Florida Gulf Coast University
OP-10: Biodiversity

FGCU has over half of its campus allocated to conservation areas or preserves.

From the 2015-2025 Campus Master Plan Update: “In 1991, the Florida State Legislature commissioned the development of the tenth university of the Florida State University System… As part of the site selection and campus planning process for the FGCU campus, an extensive ecological survey was conducted and documented in the 1995 Campus Master Plan Inventory report. Preliminary surveys included a general delineation and characterization of the site’s major upland and wetland plant communities, a general review of the Natural resource Conservation Service (NRCS) soils survey, and a survey for threatened and endangered plant and wildlife species. The goal of this work effort was to provide the ecological information necessary to plan and design the university in the most efficient, ecologically friendly manner. Unavoidably, however, the construction of the campus and its associated infrastructure would impact a variety of upland and wetland systems occurring onsite. In order to compensate for these impacts, a comprehensive mitigation pan was developed and is being rigorously implemented through permits issued by both the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) and the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD).” https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/facilities/campusmasterplan

Conservation Areas and Wetland Areas as defined by South Florida Water Management District. This agency is responsible for permitting water management on FGCU's campus, as well as management of water during and around construction projects. (http://www.sfwmd.gov/portal/page/portal/sfwmdmain/home%20page)

Partial list. Please see attached report for an inventory of the 838 individual species we have collectively documented on the FGCU campus:

