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SECN Highlights April 2025

Collage of fieldwork photos behind the words Southeast Coast Inventory and Monitoring Network April 2025
A woman in waders holding a net and standing in water
Hydrologic Technician Katie Dagastino used a net to secure dragonflies at Cumberland Island National Seashore.

NPS / SECN

White spoon with dragonfly in it
One of several specimens captured that day.

NPS / SECN

Enter the Dragonflies

Katie and Mallorie Help CUIS with the Dragonfly Mercury Project

Hydrologic Technician Katie Dagastino and Biological Technician Mallorie Davis assisted Cumberland Island National Seashore with their dragonfly larvae and water sample collection to detect mercury levels in the park’s ecosystem. It is part of a collaborative effort with the United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) Dragonfly Mercury Project. Dragonfly larvae are used as bioindicators of mercury contamination and potential degradation in freshwater aquatic ecosystems, providing valuable insight to the presence and concentration of mercury. Cumberland Island National Seashore is an ideal location to study potential impacts of mercury because of its diverse habitats and wildlife. Katie and Mallorie collected larvae from two wetlands to ensure samples were representative of different environmental conditions.

According to Katie, “these larvae will be analyzed for mercury content in a lab, and those data will contribute to a broader understanding of mercury accumulation patterns across various regions of the island.” She added that the work “supports the park’s objectives to understand the health of aquatic ecosystems and the organisms that depend on them. Data collected will not only aid in understanding mercury extent on Cumberland Island but inform future conservation strategies and guide park management practices.”

For More on the DragonFly Mercury Project:

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/citizenscience/dragonfly-mercury-project.htm

To See Data for the DragonFly Mercury Project:

https://www.nps.gov/articles/dragonfly-mercury-data.htm
looking down pvc housing full of barnacles
Barnacle restriction in a sonde housing at Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve.

NPS / SECN

From the Aquatic Ecologist:

Winter Maintenance and Sonde Rescue

Over the winter, biological fouling of water-quality sondes typically slows down with lower water temperatures. As such, the network usually takes advantage of this lull in fouling to send off a third of our fleet of sondes for winter maintenance at YSI. This is like taking a car to the mechanic for service at 100,000 miles. They check for cracks in the bulkhead, check O-ring seals, grease this and that, do a pressure test, and fix worn central wipers. Doing this prolongs the life of our equipment, prevents down time and increases the quality of the data. This years’ service has been a little more challenging to get completed but we are finding ways to get it done and hope to get these “fresh” sondes deployed in place of the ones that many of you helped us retrieve earlier in March.

I would be remiss not to thank all of you that helped rescue our sondes from the housings during ongoing travel restrictions. Without your help, the sondes could have been damaged and/or stuck in the housings which would have required a complete re-build of the site. Without monthly maintenance, the housings (PVC pipe) can quickly become restricted due to barnacle growth. Your help saved us a lot of money, and additional downtime! Thanks again! Please reach out with any data questions and remember that the continuous data are available from the Aquarius Web Portal (https://irma.nps.gov/aqwebportal/).

Aquatic Ecologist (Acting NPM) Eric Starkey

Black background Logo with CC and Yale Climate Connections

Talking Mangroves

SECN Coastal Ecologist on NPR's Yale Climate Connections

William "Ches" Vervaeke, SECN Coastal Ecologist, was recently featured on National Public Radio (NPR)'s Yale Climate Connections broadcast discussing mangroves and their expansion into Georgia from Florida. "‘Holy cow!’ Mangroves discovered in Georgia, farther north than ever before" aired in February. In the interview conducted by Ethan Freedman, Ches described that first time he and a group of researchers discovered the mangroves had crossed the border. The decreased frequency of freezing temperatures, according to Ches, is the main reason the mangroves are on the move. For more, check out ‘Holy cow!’ Mangroves discovered in Georgia, farther north than ever before » Yale Climate Connections.


Ches was also lead author for the paper, "Ongoing Range Shift of Mangrove Foundation Species: Avicennia germinans and Rhizophora mangle in Georgia, United States," which was published in Estuaries and Coasts in March. The report focuses on data collected from target surveys along the Atlantic coasts of Florida and Georgia at the northern limit of mangroves in the U.S. It available at Ongoing Range Shift of Mangrove Foundation Species: Avicennia germinans and Rhizophora mangle in Georgia, United States | Estuaries and Coasts.




Two shots of man sitting on a platform behind steel rods in front of a marsh. A woman smiling on a boat and a woman smiling in trees.
Clockwise from top left, UGA Intern Myra Kincaid during ARD collection at Cumberland Island National Seashore earlier this year; Coastal Ecologist Ches Vervaeke sets up a reading of a surface elevation table at Canaveral National Seashore March 31; Biological Technician Mallorie Davis assisted Ches with the field work; Ches on the platform.

NPS / SECN

screenshot of IRMA home page

Recent Publications

The Southeast Coast Network recently published the following reports:

Aquatic

Wadeable

For More About the SECN

Check out Southeast Coast Inventory & Monitoring Network (U.S. National Park Service) (https://www.nps.gov/im/secn/index.htm)

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Last updated: December 2, 2025