Green Pages

Part 1:  The Medusa Worm (Synaptula hydriformis) Story & Photos By Eric S. Cole, Biology Department, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota Trigger warning: this creature’s habits are so foreign, they may offend the senses. One of the most marvelous life-forms I’ve encountered in both The Bahamas and Turks & Caicos islands is a tiny sea cucumber named Synaptula ...

Getting the edge on seagrass meadows. By Natalie Ritter (The School for Field Studies), Violet Apodaca (Bowdoin College), Kira Kaplan (Smith College), Lily Marynik (Wellesley College), Sophie Moniz (Connecticut College), Rory O’Connor (Lehigh University), Paul Stanley (University of Massachusetts Amherst) and Aliya Swearngin (Grinnell College) Edited by Dr. C.E. O’Brien, The School for Fields Studies, Center for ...

Our “feathered friends” are an important indicator of environmental health. Story & Photos By Dolly Prosper, DECR Environmental Officer: Terrestrial Ecologist Humans have always been fascinated with our avian neighbours. Throughout history, the relationship between humans and birds has been multifaceted, encompassing utility, symbolism, and mutual benefit. The genesis of our intricate bond was due to caloric ...

Restoring TCI reefs. By Kort Alexander and Kara Rumage, The School for Field Studies Center for Marine Resource Studies, South Caicos We sit on the siderails of the boat in anticipation, hands holding our masks and regulators in place. The captain counts down from three and we lean back until our tanks hit the water. We are instantly ...

New Natural Capital Investment Plan to launch this summer. By Andy Tetlow, International Biodiversity Officer, Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) The environmental landscape of the Turks & Caicos Islands plays a vital role in the country’s tourism-focused economy, providing “ecosystem services” that have a significant impact on communities across TCI.  What are ecosystem services, you may ask? This ...

The Darwin PLUS 129 Project focuses on TCI wetlands. By Christopher May, Samuel Pike, Katie Medcalf, B Naqqi Manco, Dodly Prosper, and Junel Blaise As development steadily progresses throughout the Turks & Caicos Islands, it remains crucial to conserve and protect the areas that make the country “Beautiful by Nature.” The North, Middle and East Caicos wetlands ...

Connections between marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Story & Photos By Bill Bigelow, The School for Field Studies, Center for Marine Resource Studies, South Caicos, Turks & Caicos Islands At The School for Field Studies’ (SFS) Center for Marine Resource Studies, I start my research course by posing a seemingly simple question to students: “What is a land crab?” ...

Two-“legged” walking in octopods. By Sydney L. O’Brien and C. E. O’Brien, The School for Field Studies Center for Marine Resource Studies, South Caicos Have you ever seen a walking coconut? If you have, chances are it was actually an octopod, running on two arms across the sand. This may sound like an odd piece of science fiction ...

Empowering island youth: Scuba diving as a pathway to marine sciences. By Alizee Zimmermann, Turks & Caicos Reef Fund ~ Photos By Reginald Beckford Jr. Close your eyes. Breathe in. Breathe out. Descend. The light shimmers above, penetrating through crystal-clear water and creating patterns along the sand, rainbows that dance in and out of the schools of ...

Miniature inland seas offer refuge to a rich gallery of marine life. Story & Images By Dr. Eric Cole, Biology Professor, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN Ten thousand years ago the last of the great glaciers receded from the continents in the North, and their meltwaters drained into the ocean basins. Far to the South, the rising ...

The past and the future intertwine on Little Ambergris Cay. By Rachel Craft ~ Photos By Usha Lingappa Little Ambergris Cay, an uninhabited 1,600-acre island in the Turks & Caicos, is home to birds, turtles, rock iguanas, and more. But the majority of its denizens are hidden beneath the muddy surface of the island’s mangrove swamps. What ...

Why TCI tourists should avoid feeding rock iguanas. By Mel DeBlasio (Yale University), Libby Dube (Western Washington University), and Anna Templeton (University of Vermont) ~ Edited by C.E. O’Brien, Ph.D. (The School for Field Studies, Center for Marine Resource Studies, South Caicos, Turks & Caicos Islands) Visitors flock to the Turks & Caicos Islands to enjoy the white sand, ...

The fascinating relationship between red snapping shrimp and corkscrew anemones. By Charlotte Kratovil-Lavelle (Dickinson College) and Clara Masseau (University of Colorado) ~ Edited by C.E. O’Brien, Ph.D. (The School for Field Studies, Center for Marine Resource Studies, South Caicos, Turks & Caicos Islands) Courtesy of Disney’s Finding Nemo (2003), many of us are familiar with the way clownfish make ...

The five-star marine restaurant and spa. By Hope Milo, Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia ~Edited by C.E. O’Brien, Ph.D., both from The School for Field Studies, Center for Marine Resource Studies, South Caicos, Turks & Caicos Islands Coral reefs are well known for their abundance and biodiversity, teeming as they are with multitudes of organisms hovering over heads of ...

Reef balls offer one way to protect coral reefs. Story & Photos By Rachel Craft On a recent trip to the Turks & Caicos Islands—my first visit, and hopefully not my last—I discovered that half of the Islands’ beauty lies underwater. I swam with hawksbill turtles at Smith’s Reef, spotted moray eels at Bight Reef, and nearly ...