Fish
Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides) least concern
Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) least concern
Eastern Mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) least concern
Sailfin molly (Poecilia latipinna) least concern
Least killifish (Heterandria formosa) least concern
Golden topminnow (Fundulus chrysotus) least concern
Florida flagfish (Jordanella floridae) not evaluated
Exotics:
Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) not evaluated
Silver Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) least concern
Spotted tilapia (Tiliapia mariae) least concern
Walking catfish (Clarias batrachus) least concern
Brown hoplo (Hoplosternum littorale) not evaluated
Jewel Cichlid (Hemichromis bimaculatus) least concern
Birds
Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) least concern
Mottled Duck (Anas fulvigula) least concern
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) least concern
Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) least concern
Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) least concern
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) least concern
Great Egret (Ardea alba) least concern
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) least concern
Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea) least concern
Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) least concern
Green Heron (Butorides striatus) least concern
White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) least concern
Wood Stork (Mycteria americana) least concern
American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) least concern
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) least concern
Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus) least concern
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) least concern
Swallow-tailed Kite (Elanoides forficatus) least concern
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) least concern
Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis) least concern
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) least concern
Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) least concern
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) least concern
American Kestrel (Falco sparvarius) least concern
Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio) least concern
Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) least concern
Barred Owl (Strix varia) least concern
Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) least concern
Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) least concern
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) least concern
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) least concern
Common Ground-Dove (Columbina passerina) least concern
Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) least concern
Chuck-will’s-widow (Caprimulgus carolinensis) near threatened
Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) least concern
Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) least concern
Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) least concern
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) least concern
Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus) least concern
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) least concern
Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) least concern
Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe least concern
Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus) least concern
Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) near threatened
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) least concern
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) least concern
Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus) least concern
Purple Martin (Progne subis) least concern
Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) least concern
Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) least concern
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) least concern
Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) least concern
Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) least concern
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) least concern
Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) least concern
Northern Mockinbird (Mimus polyglottos) least concern
Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) least concern
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) least concern
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata) least concern
Palm Warbler (Dendroica palmarum) least concern
Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) least concern
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) least concern
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) least concern
Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) least concern
Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) near threatened
Exotic:
Cattle Egret (Bulbulcus ibis) least concern
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) least concern
Herpetofauna
Amphibians
Green treefrog (Hyla cinerea) least concern
Squirrel treefrog (Hyla squirella) least concern
Pine Woods Tree Frog (Hyla femoralis) least concern
Pig frog (Rana grylio) least concern
Southern Leopard frog (Rana sphenocephala) least concern
Southern Cricket frog (Acris gryllus) least concern
Eastern Narrow-mouth toad (Gastrophryne carolinensis) least concern
Oak toad (Bufo quercicus) least concern
Southern toad (Bufo terrestris) least concern
Pennisula newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) least concern
Greater siren (Siren lacertian) least concern
Two-toed amphiuma (Amphiuma means) least concern
Reptiles
Green anole (Anolis caroliniana) least concern
Southeastern five-lined skink (Plestiodon inexpectatus) least concern
Black racer (Coluber constrictor) least concern
Florida bandedwater snake (Nerodia fasciata pictiventris)
Green water snake (Nerodia floridana) least concern
Eastern diamondback (Crotalus adamanteus) least concern
Eastern Mud snake (Farancia abacura) least concern
Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus) least concern
Corn snake (Pantherophis guttatus) least concern
Yellow Eastern rat snake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis) least concern
Scarlet snake (Cemophora coccinea) least concern
Scarlet knigsnake (Lampropeltis elapsoides) least concern
Common Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) least concern
American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) least concern
Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) vulnerable
Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina bauri) vulnerable
Striped mud turtle (Kinosternon baurii) least concern
Florida redbelly turtle (Pseudemys nelson) least concern
Florida Softshell Turtle (Apalone ferox) least concern
Peninsular Cooter (Pseudemys peninsularis) least concern
Pond Slider (Trachemys scripta) least concern
Exotics:
Cuban treefrog (Osteopilus septentrionalis) least concern
Greenhouse frog (Eleuthrodactylus planirostris) least concern
Brown anole (Anolis sagraei) invasive
Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) not evaluated
Mediterranean House Gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) least concern
Brahminy blind snake (Indotyphlops braminus) not evaluated
Mammals
Common Raccoon (Procyon lotor) least concern
Nine-banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) least concern
Florida Black Bear (Ursus americanus floridanus) near threatened
Florida Panther (Puma concolor coryi) endangered
River Otter (Lontra canadensis) least concern
Bobcat (Lynx rufus) least concern
White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) least concern
Human (Homo sapiens) least concern
Shermans’s fox squirrel (Sciurus niger shermani) least concern
Eastern Gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) least concern
Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) least concern
Marsh Rabbit (Sylvilagus palustris) least concern
Virginia opossum (Didelphus marsupialis) least concern
Hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) least concern
Cotton mouse (Peromyscus gossypinus) least concern
Southern short-tailed shrew (Blarina carolinensis) least concern
Exotics:
Rats (Rattus sp.)
Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) least concern
Coyote (Canis latrans) least concern
Invertebrates
Grass shrimp Ostrocoda, Cyprididae n/a
Everglades crayfish (Procambarus alleni) Least concern
Pond snails Limnaeidae Least concern
Regal Darner (Coryphaeschna ingens) Least concern
Halloween Pennant (Celithemis eponina) Least concern
Damselfly Ischnura sp. Least concern
Water beetle (Hydrocanthus oblongus) Not evaluated
Water scorpion (Ranatra sp.)
Water strider Gerridae
Water bugs (Belostoma sp.)
Midge larvae Chironomidae
Eastern Lubber Grasshopper (Romalea microptera)
Polydamas Swallowtail (Battus polydamas) Least concern
Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae)
Orange-barred Sulphur (Phoebis philea)
Cassius Blue (Leptotes cassius) Least concern
Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) Least concern
Zebra Heliconian (Heliconius charitonius)
Monarch (Danaus plexippus) Least concern
White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae) Least concern
Queen (Danaus gilippus)
Streaked Sphinx (Protambulyx strigilis)
Banded Sphinx (Eumorpha fasciatus)
Dark Fishing Spider (Dolomedes tenebrosus)
Green Lynx Spider (Peucetia viridans)
Six-spotted Fishing Spider (Dolomedes triton)
Spotted Orbweaver (Neoscona crucifera)
Carolina Wolf Spider (Hogna carolinensis)
Whitebanded Crab Spider (Misumenoides formosipes)
Southern Black Widow (Latrodectus mactans)
Arrowshaped Micrathena (Micrathena sagittata)
Orchard Orbweaver (Leucauge venusta)
Gray Wall Jumper (Menemerus bivittatus)
Exotic
Zebra jumping spider (Salticus scenicus) not evaulated
New Guinea flatworm (Platydemus manokwari)
European honey bee (Apis mellifera) Data deficient
Yellow-banded millipede (Anadenobolus monilicornis) least concern

