The Aquatic Sciences Lab wishes you a Happy New Year and an exciting 2026! We’ve stayed busy this fall and winter, and the coming months are poised to be just as busy with new projects, graduate students diving into field work, new RaMP fellows, conferences to attend, and events in SW Georgia
Lab welcomes post-doc, Savanna Wooten
Savanna Wooten, Ph.D., began work at the Center as a post-doctoral associate in December, co-advised by our lab, Ecohydrology, and Silviculture. Savanna recently defended her dissertation at Auburn University with Dr. Matt Waters, investigating urban lake sediments from a paleolimnological perspective.
Her work at the Center will explore carbon dynamics across wetland-to-upland gradients and characterize carbon storage across the landscape. Learn more about Savanna here.
Fall Snail Surveying
The lab spent much of the low-flow season this fall searching for freshwater snails in Ichawaynochaway Creek. We developed a survey technique for shoals in the Ichauway footprint of the Creek as part of Courtney Fouke’s RaMP project and Tayton Alvis’ dissertation project. We located over 1000 snails, predominately Elimia boykiniana, a species of Highest Conservation Concern in Georgia.
We collected a wide range of measurements during the surveys. Snail measurements included masses and dimensions of the shell. Additionally, we characterized shoal habitat to try to understand snail habitat associations in the creek.
Future surveys will expand beyond Ichauway into the upstream reaches and into the mainstem of the Flint and its tributaries. Results of the surveys will directly inform the State Wildlife Action Plan for freshwater molluscs.
Workshop Attendance
This fall and winter, lab members attended two state-wide workshops to widen both our network of collaborations and our breadth of aquatic knowledge.
In November, Nick and Jamie joined government leaders, NGOs, and fellow researchers in Georgia freshwater conservation at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta for a 3-day strategic workshop. We worked to help outline new freshwater research, conservation, and outreach endeavors in Georgia that the Aquarium can be involved with in an effort to expand their footprint and impact in our home freshwaters. Check out this blog post for a better look at some collaborations that are already underway between the Jones Center and the Georgia Aquarium. Stay tuned as we continue to work with such a great team on upcoming research projects!
Jamie then had the opportunity to attend a Freshwater Fish Identification workshop hosted by the Georgia Chapter of the American Fisheries Society in December. Fish experts from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and UGA provided lectures and hands-on experience with over 100 species of freshwater fish present in the State of Georgia. Jamie looks forward to sharing and sharpening the experience gained from this workshop with the rest of the lab as we enter in to the spring and summer field seasons.
2025 Rainfall Wrapped!
Last year, we made a separate post for the 2024 rainfall patterns from Ichauway. We include the same recap here to highlight rainfall patterns from SW Georgia for 2025.
