I have never come across the brilliantly colored rough green snake (Opheodrys aestivus) in the wild before, but our Master Naturalist class was introduced to a member of this species during the fight of its life yesterday. We took a trip ... READ MORE
Category: Natural Resources, Wildlife
Each year Florida Sea Grant conducts a summer survey of selected invasive species of concern in the coastal area of Pensacola Bay. Below are the results of the 2025 survey. Beach vitex Beach vitex is an invasive vine that ... READ MORE
Category: Invasive Species, Natural Resources
I've wanted to pursue a career in something outdoorsy/science-related for as long as I can remember. In my earliest days, I was one of those “dinosaur kids” who would obsess over dinosaur names and types, checking out books from the ... READ MORE
Category: Forests, Natural Resources
In Part 1 of this series, we mentioned many of the issues that mankind is facing, but climate change may be the largest. In this series we have taken a journey on how humans got to this point. We began with our origins and how we dispersed ... READ MORE
Category: Natural Resources
I usually see these guys using their suction-cup like toepads to hang out on our glass patio doors at night. Despite being 6 or 8 feet above the ground, my cat (from indoors) always attempts numerous remarkable—yet futile—high jumps ... READ MORE
Category: Natural Resources, WildlifeIn 2011 many scientists, and executives from the oil and automobile industries, believed the energy source for the future was hydrogen. Most of the attention was focused on fuel cells that combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity ... READ MORE
Category: Natural Resources
Many who have snorkeled or dove in the Florida Keys have most likely encountered nurse sharks there – they are quite common. But here in the northern Gulf – though present – encounters are not as frequent. In the Keys you can don a ... READ MORE
Category: Coasts & Marine, Natural Resources, Wildlife
Walking through a northwest Florida wildflower prairie in mid-October, the star of the show is Liatris. Known as dense gayfeather or blazing star, this tall (up to 7’!) stunner of a plant is covered up with clusters of small purple ... READ MORE
Category: Natural Resources
I love hiking in new places. Different terrain, new perspectives, and always some plant or animal I’ve never before come across. Last weekend on another hike along the Cumberland Plateau in southern Tennessee, we noticed a low-growing, ... READ MORE
Category: Forests, Natural ResourcesGeothermal is one source of energy that has been explored, and utilized, in recent decades. It is heat which is stored beneath the earth – either in the soil, rocks, or the fluid portion of the mantle. It has been used primarily in heating ... READ MORE
Category: Natural Resources