Day 2- 27/02/15 - Wildlife Reserve, Merritt Island

The alarm rang at 6.30am, Abbie and I didn't want to move from our comfy beds. After a few minutes Abbie made the first move.
The weather was chilly, windy and rainy.
Breakfast was ready for 7.00am. There was a selection of food; fruit, cereals, sausages, toast and a pancake machine, it was inevitably that everyone went straight for the pancakes and maple syrup.

Pancakes and maple syrup!

As we made our may to Merritt Island we saw a range of wildlife and vegetation.; palm trees, lakes and trees in lakes.
8.35- Red Shouldered Hawk- it defecated whilst flying.
8.50 - Osprey building a nest
8.55 - stuffed bald eagle, northern flakier, gray catbird, screech owl, indigo snake, bobcat, gopher tortoise, raccoon and coral snake.
9.00- american alligator and hawksbill sea turtle






The Merritt Island is a barrier island of the coast of Florida. There was 16,000 acres of salt marsh. The salt marshes are home to mosquitoes, they lay their eggs in the dry mud. In the 1920s hundreds of ditches were dug to control the mosquitoes but unfortunately this didn't help solve the problem due to the fact of continuous maintenance and the low tidal amplitude in the are, so the experiment was pulled. During the 1930s impounding was thought to be a good way to control the mosquito populations, the water loss due to evaporation became too much so this was all abandoned.

Great blue heron

In the 1940s a Swiss chemist, Paul Hermann Müller came up with a product to control the mosquitoes; DDT, (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) a chemical pesticide. By the 1950s the life cycle of the mosquitoes had broken down, there was water all year round that saw fish living in there all year round, so the fish ate the mosquito larvae however by the mid 1950s resistance started to occur and there were concerns about what this chemical was doing to the environment. Brevard County in 1954 renewed the importance of impounding, not long after other counties by the lagoon followed. 1959 around 3,200 ha of wetlands had been impounded and 16,200 ha by 1970s. The impoundements were built at the high water mark and some of the impoundments were connected by the estuary. Many were flooded all year round by some let go of their water during the fall and the winter. 

One of the impoundments

Anhinga 

Impounding does have an effect on the environment. The water quality has degraded which is a great concern, isolation of habitat which is important for sport and fishing during the most crucial times in the animals life cycle, removal of the productive marshes and the disturbance to the free flowing nutrients and organisms between the wetlands and lagoon. In some impoundments nearly all of the plants were removed due to the water level being too high. Over flooding removed the herbaceous halophyte,salt tolerant cover from some of the marshes. Black mangroves were eliminated from some impoundements due to their short pneumatophores,above-ground roots which can't deal with the lengthily high water levels. All of these effects resulted in the total wipe out of some vegetation in some impoundements, and the replacement of the natural high marsh vegetation which included the black mangroves and red mangroves. Impounding also had a negative effect on the wildlife the diversity of fish decreased, the majority of the species that disappeared where transient, so spent time in the mangroves and the marsh lands. 

The water quality and soil chemistry also decreased in some of the impoundments, the dissolved oxygen decreased sulfide increased. Where the impoundments had flooded, some had become more freshwater than salt water. 
During the 1960s experiments took place to flood the impoundement to try to reduce the mosquito populations during the major times of the year- May through to October, this seemed to have good results. The rest of year, the water in the impoundments gave rise to the tides and culverts where installed. Flooding was controlled to allow water flow between the estuary and the marsh and to to prevent damage to the vegetation. 

Rotational Impoundment Management (RIM) has proved to be a very successful technique to minimize the effects of mosquitoes. The most substantial benefit of hydrological manangement it allows the movement of transient fish into marsh all year round.  Where the vegetation has vanished by over flooding, by simply restoring the tides via culverts and keeping a watch on the water levels the vegetation started to grow back. The management of water capabilities in connection with RIM have also allowed the manipulation of water levels to control exotic and upland vegetation in some impoundments,especially in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

There are in total 76 impoundments which are great for a wide range of wildlife, in particular wetland birds and migratory birds for example ducks come here for the winter season. When fall starts that is when the shore birds appear and make the mud flats their home. In the early days the marshes where salty but after water management it is now freshwater, it has seen an influx of fish; for example large bass. 

There have been some casualties; the loss of the dusky seaside sparrow being an example, it was perfectly adapted to the salt marshes by the height of the freshwater flooded the foraging sited killed the sparrow off. This wasn't the only species that suffered all the generalists and specialist species where all killed of due to the water height.   

