Marine Ecology: One Fish, Two Fish, Stoplight Parrotfish

Our Tropical Ecology course has wrapped up with the highly anticipated third segment: Marine Ecology! Dr. Laurie Furlong joined us from Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa to lead us as we “dove in” head first to learn about the beautiful world waiting beneath the surface of the ocean. Throughout the week, we used Osha Gray Davidson's metaphor of the "Enchanted Braid" as we explored the intricate, interwoven relationships present in the marine ecosystem.


Of course, what better place is there to study Marine Ecology than a tropical island? We packed up and headed out on Sunday for four days at Glover’s Atoll, a tiny piece of paradise off the coast of Belize. This beautiful island is located in a marine reserve, making it a perfect location to experience the world’s second largest barrier reef system first hand. In class, we unraveled the special relationship between sea grass, mangrove, and coral reef communities in lecture … and then hopped in the ocean only a few steps away to see those relationships first hand! We saw the tiny fish in the “nursery” sea grass communities, were dazzled by the colorful array of adult fish and impressive coral formations in the reef communities, and got up close and personal with jellyfish and surprisingly friendly juvenile fish in the sediment-securing roots of the mangrove communities. Without any one of these three components, the marine ecosystem would fall apart – yet as a tightly interwoven “braid,” all three come together to support the wide variety of living creatures we interacted with on a daily basis through snorkeling, reef rubble creature-seeking, and algae exploration.

One of the key components of this course was a research project. Over the course of our time at Glover’s, Marissa, Becky, Stacey, Scott, Jenna, and Rebekah observed the feeding habits of fish and urchins on clean sea grass blades vs. “biofouled” (algae covered) sea grass blades, while Jenney, Michelle, Kalli, and Daniel arranged conch shells in and out of a sea grass bed to see who would move in! Both groups had great success, with plenty of biofouled sea grass grazing and a whole host of new occupants in the conch shells (including crabs, fish, and an octopus!). It was amazing to see everything we were able to discover about the workings of the world around us with a few days of hands-on application in the field.

All too soon it was time to leave our little island paradise and head back to campus, bringing plenty of memories and great new experiences with us. Though we were sad to leave, it's always great to get back to our home at the Nab!