Laughing Bird Caye National Park, Belize

June 2, 2019

Laughing Bird Caye National Park, Belize

By Michelle Platz

On June 2nd, Strong Coasts visited Belize’s Laughing Bird Caye National Park (LBCNP), home to one of the most successful coral restoration sites in the world. In addition to marveling at the immense thickets of coral surrounding the island, the purpose of the team’s visit was to explore the dynamics between food, energy, and water at the caye; we found LBCNP to be the perfect microcosm of the food-energy-water systems we came to Belize to study.

Strong Coasts cohort with Fragments of Hope and colleagues from UNC Chapel Hill at Laughing Bird Caye National Park in Belize, June 2nd, 2019. Photo by Victor Faux, Fragments of Hope.

Snorkeling around the island, the innumerable schools of fish clearly demonstrate how the coral restoration work at LBCNP impacts the fish populations there; as Fragments of Hope reminds us on their billboards seen throughout Placencia, Belize, More Corals = More Fish. While Laughing Bird Caye National Park is a no take zone, many of the fish that use the area as a nursery will eventually venture outside the park and become part of the fish stocks that support the Belizean fishing industry.

Images of Laughing Bird Caye National Park by Maya Trotz, June 2019. Reef restoration work by Fragments of Hope and the park is managed by the Southern Environmental Association.

Water comes into context when considering tourism. The national park attracts numerous visitors, sometimes on the order of 200 snorkelers and divers per day. While the park fees paid by tourists help maintain the health of the caye, with these visitors comes waste water. If unmanaged, waste water negatively impacts the coral by fostering algal blooms which compete with coral for space, light, and chemical resources.

Algae, *Chaetomorpha linum*, seen closer to where toilets are located at Laughing Bird Caye National Park in Belize, June 2nd, 2019. Similar sightings were seen in 2015 by Lisa Carne, Founder and Executive Director of Fragments of Hope. Coupled with erosion challenges, the facilities were moved to this new location and upgraded by EcoFriendly Solutions Ltd.. Photograph by Maya Trotz.

To protect coral from this excess nutrient runoff, the caye’s decentralized wastewater system was recently upgraded with larger tanks and additional treatment steps, however, there may be room for improvement. As for energy, tourists rely on tour boats for transportation to the caye, and the boat fuel used to get there constitutes the largest energy requirement and financial expense incurred by many seafarers. Additionally, the non-renewable fossil fuels used to get to the caye contribute to the greenhouse gasses driving global warming and ocean acidification, which impose stress on coral.

Food Energy Water Systems (FEWS) conceptual model for Laughing Bird Caye National Park, Belize. Arrow polarity is based on the relationship between the variables linked. If two variables share the same direct relationship e.g. both positively or negatively related to each other the arrow is positive. Conversely, if the variables share an inverse relationship the arrow is negative. Created by Michelle Platz with guidance from Dr. Christine Prouty.

In short, much can be learned from the dynamics of this minute yet complex system. Optimizing the operation of Laughing Bird Caye National Park may give way to insights on how larger systems, such as the Placencia Peninsula, could likewise be optimized to benefit both the people and the ecosystems in which we are a part.

About the Author. Michelle Platz is an Environmental Engineering PhD student at University of South Florida whose dissertation research applies engineered environmental monitoring technology to reef restoration efforts to improve coral mariculture and transplant techniques. She is working with a suite of previously developed monitoring technologies known as the Benthic Ecosystem and Acidification Measurement System, or BEAMS for short. She is using BEAMS to quantify coral metabolism in situ: the processes involved in cycling carbon for coral calcification and biomass production. By improving restoration practitioners’ understanding of the metabolic, environmental, and hydrodynamic processes which drive coral growth within nurseries, she hopes to gain a better understanding of how to develop more robust, storm-resilient coral restoration initiatives in the shortest amount of time.

STRONG COASTS is supported by a National Science Foundation Collaborative Research Traineeship (NRT) award (#1735320) led by the University of South Florida (USF) and the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) to develop a community-engaged training and research program in systems thinking to better manage complex and interconnected food, energy, and water systems in coastal locations. The views expressed here do not reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

April 30, 2019

Science from the Inside Out: Science Communication and Science Policy

By Maya Carrasquillo

Strong Coasts prioritizes community engaged research, but researchers and academics often struggle to translate their work to broader audiences outside of academia, and rarely are we trained on how to do this effectively. On April 5^th, 2019, the Strong Coasts cohort hosted a Science Communication and Science Policy workshop to provide an opportunity for the USF community to learn science communication strategies to various audiences and also to learn about opportunities to engage in policy spheres.

