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Laura Wick As naturalist Aldo Leopold once noted, " There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot." It is not known whether a thirst for knowledge of the natural world is a result of a rare and recessive naturalist gene or that of childhood experiences. The majority of my childhood was spent in South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska chasing snakes, toads, and on rainy nights, earthworms for those late-night fishing excursions with my father. With role models such as Jacques Cousteau and Sylvia Earle, my love for the natural world was not limited to the land. In fact, becoming a marine biologist had been a dream for as long as I can remember. While earning my undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Central Florida, I was fortunate enough to assist marine turtle expert and mentor Dr. Llewellyn Ehrhart with both nesting and in-water research in the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge. After graduation in 1998, I continued my study of marine turtles on the island of Zakynthos through the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece. Other Post-Baccalaureate projects have included deep-sea fish surveys in the Florida Straits under Ichthyologist Dr. Franklin Snelson, Jr. at the University of Central Florida, gopher tortoise censusing and relocation, scrub-jay censusing, aerial habitat interpretation, ground-truthing of uplands and wetlands and wetland delineation. In 1999, I began algal research in the Florida Keys under Dr. Linda Walters. It was Dr. Walters, now my Graduate Committee Chair, who enthusiastically introduced me to the environmental implications of algal blooms in marine systems and who helped me to create and shape what quickly became my graduate thesis project. As a graduate student at the University of Central Florida, I have focused my research on vegetative fragmentation ecology and the establishment of macroalgal fragments in seagrass (Laurencia poiteaui) and coral reef communities (Dictyota menstrualis and D. pulchella) in the Florida Keys. My research interests include: 1) fragment accumulation, 2) attachment rates of macroalgal fragments to various biological and abiological substrata, 3) the effect of silt and sand on the attachment rates of fragments, 4) rhrizoid location and morphology, 5) fragment dispersal rates, and 6) the effect of fish foraging activities on the accumulation of macroalgal fragments. This will be my third year assisting Dr. Walters with her research on Conch Reef.
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