Shell museum to present next lecture in series
The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum & Aquarium on Sanibel is continuing with its seasonal Lecture Series for the summer and fall, which is being offered virtually via Zoom and for free.
The next lecture will be:
– Sept. 18 at 5:30 p.m.: “What Can Oysters Tell Us About the Restoration of the Everglades?” with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Fish & Wildlife Research Institute research scientist Stephen Geiger, Ph.D.
The talk will introduce the biology of oysters and environmental conditions that allow them to thrive and explain why oysters are particularly good indicator water quality. Geiger will also outline some of the threats to oysters and provide an overview of some of the changes that scientists have observed in oyster populations in the Florida Everglades and how they relate to progress being made in Everglades restoration.
He is a research scientist studying molluscan fisheries/marine fisheries biology at the FWC’s Fish & Wildlife Research Institute. Geiger’s decades of research in Florida have explored oyster and bay scallop restoration and monitoring, gastropod abundance and distribution, and beach renourishment, among other subjects.
While the lecture is free, registration in required.
Support for the series comes from the Sam and Francis Bailey Clean Water Education Center at the museum and the Glenn W. Bailey Foundation.
The final lecture will be:
– Oct. 16: “Gulf Seafood: Sustaining Wildlife and Our Way of Life” with Audubon Nature Institute Director of Sustainability and Coastal Conservation Initiatives John Fallon
To register or for more information, visit https://www.shellmuseum.org/learn-and-experience/lectures/.
The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum & Aquarium is at 3075 Sanibel-Captiva Road, Sanibel.