The workshop started with a presentation by Dr. Drew Story who currently serves as a Congressional Fellow in the office of Sen. Chris Coons (DE) working on the energy and environment. Based on his diverse experiences as a science teacher, academic researcher, and now congressional staffer, Drew was able to offer a well-informed and practiced perspective of how to communicate science, including nuggets like making our communication memorable, meaningful, and miniature (short and sweet). Where we often fall short as researchers, is starting with the ‘what and how’ not the ‘why and who’ of our research. Why does our work matter? Why is it important? Who does our research impact? Who can benefit from knowing and applying this work? As researchers we’re trained to start with the details to make our case, but depending on the audience, whether it’s K-12 educators and students, policymakers or our family, the why is more important than the what.

One of the key points that resonated with me most from this session was that all of our research has a ‘why’ and it’s our responsibility to not only understand what that is, but to be able to communicate that driver to any audience. That is our key hook to making sure our message doesn’t get lost in the weeds when we strive to communicate with any audience.

Following this session, we also hosted a panel discussion featuring several AAAS Science, Technology and Policy Fellows (all USF alumni), who currently work in varying industries from water utility, to academia and policy. Each of the panelists shared their experiences of successfully applying to the AAAS Fellowship. They then discussed the ways in which they use the transferrable skills of engaging in science policy in their current roles for communication, and networking. They stressed the imp\

I think for each of us, this skillset of adaptability is critical to not only our successes as researchers, and communicators of that research, but also as our careers transform, there is great value in having the ability to shift and adjust as necessary to still reach a desired yet sometimes unexpected outcome. Whether that adjustment is in approach, or expanding partnerships, as researchers we’ve grown accustomed to making changes to still achieve a desired result, and to not let those changes hinder our progress. Connecting both segments from the day, our ability to know why we do what we do and stay rooted in that core ‘why’ of research, yet maintaining flexibility to adjust strategies towards achieving that ‘why’ is ultimately what will make us effective scientists and communicators, striving for a broader impact.

This was an excellent introduction to this topic and as we move forward in our Strong Coasts program, we are committed as a cohort to continue dialoguing on similar topics to ensure that we are not only being trained as productive scientists, but contributing and thoughtful global citizens in the work that we strive to do within and for communities!

About the Author. Maya Elizabeth Carrasquillo is an Environmental Engineering PhD student at the University of South Florida. Her research interests are at the intersection of water, sustainability, and social justice. Her current research looks at stormwater management through an environmental justice lens to develop a community-based framework of sustainability, promoting more equitable development of stormwater best management practices in coastal African American communities. Her work includes community partnerships in East Tampa, Florida and Bayview-Hunters Point in San Francisco, California. Maya holds a B.S. in Environmental Engineering with a minor in History from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Maya is also a recipient of the National GEM Fellowship, the McKnight Doctoral Fellowship and the Alfred P. Sloan Graduate Minority Scholarship Program, and has industry experience with Intel Corporation working on environmental treatment systems and diversity and inclusion projects.

February 22, 2019

Urban Tree Canopies to Systems Thinking

by Daniel Delgado

For our Strong Coasts Engaged seminar on 2/18/19, two of the program mentors, Dr. Shawn Landry and Dr. Qiong Zhang came discussed their work with us. Dr. Landry talked on his urban forest and environmental equity work, focusing on tree coverage in Tampa. While talking about tree coverage and how it is mapped, we talked about the different tools and methods available to map our areas of research, not only as they relate to tree coverage, but also watersheds, coral coverage, or whatever it is we wish to spatially investigate. This tied into his Statewide Ecosystem and Assessment of Coastal and Aquatic Resources (SEACAR) database and how there is a lot of information out there, but unfortunately many of these compilers of data use different systems. Part of the problem lies with translating the data. He closed by talking about how to use the available data and maps to communicate our science.

Inventory of Tampa’s tree canopy completed by the USF Water Institite. http://waterinstitute.usf.edu/upload/documents/TampaUEA2016_FinalReport-lowres.pdf

Dr. Landry left the following articles with us:

Dr. Zhang talked about the different types of modeling tools she incorporates in her sustainability assessment work. I am currently taking Dr. Zhang’s Green Engineering course and what I love about it, much like she did today, is how she incorporates systems thinking and modeling in everything she does, even using it to teach life lessons about our patterns of behavior and the leverage points to change them as needed. My main takeaway was that there is an archetype, a repeating pattern, in the problems we wish to change in the world and inside ourselves and how understanding these archetypes and mapping them out is the first of many steps.

