Alva neighbors brace for another development battlePresident Trump signs Executive Order aimed at expanding access to IVF
ALVA Alva neighbors brace for another development battle Alva neighbors have made an urgent call to action to “Defend Alva and North River Road from overdevelopment.”
WINK NEWS President Trump signs Executive Order aimed at expanding access to IVF President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order Tuesday to try to reduce the costs of in vitro fertilization (IVF) for Americans.
Warm and breezy afternoon with scattered rain this evening The Weather Authority is tracking a warm and breezy Wednesday, and scattered rain is expected this evening.
WINK NEWS Web Exclusive: Rachel Cox-Rosen’s Construction Heads Up As construction may dampen your commute, WINK News traffic anchor Rachel Cox Rosen knows the best way to traverse the roadways in this web-exclusive feature.
SANIBEL Sanibel Church rebuilds after Hurricane Ian The Sanibel Community Church has completed its remarkable rebuild after Hurricane Ian devastated their place of worship over two years ago.
NAPLES Costco construction causes commotion in Collier County community Costco is eyeing a plot of land in Collier County for a new store, but residents are voicing strong opposition.
NAPLES Dr. Cornelius “Pat” Cacho’s impact on education and Southwest Florida Dr. Cornelius “Pat” Cacho, a beloved philanthropist and advocate for education, dedicated his life to empowering others through opportunity and knowledge.
SANIBEL Sanibel cracks down on school zone speeders with new camera system Sanibel is tightening its grip on school zone speeders with newly installed cameras.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers food pantry expands efforts with Harry Chapin support The Harry Chapin Food Bank in Fort Myers plays a crucial role in supporting smaller food banks in the area.
Fort Myers Beach Pier scheduled to be finished a year ahead of schedule The Fort Myers Beach Pier remains a symbol of the destruction caused by Hurricane Ian two years ago. Efforts to rebuild it has taken a lot of time.
FORT MYERS Iconic Fort Myers statue to undergo repairs The iconic “Rachel at the Well” statue on McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers has been a landmark for 94 years. However, it became a casualty of Hurricane Ian in 2022, and discussions for its repair are ongoing.
Salvation Army Thrift Store closing its doors in Collier County The Salvation Army has announced the permanent closure of the Naples Family Store on Davis Boulevard.
SANIBEL Rebuilding the Sanibel Causeway with a cause Construction crews are hard at work making the Sanibel Causeway more resilient. The bridge is being fortified to withstand future storms.
LEE COUNTY No. 2 prospect in MLB Roman Anthony with Red Sox for Spring Training Roman Anthony, who is ranked as the second best in baseball, is with the Boston Red Sox for his first Spring Training.
MANASOTA KEY Popular Manasota Key restaurant reopens after storm damage Manasota Key is steadily recovering from a challenging hurricane season, and residents are celebrating the reopening of a beloved local spot.
ALVA Alva neighbors brace for another development battle Alva neighbors have made an urgent call to action to “Defend Alva and North River Road from overdevelopment.”
WINK NEWS President Trump signs Executive Order aimed at expanding access to IVF President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order Tuesday to try to reduce the costs of in vitro fertilization (IVF) for Americans.
Warm and breezy afternoon with scattered rain this evening The Weather Authority is tracking a warm and breezy Wednesday, and scattered rain is expected this evening.
WINK NEWS Web Exclusive: Rachel Cox-Rosen’s Construction Heads Up As construction may dampen your commute, WINK News traffic anchor Rachel Cox Rosen knows the best way to traverse the roadways in this web-exclusive feature.
SANIBEL Sanibel Church rebuilds after Hurricane Ian The Sanibel Community Church has completed its remarkable rebuild after Hurricane Ian devastated their place of worship over two years ago.
NAPLES Costco construction causes commotion in Collier County community Costco is eyeing a plot of land in Collier County for a new store, but residents are voicing strong opposition.
NAPLES Dr. Cornelius “Pat” Cacho’s impact on education and Southwest Florida Dr. Cornelius “Pat” Cacho, a beloved philanthropist and advocate for education, dedicated his life to empowering others through opportunity and knowledge.
SANIBEL Sanibel cracks down on school zone speeders with new camera system Sanibel is tightening its grip on school zone speeders with newly installed cameras.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers food pantry expands efforts with Harry Chapin support The Harry Chapin Food Bank in Fort Myers plays a crucial role in supporting smaller food banks in the area.
Fort Myers Beach Pier scheduled to be finished a year ahead of schedule The Fort Myers Beach Pier remains a symbol of the destruction caused by Hurricane Ian two years ago. Efforts to rebuild it has taken a lot of time.