The Atlantic salt marsh snake and the Banded water snake are close genetically, they interbred and the banded water snake flooded the Atlantic salt marsh snake with its genetics. 
The management of the impoundments can differ depending on what the diversity of vegetation and organisms are in them, have to look to see what components are essential to the animals and go from there. The dikers had been removed to encourage the native grasses to grow. The boards are used to keep the salty lagoon out but water evaporates and leaves the salt behind, increasing the salt concentration. 

In August 1963, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) took over 140,000 acres of land but only requires 6,000 acres on a regular basis. In the past NASA would launch 3 shuttles a year, so it didnt have a big impact on the surrounding ecosystems. 
NASA has built a 60 acres solar farm. In total there are 35,000 panels which provides 60 megawatts of emission free power to 1,100 homes. There are some down sides to the solar farm; the soil disturbance caused whilst construction can never be restored. 

NASA has one of the longest runways in the world, 15,000ft in length and as wide a football field in width, on landing there has to be a watch on the birds, as the birds tend to fly or wonder down the runway, to prevent any fatalities there are 25 liquid propane cannons positioned in strategic places down the runway. 

10.02 - Black vulture 
10.10- Bald eagle nest collecting 
10.12- alligator swimming 
10.14- Kingfisher 
10.15- American coote and great blue heron 
10.20- Killdeer 
10.25 -tri coloured heron
10.30- pied billed grebe in the white mangroves 
10.32- ibis and snowy egret, white pelicans, common grackle sitting in a bush
10.35 White pelicans swimming x2 
10.35- Tri coloured heron standing in the water
10.36- Great blue heron and white ibis x2 
10.36 - Woodstork swimming 
10.45- Waterfowl and tri coloured heron
10.50 - Roseate spoonbill flying 
10.55- White ibis in winter plumage 
10.55- Tri coloured heron and white egret in the red mangroves
11.00-  woodstorks x2 (feeding)
11.00- Juvenile alligator about 3-6 years. 
11.05- Turns and blackskimmers 
11.05 - Anhinger the snake bird 
11.05- American cootes in a flock on the water
11.05 - Blue heron 
11.05- Anhinger drying its wings 
11.10- Reddish egret and snowy egret displaying territory behaviour
11.10 - White pelicans 
11.10 - Northern shovelers feeding. 
11.10- Glossy ibis
11.14- Woodstork 
11.15- American cootes in a flock of about 500. 
11.15- Reddish egret in white phase
11.30- Uplands containing pine and palm trees 
11.30- Songbirds and small mammals, hawks and falcons 
11.30- Brazillian pepper - controlled by fire every 3 years. 

Myself standing at the entrance of the KSC. 

palm trees are adapted to fire 
any change in elevation can cause new species
11.32- armadillo foraging 
11.35 armadillo 
12.45- Bottlenose dolphins en route to Kennedy space center 
16.20-  Bald eagle at the Kennedy space center 

After going around the nature reserve and seeing some interesting wildlife, it was time to be a tourist and go to the Kennedy Space Centre. As we entered, the car park was huge. The weather was still drizzling but that didn't dampen anyone's excitement. We were given our tickets and away we go. 


  We only had a few hours so Abbie, Carys, Kat and myself went on a coach tour of the premises. This was really interesting as I learnt so much interesting information. We went round and saw different launch pad and the crawler (what transports the rocket to the landpad). Seeing a real life space rocket was breathtaking, I knew that where huge but I didn't realize how huge they really where. 

The main control building. Has the largest
American flag. 

The crawler. 

Launch pad.

Real rocket

Part of the rocket. 

Two spacesuits

On the coach tour we went to the apollo centre, here held the rocket (as above), various displays showing off suits, space buggies and many more. There was even a piece of the moon which we could touch, which was great. 

Touching a piece of the moon

After some lunch we headed back to the main site and we looked round the Atlantis centre, this held a simulation ride (which i didnt go on), informative videos and artefacts. It was great seeing and learning what it takes to get men into space and what they need to do to be able to survive. One of the great things was a slide. The video below is off Abbie and I going down the slide at the Kennedy Space Centre.

Atlantis from the outside

Suspended space suit

Myself with a model space rocket

Space rocket. 

One of many inspiration quotes. 

I glanced at my watch and it was 18.00 already, so we had to make a quick dash to the entrance to meet the rest of the group and have our debrief. We all had a group photo in front of the NASA ball. 

It was back to our mini buses and back to the motel for the last night. 

A group of us made the trip to Denny's Dinner, it was a typically american dinner, it was great to experience something different.





Connelly, Jorge. 'ENY648/IN192: Mosquito Control Impoundments'. Edis.ifas.ufl.edu. N.p., 2015. Web. 2015.
Nasa.gov,. 'NASA - Solar Farms At Kennedy Generating Power To Homes'. N.p., 2015.
Nbbd.com,. 'Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida - Black Point Drive'. N.p., 2015. Web. 2015.