Watershed Ecology Lab featured on National Geographic

Red tracer dye diffusing in cave water

Jennifer Adler, a PhD student in Interdisciplinary Ecology, and researchers with David Kaplan’s Watershed Ecology Lab at the University of Florida were featured in National Geographic with their mesmerizing photos of the Florida Aquifer using non-toxic rhodamine WT fluorescent dye as a tracer. After the dye is released, scientists measure its concentration downstream with devices called fluorometers and by taking water samples. This helps them understand how the water moves, mixes, and the amount of time it spends in the river channel as it flows downstream from the headspring.

Learn more at https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/03/dye-photos-floridian-aquifer-underwater-caves-water/