UNF undergrad's journey into oyster research and shoreline restoration

Jacksonville boasts extensive access to the St. Johns River, the Atlantic Ocean and other waterways. But that proximity can cause problems for Kingsley Plantation, which sits along the Fort George River.

During the summer months, Kingsley Plantation property faces severe wave action that has diminished the area's oyster reefs and saltmarsh cordgrass, leading to significant erosion of the adjacent sandbar. To restore the shoreline, the University of North Florida partnered with the Timucuan Parks Foundation to develop and implement the Pervious Oyster Shell Habitat (POSH) shoreline restoration project.

For two years, Victor Ritz, a UNF coastal marine biology student, has collected data for two years on the Kingsley Plantation's eastern oyster and ivory barnacle populations.

"Victor's work monitoring oyster and barnacle densities was crucial in informing us of the best time of year to deploy our POSH to ensure successful oyster recruitment," said UNF alum Hunter Mathews ('23), who worked alongside Ritz as a biology research assistant and is the primary author on a published POSH study.

The Making of a Marine Biologist

As a Jacksonville native, Ritz has always had a deep connection to his hometown's waterways and the creatures that inhabit them. As a kid, he loved learning about marine animals and their physiology. However, when he graduated from high school, he chose a different path.

In 2018, he took up culinary school at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. Each semester, Ritz shifted between standard classroom and preparation-based laboratory classes as he practiced various culinary techniques and participated in mock restaurant practice. After two years of honing his time management skills and mastering plate presentation, the pandemic hit and Ritz found himself reconsidering what he wanted to study.

"I was kind of interested in multiple things," Ritz said. "When COVID happened, I got the opportunity to restart, and I realized that I really wanted to try marine biology."

After doing some research on the programs offered at UNF, with the distance from his family's home an added bonus, Ritz began his studies at the University in the Fall of 2020.

For the first few semesters, Ritz spent time studying in the library with his friends, visiting local estuaries with other biology students and contemplating whether he was on the right track. It wasn't until he took Biology III that everything began to fall into place.

"It was all the kind of stuff I was obsessed with as a kid," he said. "The physiology and animals were familiar to me, so I already knew a decent portion of the class. It really connected to my past and was the first sign that I was right where I belonged."

In 2022, Ritz went on a study abroad trip centered around island biogeography in the Galápagos. For two weeks, he and his group went to various islands, as well as Ecuador and the Amazon River Basin, studying how species evolve differently and generally more rapidly on islands compared to mainlands.

Among his many achievements at UNF, Ritz spent two and a half years as a lab tech participating in various undergraduate research with Dr. Kelly Smith, associate professor of biology now retired from the University, which contributed to helping restore oyster reefs, fight erosion and rebuild fish populations.

In 2023, Ritz presented a research poster titled "Annual Trends in Oyster Spat Density and Settlement Preference at Kingsley Plantation" at the Showcase of Osprey Advancements in Research and Scholarship Symposium (SOARS), based on data he collected for the POSH restoration project. And earlier this year, he talked about his experiences when he was featured in the UNF episode of The College Tour on Amazon Prime.

Doing research isn't available for undergraduates at all universities, but it was important to Ritz.

"It kept me focused and confirmed that this is what I want to be doing," Ritz said. "It also helps with future opportunities to get into research after graduation."

After graduating with his B.S. in biology on Friday, Dec. 13, Ritz plans to go on to graduate school and continue conducting fieldwork with a focus on aquaculture and traveling to different countries.