James Douglass
@jamesgdouglass
Marine ecologist, paddler, and windsurfer
Ridiculously hot and humid in sw FL but there have been some dramatic skies.
Checking if the gym was open but got some unexpected insights into my students' concerns.
Estero Bay, FL seagrass beds covered in the filamentous cyanobacterial ick that proliferates in the heat and polluted runoff of the summer wet season. Pollution reduction measures desperately needed in the watershed.
Gorgeous bivalves on long drowned phone. I put it back in the Caloosahatchee where I found it.
Fake grass surface temp 16 celsius hotter than real grass surface temp on FGCU campus today. #florida #fake #plastic #plants #evapotranspiration
Jogging in Florida in summer is like when you roll a soft serv ice cream in sprinkles except the ice cream is your sweaty face and the sprinkles are small flying insects. #florida
Oysters in Edisto Island, South Carolina showing off their ability to form reefs (rocky biogenic structures) by gregarious settlement and growth. Not as glamorous as coral reefs, but very important ecologically.
NPR news quiz throwing some shade this week. www.npr.org/2026/05/22/g...
Morning pizza hypotheses: H1- Delivered to wrong unit last night. H2- Neighbors so high they forgot they ordered it. Either way a tragic waste of valuable cardboard and cheese resources.
Rainy season has started in South Florida. The girls aren't so sure how they feel about that.
Cuban Knight Anole- A handsome pest not native to Florida. Takes one to know one.
The upside of the multi-year drought in SW Florida is there's less runoff pollution and the nearshore Gulf of Mexico gets pretty clear and blue. This was at Marco Island today.
I can't even with my fellow Floridians. Like, HELLO, the biggest threats to dolphins stem DIRECTLY from gop dismantling of federal environmental protections.
Aww, my student researchers decorated the lab and surprised me for my birthday. 🥰 I need to talk to them about the environmental unsustainability of plastic baloons but that can wait a day.
When the marine science students are so stoked about their trip to the aquarium that they bust into your office to show off their gift shop loot.
View from the office at FGCU. We manage our stormwater ponds as little nature preserves and the wildlife seem to appreciate it.
Teensy bit of frost confirmed in Estero, SW Florida. Only the 3rd time I've seen frost since moving here in 2012.
One step to making the world better is to withdraw support from evil companies. "Photobucket" is one of the worst. Even when you pay their ratcheting ransom they still watermark your shit. I'm slowly rehosting a decade of blog photos to finally escape.
It's windows-open weather in South Florida, which is giving me a new appreciation for the neighborhood mockingbird's "ooweeoop ooweeoop ooweeoop ooweeoop" car alarm imitation song. I imagine when he first hear the alarm he was like: YES. THIS. IS. MY. JAM.
Xmas walks in Asheville, NC. Hurricane Helene treefalll damage has added some extra drama to the mountain views.
Cool arificial reef in Hillsborogh Inlet, Pompano Beach supports some Isognomon bicolor oysters along with all sorts of tropical fish, etc. Good, free snorkel spot.
Hosting a lavish, Great Gatsby themed party at Mar a Lago the same day he's cutting off food aid to 40 million needy citizens is definitely not "making America great again." Normal people need to get past red vs. blue and take the country back from these spoiled billionaires.