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Loggerhead Night

So, you want to work with sea turtles?

The pump shut off with a clang that echoed in the empty gas station, jolting me awake from thoughts of sea turtles I’d seen overnight. At 5 am the city…

Mangrove Tree Crab (4)

The Tiny Mangrove Tree Crab

Species Highlight: Mangrove Tree Crab | Written by Science Intern, Julia Galante Mangrove forests host a wide range of biodiversity, many of which are invertebrates. Most invertebrate species utilize the…

SCIENCE Python

Ten years of Burmese python research and removal efforts

In the past ten years, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida’s python research and removal program has eliminated over 1,000 invasive snakes weighing in excess of 26,700 pounds from 160 square…

Picture5

Status update: Picayune Strand State Forest Restoration Project

For those of you that are unfamiliar with this project, it all stems from a land speculation deal that hoodwinked a lot of home buyers into purchasing swampland in Southern Golden…

Sea turtle team measuring a nesting loggerhead sea turtle at night

Record-breaking sea turtle season on Keewaydin

Our 40th year of sea turtle research and protection has been record-breaking. On Keewaydin Island, we have had a total of 627 nests and 682 false crawls. In addition, 445…

Rad mangrove roots photographed along the water

Mangroves research growing in importance

Mangrove forests are remarkable, forming the building blocks that make up the foundation of a complex coastal ecosystem. These trees support a variety of life, from bacteria that break down…

Loggerhead sea turtle on the beach with a GPS tracker on her back

R2D2 provides amazing insight to researchers

A long, long time ago in an ocean far, far away, R2D2 returned back to the place of her birth – Keewaydin Island in Naples, Florida. Conservancy biologists first encountered…

blue atala butterfly

The Atala Butterfly and the Coontie Plant: A Mutualistic Relationship

By Melinda Schuman | Conservancy Biologist The coontie (Zamia integrifolia) is the only native North American cycad and we are fortunate to have it growing in southwest Florida. Cycads belong…

GoToShell

Smith Preserve teeming with life

The seven-acre Christopher B. Smith Preserve at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida Nature Center consists of primarily scrub habitat and a restored wetland pond. A natural upland and scrub habitat,…

Python Web

Conservancy captures most massive Burmese python in Florida

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida has announced record-breaking developments in its invasive Burmese python research program with the documentation of the largest python found to date in Florida. The female…