Back in June, the Smithsonian Marine Station in Fort Pierce held a “Benthic Bioblitz” to catalog benthic macroinvertebrate biodiversity within the Indian River Lagoon. This event sampled 32 sites between the Sebastian and St. Lucie inlets, as well as nearby reefs, sifting through the material to find and identify the animals within. Two of our very own EAI scientists, Carrie Scarola and Dr. Matt Scripter, were invited to participate due to their expertise in benthic marine organisms.
Over a 10 day period, the group collected and preserved more than 2,700 organisms from the Indian River Lagoon, across 32 sites between the Sebastian and St. Lucie inlets. By collecting these samples, scientists will be able to create a real-time snapshot of the overall health of the lagoon.
While fully assessing the results will take time, the team estimated the haul included at least 100 known species that had not been documented in the lagoon before and dozens of species new to science!
This was an incredible group effort from about 30 different scientists and we are thrilled to have been a part of it! Read more: A wildlife scavenger hunt: Scientists conduct ‘bioblitz’ to gauge health of Indian River Lagoon | The Invading Sea
