Sunday, November 24, 2013

Loggerhead Community-Goodrich Island

1. What special considerations did you have to make for the nesting sea turtle sites located on the barrier island? When considering the nesting sea turtle sites, we had to make sure that they were separated from all of the human made structures. The nesting sites were at the top of the island along with the human made structures, but they were separated by trees that we planted.

2. What special considerations had to be made when determining a good site for the proposed fishing pier? To have a good site for the fishing pier, we considered putting it an area where there was a lot of sea grass.

3. What could be some of the potential problems that might arise from the proposed golf course? Propose some of the ways in which the impacts can be reduced. The golf course can cause a lot of potential problems. For example, it is a wide open area where many trees may have been cut down. To reduce the impact this has made, we planted trees in other areas including around the golf course.

4. What are the economic benefits to the community of Loggerhead County if the development was done with the least amount of environmental impact? With no environmental damage done, the community would wind up successful with the resort and have a good reputation.

5. Describe three ways in which humans negatively impact coastal ecosystems such as the one you are working on with Loggerhead Barrier Island. Humans negatively impact coastal ecosystems with pollution such as from trash or vehicles burning gas. All of the lights used by humans can negatively effect the coast such as interfering with nesting sites. Too many human made structures can interfere with coasts. 

6. How can maintaining natural vegetation help us to reduce the damage caused by oceanic events such as hurricanes, tsunami and continued beach erosion? Natural vegetation is the growth of plants in a certain area that has occurred without man's intervention. These were not planted by humans but have grown naturally for centuries within a certain area. With more natural vegetation, oceanic events are less likely to wipe all of it out.

7. After listening to the other groups make their presentations, were there any ideas they had you would have used if you had though about it before-hand? You should list at least three different ideas and indicate why their idea is actually better for the environment than yours. When looking at all of the other group's islands, I realized that they all were a little different in some way. Although this is true, I don't think that the island could be changed. I don't think that anyone's island was better in any way because  ours had no major improvements.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Sand Reflection

This week I examined 8 different grains of sand based on their many different features. For example, I found that most of the grain sizes were rather small and therefore, they could travel far. Also, most of these grains were not magnetite, meaning they did not attract magnets. One thing that most of these grains had in common was they were a clear, white color. Another thing that I noticed about these grains is that most of them were sorted moderately or really well. This means that the sand grains were about the same size and same type. Out of the 8 different grains of sand, 7 of them had a composition of either minerals or rocks. Only one of types of grain (Mexico) had a biologic composition. Two sand grains that were worth comparing are the Hampton and the Bonaire grains. For starters, the Hampton grains had a orange/yellow color while the Bonaire grains were clear/white. Neither of these grains were magnetite, therefore they can attract to magnets. Based on size, the Bonaire grains are larger than the Hampton grains. Not only are the Hampton grains larger, but they also are better sorted. This means that they have the same size grains, most likely because they are sorted by the wind or the ocean. Both grains have a different composition: the Hampton grains are minerals and the Bonaire grains are rocks. Based on what I have observed, all of these grains have similar and different traits meaning they all maybe common in some way.