FORT MYERS Iconic Fort Myers statue to undergo repairs The iconic “Rachel at the Well” statue on McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers has been a landmark for 94 years. However, it became a casualty of Hurricane Ian in 2022, and discussions for its repair are ongoing.
Salvation Army Thrift Store closing its doors in Collier County The Salvation Army has announced the permanent closure of the Naples Family Store on Davis Boulevard.
SANIBEL Rebuilding the Sanibel Causeway with a cause Construction crews are hard at work making the Sanibel Causeway more resilient. The bridge is being fortified to withstand future storms.
LEE COUNTY No. 2 prospect in MLB Roman Anthony with Red Sox for Spring Training Roman Anthony, who is ranked as the second best in baseball, is with the Boston Red Sox for his first Spring Training.
MANASOTA KEY Popular Manasota Key restaurant reopens after storm damage Manasota Key is steadily recovering from a challenging hurricane season, and residents are celebrating the reopening of a beloved local spot.
Lionfish Lionfish are beautiful and all-too-plentiful non-natives that people wish would just go away. Emma DeRoy, a graduate student at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada, is observing live lionfish at Florida Gulf Coast University’s Vester Marine Field Station in Bonita Springs to understand the species’ feeding behavior – lionfish are a major threat to any marine environment they invade because they eat vast quantities of juvenile native fishes, including economically important species such as snappers and groupers. With lakes St. Clair and Erie the closest large water bodies to Windsor, DeRoy became interested in lionfish through undergraduate course work and wrote a research paper on the species. When the time came for her to do her master’s thesis, she decided to study lionfish in Southwest Florida, where one of her biggest challenges was the summer heat – the average high temperature in Windsor during July is 82 degrees, and the average low is 62, compared to Southwest Florida’s average July highs and lows of 92 and 75. Researcher Emma DeRoy at Vester Marine Field Station. “Lionfish are a model invasive species,” said DeRoy, who has been living and working at Vester since April. “They’re generalist feeders. They have a wide range of physiological tolerances. A lot of research has been done on invasive freshwater and terrestrial invasive species but not on marine invasive species. I’m trying to use feeding behavior to understand the impacts of lionfish, and that could be translated to other invasive species.” Natives of the Indo-Pacific, lionfish were first reported off Florida in 1985, probably the result of aquarium releases. Since then, lionfish, which have few known natural predators and reproduce at an alarming rate (females can spawn every four days and produce 2 million eggs a year), have spread in huge, voracious numbers throughout the Western Atlantic, including the Gulf of Mexico. For her study, DeRoy needs live lionfish, so field station manager Bob Wasno and a rotating team of divers have been capturing them in 90 to 100 feet of water at the Captiva Blue Hole, 30 miles off Redfish Pass. Capture protocol, devised by Wasno and DeRoy, is simple: Lionfish don’t spook when approached by divers, so the lionfish team just swim up to them and catch them between two short-handled nets. Then the lionfish are put into a cage (designed by Wasno) on the sea floor and slowly brought to the surface. Back at Vester, DeRoy observes, among other things, lionfish attack distance (the distance the fish travels to catch its prey), which “adds another dimension to understanding feeding ecology.” Such information could lead to further research about feeding and prey-capture techniques of other invasive species. DeRoy is also looking at how lionfish density (the number of lionfish in a given area) affects feeding dynamics. “Are lionfish better hunters in groups?” she said. “Some studies have suggested that lionfish hunt cooperatively, but when you get a higher density of predators, sometimes they compete for prey, so that each predator ends up with fewer prey items when hunting in groups. So, with lionfish, does cooperative hunting increase consumption?” To test the effects of density in feeding, DeRoy will put different numbers of lionfish in a tank and feed them specific numbers of prey items (small fish and shrimp). Lionfish Netting: Divers descend 90 to 100 feet to capture lionfish for DeRoy’s research “Invasion biologists have done a lot of research on the impacts of invasive species,” DeRoy said. “But we still don’t really understand the scope of their impacts because the impacts are often subtle, they change over the invaded range, or they’re delayed, which makes them difficult to quantify and predict. This is especially the case with marine invaders.” DeRoy’s research, which is being funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, can fill in some of the gaps concerning impacts of invasive marine species. “Better understanding their impacts is key in mitigating their threat and developing appropriate management strategies,” DeRoy said. For more information on this project and one on research efforts to save the endangered smalltooth sawfish, go to https://fgcu360.com/2017/10/wishes-for-fishes.