Trip to the Coast

Finally, a field trip to do some work on Phragmites, my focal organism for my research. I'd previously only been on one field trip before to help my lab mate and friend Anthony collect some soil and plant samples for his Masters project on Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica). This was in De Soto National Forest in Mississippi, which was quite nice as you can see in the photos below:

However, today we went southwest instead of northeast with the intention of collecting some Phragmites rhizome (root) material from three sites which we would use to propagate plants in our greenhouse and collecting any insects which were around. Driving to and from the sites was over two hours each way and the work we had to do was minimal which left us with a fair amount of time to go sightseeing which was great. We went four-wheel-driving along a Gulf Coast beach and through Rockefeller Reserve, checked out tiny fishing villages, took a ferry across a river, and walked around Sabine Wildlife Reserve looking for alligators. While driving and walking around we saw a dolphin, turtles, and lots of different birds, but sadly no snakes or alligators, the animals I'm really excited to see! Although, I'm told I will be totally sick of them come the end of the summer field season...

One of our sites called 'Creole 2'

At 'East Cameron' after bashing a fresh trail through the Phragmites patch as my initiation to field work

Sabine Wildlife Refuge