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Tales from the field

Written By Kathy Worley, Senior Biologist – Coastal Ecology Another sea turtle season is winding down and it has been a stellar year for our four-flippered friends. I was out…

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Tales from the field

Written by Kathy Worley | Director of Environmental Science and Biologist I was out on Keewaydin Island the other day, dodging, or rather trying to dodge, the storms, and was…

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Conservancy surpasses 20-ton milestone in Burmese python removal, sets new record season

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida announces a record-breaking Burmese python research and removal season of 6,300 pounds of invasive snake. This marks a milestone for the Conservancy’s python program, with…

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Baby, It’s Cold in the Water: Studying Marine Turtles in Cape Cod Bay

Early last year, Conservancy research manager, Dr. Jeff Schmid, was contacted by Cody Mott with Inwater Research Group regarding techniques used to capture marine turtles in southwest Florida waters. Inwater Research…

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Sea turtle season wrap up

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida’s sea turtle research team documented 425 nests during nesting season from March to October on Keewaydin Island. The season ended with 422 loggerhead nests and…

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Florida’s invasive snakes can eat bigger prey than we knew

Burmese pythons can consume prey even larger than scientists realized, according to a new study published in the journal Reptiles & Amphibians. This means that more animals are on the menu…

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Conservancy science research staff presents at invasive species conference

Written by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida Invasive Species Research Team Conservancy of Southwest Florida invasive species researchers Ian Bartoszek, Melinda Schuman, and Ian Easterling attended the North American Invasive…

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The wrath of Debby

By Dr. Jeffrey Schmid, Environmental Research Manager The 2024 sea turtle nesting season on Keewaydin Island was starting to slow down and the subsequent hatching season was getting geared up,…

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Preventing interactions and misidentifications with invasive cane toads

As the rainy season continues in Southwest Florida, you may see an influx of cane toads in your backyard and surrounding areas. Cane toads are one of the largest species…

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Loggerheads, greens, and a leatherback… Oh my!

By Dr. Jeffrey Schmid, Environmental Research Manager The Conservancy’s 2024 sea turtle nest monitoring on Keewaydin Island started with an interesting twist. On April 23, the first crawl of the…