High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025
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Course Code
BSC
Course Number
4310
Faculty/Instructor
Dr. Linda Walters
Faculty/Instructor Email
Linda.Walters@ucf.edu
Abstract, Summary, or Creative Statement
Thomas Cole
3177992
My service-learning experience, conserving and restoring Canaveral National Seashore
During my time spent completing service learning course service-learning marine conservation and restoration.. I had the opportunity to participate in a wide range of projects that benefit marine conservation and restoration. These included mangrove gardening, Beach trash removal, constructing oyster habitat structures and a wading bird camera footage experiment. Each of these experiences relate to the conservation and restoration of Canaveral National Seashore. This National park is home to thousands of species of plants and animals, with 47 of those species being federally listed as special concern, threatened or endangered. Each service-learning experiences will help the park in a unique way. Planting mangroves restore essential nursery habitat for endemic species within the lagoon. By removing trash on the seashore at the International Coastal Cleanup Event, we can reduce future increases in plastic within the park and surrounding waters. The oyster habitat structures provide substrate, made from environmentally sustainable materials, which are then placed along the seashore where healthy oyster reefs once existed and are now less abundant. This new substrate provides essential habitat for settling oysters and helps to increase oyster populations, which leads to overall improvement in the lagoons water quality. The wading bird camera experiment provides valuable data about this park’s bird species, and how anthropogenic influences may be effecting the habitat in the park, which is home to a diverse group of wading birds, shorebirds and large numbers of migrating waterfowl.
Keywords
Canaveral National Seashore
Recommended Citation
Cole, Thomas, "My service-learning experience, conserving and restoring Canaveral National Seashore" (2025). High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025. 5.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hip-2025fall/5