From the 2015-2025 Campus Master Plan Update: “In 1991, the Florida State Legislature commissioned the development of the tenth university of the Florida State University System… As part of the site selection and campus planning process for the FGCU campus, an extensive ecological survey was conducted and documented in the 1995 Campus Master Plan Inventory report. Preliminary surveys included a general delineation and characterization of the site’s major upland and wetland plant communities, a general review of the Natural resource Conservation Service (NRCS) soils survey, and a survey for threatened and endangered plant and wildlife species. The goal of this work effort was to provide the ecological information necessary to plan and design the university in the most efficient, ecologically friendly manner. Unavoidably, however, the construction of the campus and its associated infrastructure would impact a variety of upland and wetland systems occurring onsite. In order to compensate for these impacts, a comprehensive mitigation pan was developed and is being rigorously implemented through permits issued by both the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) and the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD).” https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/facilities/campusmasterplan

From the attached report:

"Wildlife Cameras – In association with the Wings of Hope Program, students have installed and monitored wildlife cameras at several sites on campus. The program focuses specifically on the Florida Panther (Puma concolor coryi), but documents the occurrence of a variety of large mammals [e.g. white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and bobcat (Lynx rufus)] and turkey (Meleagris gallopavo).

MOTUS – We maintain a migratory bird tracking station on campus, as part of the continental Motus network. The Motus Wildlife Tracking System is a recent but well-established system for cooperative automated telemetry that supports landscape-scale research and education on the ecology and conservation of migratory animals. As one of ~900 stations in 31 countries around the world, the FGCU MOTUS station is important because the southeast region of the United States figures so prominently in the pathways of migrating birds (Lefevre and Smith 2020). Since becoming active in February 2017, this MOTUS station has detected 22 tagged birds, including songbirds migrating between summer sites in Canada and wintering sites in the Caribbean and South America.
Wetland Bird Surveys – We are currently conducting surveys of avian communities that use four constructed wetland habitats on FGCU campus. We will compare these data to prior surveys in 2017 to assess how the bird community is changing over time.

Tree Campus USA – Tree Campus USA is a program sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation that recognizes college and university campuses that manage their trees effectively, develop connectivity with the community beyond the campus, foster healthy urban forests, and promote service learning focused on campus and community forestry efforts. FGCU has been a member since 2010 and was the first university in the country to receive the National Arbor Day Award in 2012. An advisory committee was formed by students, staff, faculty, and community members to develop a Tree Campus Plan, including planting projects and tree data collection efforts. Their activities include: 1) student volunteers, along with faculty and staff, plant and care for previously planted trees and removal of competitive invasive plants located on the FGCU campus; 2) annual events - Florida Arbor Day, Earth Day, National Make a Difference Day, and Green the Greeks; and 3) student-led field work days where student volunteers survey the various species of trees located on the FGCU campus. The latter efforts have been used in an interactive map of the tree canopy which has grown into the FGCU Sustainability Map (Figure 4). Since 2009 these activities have involved over 6,400 service learning hours with over 2,000 students. A graduate student project is underway to investigate the impact of these activities on the environmental attitudes of the participants.

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes – The Crotalus adamanteus population has been monitored on campus since Fall 2015. This work includes a radio telemetry study to detail spatial movement patterns, general behavior, reproduction and fecundity, morphometrics, population genetics, and parasitic loads of this species. This project has extended to include the local communities surrounding FGCU as well as state parks and wildlife management areas throughout southwest Florida.

Small Mammals – This work examines the community of small mammals that reside in the conservation areas of FGCU. Four undergraduate researchers are using 1) Sherman live traps to sample various habitats on campus and quantify habitat preferences for rodent populations (since Spring 2019) and 2) using game cameras to monitor commensal species in nine-banded armadillo burrows (Summer 2020).
Insect Taxa Surveys – Undergraduate monitoring associated with course work includes an effort to more fully describe insect diversity on campus, focusing on Dipterans, Odonata, Formicidae, and Lepidoptera. Twenty to thirty students from the spring General Entomology (4823C) course and three undergraduate senior researchers use aerial netting, Malaise trapping, and/or bait trapping to document insects on campus. We expect to have a more complete list of invertebrates, particularly insects, by the next STARS report.
Anuran Community Monitoring – The FGCU campus has three sampling sites along Route 7 of the Southwest Florida Frog Monitoring Network – Frogwatch. This route has been monitored each month of the rainy season for twenty years, and includes citizen scientists from faculty, staff, students, and community members (Everham et al. 2013), using frog calls to track relative abundance of both native and exotic anuran species.