The System Archetypes by Braun, 2002. https://www.albany.edu/faculty/gpr/PAD724/724WebArticles/sys_archetypes.pdf

Some articles that Dr. Zhang discussed:

Your Future Self Will Thank You: Secrets to Self-Control from the Bible and Brain Science (A Guide for Sinners, Quitters, and Procrastinators)

https://www.albany.edu/faculty/gpr/PAD724/724WebArticles/sys_archetypes.pdf

February 21, 2019

Strong Coasts has our own mission blue

Michelle Platz

On Saturday, February 9th, 2019 Strong Coasts fellow Michelle Platz had the opportunity to meet with legendary oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle and discuss ocean conservation solutions with a group of students, conservation activists, and local Dunedin community members. Conversation focused on local efforts to improve community sustainability, the importance of youth participation in conservation initiatives, local natural resource management and protection, and the nomination of the Tampa Bay Area to be one of Mission Blue’s Hope Spots: places identified as being critical to the health of the ocean.

Dr. Sylvia Earle with NRT STRONG Coasts Fellow Michelle Platz. Michelle’s advisor at the University of South Florida is Dr. Mauricio Arias.

In 2009, Dr. Earle launched her Hope Spot campaign as part of her TED Prize Wish, asking people around the world to “use all means at your disposal” to inspire public support for marine protected areas, with the hope of creating a protection network large enough to restore the ocean. The Strong Coasts cohort is doing its part to respond to Dr. Earle’s call to action, utilizing their academic platform to investigate the food-water-energy nexus within coastal regions and develop solutions to make human production and consumption more sustainable. By taking a systems thinking and community-engaged approach, Strong Coasts strives to develop students who will bring about long-lasting, impactful change, protecting both our societies and the ocean on which we depend. In order to have truly healthy oceans and thriving fisheries, we must first have strong coasts.

February 21, 2019

Training Researchers to Inform Policy

by Daniel Delgado & Estenia Ortiz

Strong Coasts’ central research question asks what are the leverage points, or places in a system’s structure where a solution can be applied, (technological, regulatory, and organizational) with food-energy-water systems to improve sustainability of the overall system across different scales. On Friday 2/8/19 some of the cohort attended the Scholars Strategy Network (SSN) all-day workshop, “Training Researchers to Inform Policy,” to better understand policy, one of these leverage points.

While it is important to inform the public and have their support, building relationships with policy makers and organized interest groups is the key component in informing policy as a researcher. The training talked about how to choose the policy makers you align yourself with and how to best communicate with them. Showing up to events and actively engaging with key players will be more effective in having your work used than simply disseminating it in an unilateral manner. Another take home message from the workshop was the multiple uses for research evidence in policy. The four main categories in which research evidence is used by policymakers are 1) Instrumental, 2) Conceptual, 3) Imposed, and 4) Tactical.

Instrumental research informs policymakers with the potential outputs from the implementation of a certain policy. Conceptual research shapes the concepts policymakers are thinking about on a certain issue and may help them understand it better. Imposed means research evidence used by policymakers or practitioners may be needed by an external player for legal, regulatory, or funding requirements. Finally, tactical research is used to support an already existing policy.

The workshop was broken into several activities to align with the lecture. One of my favorites was drawing a web that was centered at a problem and that terminated at a position or person with whom we can communicate with directly to inform these policies. My second favorite was a roundtable discussion where we talked about our work with six other people, mostly from different disciplines, and advised each other on how to inform policy.
Daniel Delgado, NRT Strong Coasts Fellow, USF

The activities following this presentation were extremely beneficial as they made us reflect on our own research and where we think we fit on this spectrum. I left equipped with helpful tools to use in my research career and with a feeling of empowerment. Sharing our strengths and weaknesses in policy and public engagement was a memorable experience for me in which I not only found more room for growth, but also found a larger community of change makers.
Estenia Ortiz Carabantes, NRT Strong Coasts Fellow, USF

It seems frustrating to have a solution to one of the many problems in the world, but be unable to implement it because the policies are not there to support your work. It must be further frustrating to try to change these policies with no success. We went to the training to learn how to most efficiently contribute to sound environmental policies and left content.

