witcher visited Dry Tortugas National Park from August 21-26, 2007 to continue exploration of future coral reef monitoring sites for the park. During this visit, a film crew from the Miami PBS affiliate filmed the work as part of an episode of “Wild Florida” focusing on coral reefs. The trip was postponed for two days as Hurricane Dean moved west through the Caribbean.
SFCN and BISC attend Coastal Wetland Rehydration Pilot Project
workshop
Dr. Kevin Whelan and joined Mark Lewis, Elsa Alvear, and Joffre Castro
(EVER) to represent NPS interests at a stakeholder meeting with Miami-Dade
Water and Sewer Department on August 17th. The meeting focused on monitoring
objectives for the proposed constructed wetland and mesocosm components
of the Coastal Wetland Rehydration Pilot Project. NPS concerns center
on whether the pilot project will provide useful and interpretable results
to evaluate whether it is appropriate for 100M gallons per day of reclaimed
sewage water to be allowed to rehydrate Biscayne National Park’s
coastal wetlands.
SFCN accepts first large scale raster based vegetation map
The SFCN accepted the first map deliverable of a four part
vegetation map that covers parts of Big Cypress National Preserve (BICY),
Everglades National Park (EVER), and Florida Panther National Wildlife
Refuge. This vegetation map provides the first baseline vegetation map
for the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. Use of a raster based
approach allows for the use of a minimum mapping unit (mmu) that is
¼ of a hectare instead of the national standard of ½ hectare.
This raster based mapping technique combined with the use of a new hierarchical
Vegetation Classification System for South Florida National Parks is
seen as a critical methodological advancement that will be essential
to monitor large scale landscape change that should occur due to Everglade's
Restoration.
SFCN evaluates preliminary vegetation map for Big Cypress National
Preserve (BICY)
Dr. Kevin Whelan (SFCN) and Dr. Jim Burch ( BICY ) along with
contractors from Avineon visited multiple sites in the field to help
determine vegetation signatures for photo interpretation of the Big
Cypress vegetation map. Sites visited and data collected will assist
the contractor in interpreting some difficult classification areas.
SFCN meets about Biscayne National Park Vegetation
Map
Dr. Kevin Whelan met with Dr. Mike Ross of Florida International
University to evaluate the progress being made on the Biscayne National
Park Vegetation Map. There was discussion concerning potential vegetation
types, how to handle classification of impacted areas, and the functional
definition of the shoreline. These subjects are critical as this vegetation
map will eventually be seamlessly merged with the benthic community
map for Biscayne National Park .
SFCN evaluates long term coral monitoring sites for Dry Tortugas
NP
From June 4-15 in Dry Tortugas National Park , the SFCN team
of Jeff Miller, Andy Davis, Rob Waara, and Matt Patterson evaluated
66 sites for potential inclusion into the long term monitoring of coral
reef resources. Probabilistic sampling of the coral habitat was done
to identify the proportion of live coral at a site. Due to the enactment
of the Dry Tortugas Research Natural Area (RNA) the park was divided
into two major zones, with about 46% now closed to fishing and anchoring.
Long term site selection will balance sites in both zones to be monitored
regularly to evaluate the impact of this management action. Additionally
the SFCN team resampled two long term coral monitoring sites (sentinel
sites) established during the prototype phase. The SFCN team worked
from the M/V Fort Jefferson, the 110' NPS vessel. This field campaign
required 240 person dives.
SFCN attends National Core Coastal Indicators workshop in Baltimore,
MD
Matt Patterson was invited to attend a workshop co hosted by
EPA and NOAA on May 1-2 to better develop a list of indicators for EPA's
Coastal Condition Report. The meeting was attended by many federal,
states, and local scientists and managers to define what indicators
were the most important to address, and which would be able to be rolled
into a national report.
SFCN attends Dry Tortugas National
Park Research Natural Area public meeting in Key
Largo
Matt Patterson participated in the public meeting co hosted
by Dry Tortugas National Park and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission in Key Largo on May 3. The meeting was held to introduce
various stakeholders to the monitoring plan developed by park and state
scientists and managers to examine the impacts of the recently established
Research Natural Area zone. This zone excludes fishing and anchoring
for nearly half of the park.
SFCN Facilitates for Pacific Islands
I&M Network Meeting in Hawaii
Brian Witcher was invited by WASO to facilitate a meeting of
the Pacific Islands I&M Network staff, network park staff, and regional
staff the week of May 7-11 at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park . The meeting
helped develop a better understanding of how the I&M program will
function in the future, as well as assist the larger NPS community integrate
with it's activities.
SFCN evaluates long term coral monitoring sites for Dry Tortugas
NP
The SFCN team of Jeff Miller, Andy Davis, Rob Waara, Brian
Witcher and Matt Patterson conducted 62 dives to evaluate potential
inclusion for long term monitoring of coral reef resources from May
14-18 in Dry Tortugas National Park . The park was sampled to identify
areas with coral reefs or those that could become reefs in the next
century. The park is divided into two major zones, with about 46% now
closed to fishing and anchoring. Site selection will balance sites in
both zones to be monitored regularly to evaluate if this management
action helps coral reefs over time. The team worked from the M/V Fort
Jefferson, the 110' NPS vessel used primarily for park logistics and
support. The ship was built in 2003, and this year was the first time
the ship has supported scientific trips.
SFCN and BISC attend Coastal Wetland Rehydration Pilot Project workshop
Dr. Kevin Whelan and joined Mark Lewis, Elsa Alvear, Sarah Bellmund and Joffre Castro (EVER) to represent NPS interests at a stakeholder workshop hosted by Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department on May 18 th . The workshop focused on monitoring objectives for the proposed constructed wetland and mesocosm components of the Coastal Wetland Rehydration Pilot Project. NPS concerns center on whether the pilot project will provide useful and interpretable results to evaluate whether it is appropriate for 100M gallons per day of reclaimed sewage water to be allowed to rehydrate Biscayne National Park 's coastal wetlands.
SFCN makes factory site visit at TwinVee
Matt Patterson met SERO Contracting Officer Rob Solomon on
May 22 in Ft. Pierce , Florida at the TwinVee boat factory. The meeting
was to review the specifications for a new 29' vessel being built as
the SFCN monitoring platform for marine work.
SFCN host Dr. Paul Geissler (USGS) to review sampling design
Dr. Paul Geissler, Dr. Andrea Atkinson, Dr. Kevin Whelan, Brian
Witcher, and Matt Patterson met for a full day on May 22 to discuss
the SFCN sampling design for monitoring coral in Dry Tortugas National
Park . Data from the previous week's trip were evaluated. Dr. Geissler's
review provided invaluable suggestions and comments on the overall sampling
design and analysis strategy and details.