Fort Caroline National Memorial

The party went to the Jacksonville Timucuan Trail Waterway to gather fish specimens for the aquaria. The weather was cold and humid, but it was still pleasant, and we enjoyed carrying out the community activity. When we arrived at the waterway, we discovered a variety of interesting plants and animals. We were needed to assess the ecosystem in which they excel before extracting the specimen. The temperature, salinity, and PH of the sea water were all measured. Results from the Seawater: Water Temp: 20.27 o C Salinity: 33.84 PH: 7.87Dissolved Oxygen: 119.5 do%After that, we set up the fish net in the water and caught an assortment of sea plants and animals i.e. 100 fish and crabs, and jellyfish, with the help of two people dragging the fishnet. However, we used 20 fish for our lab activity as per requirement. In addition to studying the different species, we learned how use fishnets accurately to collect most of the species. After completing the task, we headed back to school to put the specimens in the aquaria.Before placing the 20 fish and two crabs into the aquarium, we were required to test the quality of the water. We checked the temperature, salinity, PH, dissolved oxygen, ammonia and nitrate levels of the water.Results from the Aquarium water:Temp: 19.88 o CSalinity: 35.85PH: 8.2Dissolved Oxygen: 106.3 do%Ammonia: 0 PPMNitrite: 0 PPMAfter the placing the animals in the aquaria, the first observation was the clarity change in the water, it turned a little turbid after the fish began to swim.Different sea water species thrive in diverse environments, while some thrive in the same environment with each occupying its niche. For this lab study, we collected different species of animals that thrived in the same environment but fill a particular niche in the ecosystem to avoid competition. Ten of the specimen collected lived in different sections of the sea, some near the shore and tree trunks; others burrowed in the sand, others on shorelines consisting of mud or sand, others in the lower rocky intertidal zone, while others could survive everywhere within that environment. We learned to categorize the plants and animals in their different taxonomic units, and the niche each occupies. Additionally, we learned how each specimen has evolved to adapt to their current environment, and the characteristics of the environment each of them thrive.We needed to carry out this activity to get an overview of the environment sea animals survives. Transferring them into the aquaria will help study if the animals only survive in certain conditions or they can adapt easily to new conditions. The study is also necessary to evaluate the role each organism plays in the ecosystem of their habitats, their modes of survival and how they survive with each other as predator and prey. The activity will ensure we identify the adaptive feature on the specimen and how such features determine their population in the environment and evolution. The hands-on approach where we went in the field, allows us to gain skills that would be necessary for our area of study, for instance, we picked up skills on how to use the fishnet trap most sea animals.