Campus Hydrological Relationships - This sustainability project seeks to improve the understanding of precipitation and surface and underground flow relationships on the FGCU campus, in particular, identifying conditions under which flooding could occur on campus and in the downstream watershed. Each semester since 2017, student researchers have collected data about the campus hydrology. Students have held the lead in this project, supervised by Serge Thomas and Don Duke. Volunteer teams of 5 to 10 students, coordinated by a student leader, read staff gauges of surface water elevation in campus ponds. About 50 students have taken part, with about 20 of them conducting research: devising and implementing monitoring plans; investigating policies related to stormwater ponds on campus and in the vicinity; and analyzing data to reach scholarly conclusions. Most of these received course credit either for Senior Research or Internship degree requirements toward the Environmental Studies BA.

During Spring - Summer 2018, the faculty sponsors and a cohort of six students received funding under FGCU's Communities in Transition initiative (though OUS) in collaboration with the City of Estero to gather data from on-campus ponds while also using aerial imagery and county-level GIS planning information to produce a final report describing potential for these ponds to mitigate flood damages in the region. Two other students received intramural funding to conduct this research through the summer of 2020. A total of 10 students have co-authored posters that were presented at various state and regional conferences, and five students have presented research posters at major national meetings, including one Best Research Poster awardee at a nationwide competition. Research continues with installation of automated gauges that will provide water elevation data at 10-minute intervals, improving capability to determine quantitative relationships between rainfall intensity and timing with changes in pond elevation. This automated data collection will integrate with the campus' network of groundwater sensors, allowing quantitative analyses of the precipitation-surface water-groundwater interactions. A weather station collecting 10 minute-interval weather, water temperature, and soil data has also been installed near the Food Forest pod and is broadcasting and storing data for data mining using the WeatherSTEM network (https://lee.weatherstem.com/fgcu).

Endocrine Disruption – Faculty guided student research is studying sites throughout southwest Florida to look for evidence of endocrine disruptors (man-made chemicals present in pharmaceutical, plasticizers, personal care products, pesticides, and industrial waste products). They have included several of the stormwater retention ponds on the FGCU campus as sampling sites.

Bioblitz – Buckingham – The FGCU Buckingham Center is located in eastern Lee County. It consists of approximately 200 total ha, including over 40 ha of undeveloped land. In Fall 2019, a graduate student course-related project organized several ‘BioBlitz’ events in an effort to document biodiversity on this site. The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed further efforts but the project is expected to continue in the future. Species counts from Buckingham are not yet included in this ‘campus’ biodiversity list but will be available for the next report.

Exotic Species Research – Graduate and undergraduate student projects are examining the habitat use and ecology of two exotic species, the Brahminy Blind Snakes (Indotyphlops braminus) and Greenhouse Frogs (Eleutherodactylus planirostris), around Lee County. The study seeks to understand how exotic species move from inoculation points to new areas within the landscape before eventually becoming invasive. Another undergraduate study uses radio-telemetry to understand the spatial ecology of the Mexican Spiny-tailed Iguanas (Ctenosaura similis) at FGCU’s Buckingham Center.

Slash Pine Die-off – This undergraduate resereseach is examining the possible synergy of hurricane and climate change impacts on a regional die-off of slash pine (Pinus elliotii). The study utilizes dendrochronology to examine long-term growth trends in dead, dying, or surviving individuals both on campus and in the Picayune Strand State Forest. This project was supported through a CESE SAGE grant.

Fungal Studies: In collaboration with colleagues at other institutions, a faculty member has examined micro-coralloid lichens that are common on Taxodium bark in the FGCU cypress domes. There are three distinct taxa that appear to be structurally dissimilar to any familiar species, but none bear fungal reproductive structures that would indicate their group affinities. Work continues to identify the fungal and algal components involved using molecular sequence analyses and study of the structure and interactions between symbionts using transmission electron microscopy.

Additional Course Activities – A variety of undergraduate and graduate courses use the campus natural areas for outdoor learning. General Biology II Labs (BIOL 1011L) introduce scientific methods to students by sampling Protist communities in campus ponds, as well as perform plant counts in landscaped and non-landscaped plots. Flora of Southwestern Florida (BOT 3153) is a field-based course that makes extensive use of the natural areas on campus for teaching plant communities and important native and exotic species. The General Ecology (PCB 3043C) courses use the campus for a number of course projects including: the spatial distribution of an exotic plant, Mexican clover (Richardia brasiliensis) and population dynamics and life history of mosquito fish (Gambusia holbrookii). The latter study has been on-going since 2009. Limnology (PCB 4303C) students study the phytoplankton diversity, morphology, productivity, sedimentation and chemistry of our stormwater ponds. The Ecosystem Monitoring and Research Methods (PCB 4360C) course has several field-based projects, including the use of larger butterfly species [Monarch (Danaus plexippus), Queen (Danaus gilippus), White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae), and Zebra Longwing (Heliconius charithonia)] in the natural areas of campus for a capture-mark-recapture exercise, which is providing long-term data on butterfly populations."

