May 28, 2025

GRRS Day 4

Another great day to be a TFB! In the morning, we developed a project to investigate the benefit of Marine Protected Areas. A Marine Protected Area is an area in which human activity (such as fishing) is restricted to promote ecosystem health. Because Glover’s contains both protected areas and non-protected areas, we could have easy access to observe both areas. We decided to use quadrats, or 2’x2’ squares used in ecology for sampling areas representative of a larger habitats. By placing them and finding out the amount of species inside them, we could determine which area has a generally healthier ecosystem. Our observations, though statistically insignificant due to small sample size, showed that Marine Protected Areas had healthier ecosystems. As always, our poster presentation is included below!

In addition to placing the quadrats, our morning snorkel had many cool things to see, including many cool wrasses! I was excited to see a mature yellow headed wrasse, as I haven’t seen many adults thus far!

In the closing meeting, our professors shared that tomorrow we would be packing to head out bright and early on Friday morning, and wow, I can’t believe we’re already here at the end of the course!

Images:

MPA Project Poster

Adult Yellowheaded Wrasse