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Researching Crab Development The stone crab fishery is very important in Florida, contributing close to $25 million a year to local economies. It is considered a renewable fishery because adult crabs are harvested only for their claws. Fishermen remove the claws at their joint and then throw the crab back into the ocean in hopes that the claws will regenerate…

Snorkeling is a fun and exciting way to get up-close and personal with the diversity of marine life beneath the waves. Going to school in Florida provides excellent opportunities to snorkel in unique habitats that can be found in only a few places around the world. Our freshwater crystal clear springs in central Florida often allow for an up-close and…

Communication is an essential part of any career and a key part of the scientific process. Scientists occasionally meet in a formal setting at  meetings to share their results. Scientists also actively participate within local communities to promote the broader impacts of the research they conduct to general audiences. However, these two audiences are very different with respect to our…

A Career in Marine Biology? What a Marine Biologists Does. I recently read a blog post titled, “So you want to be a marine biologist,” and could not help but laugh when the first line of the blog said, “Ohhh you research dolphins, I always wanted to do that, that sounds sooo cool!” Well, I have been a marine biologist…

Lauren Toth, Ph.D., is a post-doctoral research scientist whose research focuses on determining what environmental factors influence coral reef development What is your research about? My research combines geochemistry, climatology, paleoecology, and modeling to determine what controls coral reef development through time. The goal of my research is to determine what combinations of environmental conditions benefit or are detrimental to…

2012 Galapagos Field Expedition next to a lava field! Florida Tech’s Biological Sciences Department is one of the reasons why Florida Tech is at the forefront of cutting-edge research. The department offers degrees in several disciplines such as aquaculture, biochemistry, conservation biology and ecology, general biology, marine biology, molecular biology and premedical biology. Furthermore, our department is fully equipped for a variety…

Over the last few decades, there has been controversy questioning the reality of climate change. Much of the doubt in the climate change debate has been generated by the mass media, but no peer reviewed scientific publication suggests that anthropogenic (originating in human activity) climate change is a myth. The human population is exponentially growing, resulting in excess stress being…

  I mentioned in a previous post a while ago that Florida Tech has a Rock Climbing Team. This post should give more insight into it. There is one place in the entire state that can be climbed outdoors, and that’s only if the tides are at their lowest (Blowing Rocks Preserve). What we do have in Florida, are indoor…