From the attached report:

"Since our last campus biodiversity report (Bovard et al. 2017), we have continued with our biodiversity initiative to include a variety of student-focused projects, an expansion of Florida Gulf Coast Univeristy (FGCU) campus species list, and initiation of new ecosystem and landscape level efforts (see New Initiatives below). To date, we have documented 838 species on campus (14 Fungal Species, 574 Macrophytes, 60 Invertebrates, 16 Fishes, 105 Birds, 14 Amphibians, 32 Reptiles, and 23 Mammals). Our monitoring and research related to listed or protected species includes: wildlife cameras that document Florida Panther (Puma concolor coryi) and the Florida Black Bear (Ursus americanus floridanus) on campus, and wetland bird surveys and tracking of migratory movements via the MOTUS network that can document a variety of bird species, including these listed species: Wood Stork (Mycteria americana); Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus); and Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis). We also continued monitoring the population ecology and habitat use of the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus) via radio telemetry. As reported in 2017, our critical habitat on campus is composed of designated Conservation Areas, which are indicated with signage (Figure 1). These areas constitute just over 51% of the campus at buildout (191.4 ha out of 371.5 total ha, Bovard et al. 2017, Figure 2). In addition, our participation in the Tree Campus USA program has focused attention on the habitat quality of the built and landscaped areas on campus, applying the concept of reconciliation ecology (Rosenzweig & Michael 2003). Since 2009, over 2,000 students have completed more than 6,400 service learning hours toward Tree Campus USA projects."

New Initiatives
Campus Without People (CWP) – In response to the decrease in human presence on campus as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we initiated a project to quantify wildlife activity, with the plan to follow these monitoring efforts through the return of more normal operations (WINK TV Online 2020). Our monitoring efforts are focused in four areas:
1. Wildlife camera and audio records: Expansion of the wildlife camera network to monitor more developed parts of campus, and to include audio recorders to quantify the soundscape.

2. Bird use of campus wetlands: Conduct both visual and audio camera monitoring, and in-person surveys, following the protocols of previous data collection in 2017.

3. Student volunteer wildlife data collection. Individual students are conducting wildlife surveys (i.e. a recorded path and time on campus) and may include additional BioBlitz Events.

4. Roadkill data collection: A new roadkill study will relate recent kills to baseline data that were collected previously, focusing on the two main entrances to campus.

The Campus Without People effort is tied to a larger continent-wide effort. FGCU is the “southern node” in a loose network of partners known as C19 Wild, who are collaborating to document how the “anthropause” (i.e. reduced human movements during the COVID-19 pandemic) influences wildlife ecology. Key activities of the partnering researchers are described at www.c19-wild.org.
New Faculty Initiatives - Wildlife biologist Dr. Andrew Durso, who arrived in January 2020, plans to begin mark-recapture and occupancy modeling of aquatic snake communities in campus wetlands, mark-recapture, microbiome, and diet modeling of campus brown anole populations (in collaboration with Iris Holmes, post-doctoral researcher, Cornell University), and to collaborate with Kara Lefevre and Matt Metcalf to investigate the spatial ecology of spiny-tailed iguanas at the Buckingham Campus. Future plans include field testing a snake identification app using artificial intelligence, crowd-sourcing, and expert verification, lab and field validation of stable isotope and fecal eDNA methods for studying diets of campus herpetofauna, and additional sustainability outreach and education efforts.
Climate Change and CEM – Starting Fall of 2020 in coordination of the FGCU’s recently formed Water School, we will reinitiate the Campus Ecosystem Model (CEM, Tolley et al. 2002), connecting courses and on-going regional monitoring needs associated with climate change. A variety of course laboratory and field experiences will be tied to campus or regional ecosystems in a coordinate effort to better understand system-level responses. We plan to track current on-going efforts, identify critical monitoring and research gaps, and coordinate course activities to meet the long-term monitoring needs associated with ecological changes in response to climate change.