February 21, 2019

From Placencia to Policy

By Estenia Ortiz Carabantes

On January 28^th 2019, the STRONG Coasts team kicked-off the new year with an informative and insightful talk by Dr. Maya Trotz on her recent trip to Belize. The previous week, Dr. Trotz attended Fragments of Hope’s 5^th annual Reef Replenishment Methods training workshop designed for coral restoration efforts in Placencia, Belize. Fragments of Hope (FoH) is located in Placencia, Belize and is a non-profit community-based organization focused on restoring coral reefs and sustainably managing associated habitats such as mangroves ecosystems. Many of the STRONG Coast mentors conduct research in Belize and their interests to support coral restoration efforts are growing. In this talk, geared to inspire innovation with STRONG Coast researchers, Dr. Trotz imparted powerful wisdom about the benefits of collaborating with Belizean communities.

*Placencia location relative to Belize. (source: https://www.chabilmarvillas.com/blog/where-is-placencia-belize.html)*

Map of Laughing Bird Caye National Park with Fragments of Hope outplant sites. Map created by National Science Foundation Open Reef REU program at the University of Central Florida led by Prof. Tim Hawthorne.

Fragments of Hope’s slogan is “more corals=more fish.” Based on their experience to date, however, more appropriate is the expansion to “more crab, more biodiversity, more sustainable livelihoods, more coastal protection, and more human connections.” The workshop kicked off with a 2 hour presentation on FoH done by Executive Director, Lisa Carne, scaling up coral restoration by Plant a Million Corals Co-Founder, Dr. David Vaughan, crabs as herbivorous species for algae control on coral reefs by Dr. Jason Spadaro from Old Dominion University, and the life cycle of the spiny lobster by Dr. Mark Butler also from Old Dominion University (see recording here).

Dr. Trotz thinks that the reef restoration sites and initiatives serve as ideal places for convergence research as saving coral reefs are a grand global challenge, multiple disciplines and people are needed to address this complex system, and there is active community engagement in all aspects of restoration efforts, either directly or indirectly. FoH invited Drs. Spadaro and Butler to explore the potential for crab mariculture and their integration with coral reefs in Belize. Based on Dr. Spadaro’s graduate research, we learned that this symbiotic relationship could increase reef biodiversity while reducing algae growth on reefs. While the group was also interested in crabs for food, Dr. Spadaro mentioned that smaller crabs used to clean aquariums might be a greater economic earner than those that might be eaten. Of course, this is just one example of countless other valuable ecosystem services like medicine, tourism, and reducing storm and wave energy, that coral reefs provide.

Land based pollution from stormwater runoff and wastewater contamination pose threats to these delicately balanced ecosystems as well as to human health. A January 2019 article by researchers associated with Strong Coasts, Wastewater technopolitics on the southern coast of Belize, highlights interest of Placencia community members in switching from decentralized wastewater treatment systems like septic, to a more centralized system. In creating more sustainable livelihoods, proper resource management and efficient systems are needed. From an energy perspective, energy inputs are needed for processing crabs, transporting them, along with associated fuel costs. These are just some examples of potential collaborations or contexts for us to explore with the community in Placencia, Belize to restore these treasured ecosystems.

One item that resonated with me was the importance of doing research internationally. Not only are these reefs essential to Belizeans’ way of life, but they also strongly impact other countries around the world. For example, based on Dr. Butler’s work, Florida’s spiny lobsters actually are born in just a few places, Belize being one of them. Thus, ensuring their spawning habitats are safe influences how many will supply local markets in Belize and how many will make their way north to places like Florida where they are one of the largest valued agricultural products. Environmental issues know no bounds or borders; they are as interconnected, multifaceted, and deep as the oceans we hope to continue exploring as STRONG Coasts researchers.

February 11, 2019

This is Us: Forming a System Family

by Michelle Henderson

Our class discussion started with a brief discussion on property and ownership. In many of the places where our research is focused, there is a constant discussion of who owns the land and what the land is used for. These conversations affect people in Placencia, Belize and U.S. Virgin Island St. Thomas and commonly include dialogue on beaches and other public and tourist areas. These discussions often evolve into conversations on environmental justice issues.

We were introduced to new ideas and terminology in systems thinking such as reductionism, interconnectedness, perspective and worldview. When doing systems modeling, the idea of reductionism can be helpful in designing a system boundary. Reductionism focuses on one component of a system as opposed to the interconnectedness of a system. Interconnectedness focuses on how the whole system interacts instead of the separated components.

