Photo by: S. Barry, UF/IFAS

Seagrass, Water Quality, and the Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve with Speaker Savanna Barry

Socializing: 6:45 p.m.

Meeting starts: 7 p.m.

Program starts: 7:15 p.m.

About the presentation: Dr. Savanna Barry will cover background information about the designation of the Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve and how Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the University of Florida collaborated with community stakeholders to draft the management plan. She will also cover information about the ongoing monitoring programs focused on water quality and seagrasses, as well as highlight some of the current science around seagrass ecology and conservation in the region.

Savanna Barry

About the speaker: Savanna grew up on a small farm in central Virginia and discovered her interest in marine ecology during family vacations to small fishing towns along the Chesapeake Bay. After earning her B.S. in Biology from the University of Virginia, Savanna split her time between Gainesville, FL and Little Cayman Island to earn her M.S. in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences through the University of Florida. Her M.S. research focused on seagrasses but she was also involved in youth education and public outreach on the island. While in Little Cayman, Savanna completed her Divemaster certification and co-organized an island-wide effort to remove invasive lionfish from local coral reefs. She returned to Gainesville to continue into a Ph.D. program at the University of Florida. Savanna Barry did her dissertation work in the beautiful seagrass meadows of the southern Nature Coast where she investigated the morphology, resilience, invertebrate community composition, and carbon storage of seagrass meadows growing under different rates of nutrient input. Savanna began serving the Nature Coast as a Regional Specialized Agent with Sea Grant and UF/IFAS Extension in February 2016 and is stationed full time at the Nature Coast Biological Station.

Photo by: S. Barry, UF/IFAS