Week 7:
Not Ready to Leave

July 25, 2020

I cannot believe that I only have one week left here in Beaufort. I’ve been taking lots of mental (and physical) snapshots this past week, so I can hold onto a little bit of South Carolina once I travel back to Iowa. Every time I drive on the bridge over the Broad River, every time I see the sunrise over the water at Port Royal, every time I relax in the hammocks outside my apartment complex or sit on my porch to enjoy coffee in the morning, I try to take in every bit of those moments. These are some of the little things I will miss- along with, of course, the hands-on research and lab work I have been doing that have strengthened my interest in ecology and conservation. But, I take a bit of comfort in knowing that I will come back someday, whether for work or simply to visit. I have already begun creating a list of places I still need to explore, people I need to meet, things I need to do when I can return and when, hopefully, the world is not so complicated by a pandemic. But, I’ll save some of that forward-looking reflection for my final blog, and instead focus on what I have been enjoying right now, this week, while I am still here.

In the lab, we have begun our chlorophyll analysis. What this means is that we are taking the filters we used for each water sample and using a machine that tells us how much chlorophyll content is present in that sample. I am constantly impressed by the capability of machines to do all this work and provide us with data so quickly, once you learn to operate the equipment. Once we have this information on chlorophyll content, it can serve as a proxy for phytoplankton presence in the water. Phytoplankton is a primary producer, meaning it creates its own energy rather than consuming it like we do, and can be indicative of ecosystem health. That’s a bit of an oversimplification, but I just wanted to give a slight overview of one specific type of data we are trying to extract from our water samples, and why they are relevant. While this analysis is taking place towards the end of my time here, we should be able to analyze all the samples we have collected by the time I leave. I am hopeful that even once I leave Beaufort, I can continue to engage with the data in order to learn more about organizing it, understanding what it means, and representing it effectively to others. So far, Dr. Pettay has been really wonderful in starting this process, and I am confident moving forward that he will continue to be a helpful resource. 

Outside of beginning chlorophyll analysis, one of the highlights of my week was a conversation I had with Mr. Gordon Fritz, a friend of Dr. John Mark Dean’s. Hearing his stories, particularly about the work he has done and is doing to protect South Carolina natural areas, was so interesting and encouraging. He also informed me about the Sea Island Coalition, which he is highly involved in, that works to protect the land in and around Beaufort from overdevelopment. I immediately signed up for the Sea Island Coalition newsletter, and I would encourage you all to look into the organization. I find it so exciting to hear about how hard people work to protect natural spaces, and I’m especially excited to be engaged with and informed by an organization that does such local work to protect an area I have fallen in love with this summer. Hearing from Mr. Fritz, as well as Dr. Dean and his other friends, inspires me to continue learning about the environment and figuring out how I can best use my skills and knowledge to advocate for it and protect it into the future.