One point of major discussion was the differences in perspective and worldview. Based on our learning module, perspective is how we view things from our current situation, and that perspective can change if our situation changes. A worldview is an ingrained belief that does not typically change with a changed situation or environment. This led to a further discussion on emic (perspective of the subject) and etic (perspective of the observer) points of view. In our research emic would be stakeholders and individuals in the community while an etic perspective would be institutional. But as a group we wondered how we find the balance between emic and etic. How can we engage the community with intentionality by building relationships and also retain a form of objectivity? We also started to garner our vocabulary on “what is a system” and how do we define causal relationships. As we move forward, we will implement these ideas into our systems models by not only using these terms in our speech, but also by incorporating the ideologies into our research.

___________________________

Michelle Henderson is an environmental scientist whose work focuses on water reuse at the decentralized level. Michelle’s work adds a small solution to the much larger problem of water disparities around in the United States and across the world. During her undergraduate degree, she was a National Institute of Health (NIH) Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) program scholar. During her time at USF, Michelle obtained her Master’s degree in Engineering Science with a concentration in Environmental Engineering. While pursuing her PhD in Environmental Engineering at the University of South Florida (USF), Michelle has developed skills related with microbiology and systems thinking. During 2018, Michelle had the unique opportunity to conduct research abroad in Israel to quantify antibiotic resistant genes (ARG) in greywater systems. Outside of her research Ms. Henderson is involved with various community organizations and NGO’s. She serves as the Environmental Programme Director for Impact Global International.

February 4, 2019

People, Place, & Partnerships – The US Virgin Islands

By William (Alex) Webb

One of the key benefits to systems thinking is the ability to incorporate environmental and social context to the problems we face. To that end, the first few weeks of our NRT meetings have focused on introducing us to the particulars of the project sites. On February 4th, 2019, we were lucky enough to hear from Senator Myron Jackson, a representative from the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), and USF anthropologist Dr. Antoinette Jackson, who discussed her work with the US National Parks Service (NPS) in St. John, the smallest of the three US Virgin Islands. Dr. Jackson served as the ethnographer for the Southeast NPS region of the US. Each of their talks revolved around issues of representation and engagement with descendent (or multi-generational) families on islands experiencing high levels of both foreign immigration and local emigration.

Since 1956 the NPS has encompassed over two-thirds of St. John, receiving approximately 400,000 annual visitors. Dr. Jackson’s work focuses on understanding St John’s associated communities, their relationships with the land and the park service. In order to access these communities she attended church services, family events like barbeques and community meetings as well as talked to persons who seemed interested in her work, including friendly folks at gas stations. Through oral histories and interviews she was able to show us how things like legacies of exclusion, interpersonal family dynamics, and community relationships influence the way people relate to their natural environment and cultural history.

Senator Myron Jackson serves in the 33rd Legislature of the Virgin Islands and is Chair of the Committee on Culture & Planning,

Similarly, Senator Myron Jackson (no relation to Dr. Jackson), who works most prominently on cultural history and preservation, discussed how the islands’ historical development as a United States territory has shaped property rights and what it means to be a native Virgin Islander. He detailed some of the challenges in drafting a USVI constitution and gaining greater representational power within the United States government.

He stressed that one of the current dilemmas facing the USVI is unemployment and that that can be linked to an education system that moved from an apprenticeship model where persons learned skills like building roofs in and for tropical climates, to one that no longer emphasized the trades. So, despite opportunities for jobs to rebuild, many lack the skills to qualify that workforce comes from the Eastern Caribbean and from the United States. As a Pan Africanist, Senator Jackson highlighted that the USVI would not be a majority black society were it not for West Indians from the Eastern Caribbean. As a tenth generation Virgin Islander, he linked their presence to the reduction of marginalization of black folks in the USVI.

While this was just an introduction to the USVI at our STRONG Coasts Engaged meeting, it brought to bear some of the social conditions that occur alongside other issues facing the island such as climate change (including sea level rise and more frequent and severe hurricanes), adequate waste treatment, and the rising cost of electricity. Being introduced to these dynamics helped give us a better perspective on how to approach the particularities of INFEWS in the USVI as they relate to our research topics and questions.

Senator Jackson was at USF to give the keynote for the Institute on Black Life’s conference, Culture, Environment, & Sustainability of African Diaspora Communities.

February 4^th, 2019 NRT STRONG Coasts Engaged Meeting @ 12:30pm in ENC 3408

October 24, 2018

Evolving vision for launching Strong Coasts

October 7, 2018

Corals & Livelihoods

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