How Do Microorganisms Affect The Destruction Of Riparian Areas?

Why could having consumers as well as producers present change the amount of dissolved oxygen in the lake?

Through our research we aimed to determine if there were any differences in water quality of both the north and south forks of Strawberry Creek. As time progresses and the environment changes it is important to keep track of how certain species are being impacted by these features, and how they cope with change. We hypothesized that due to the lack of pollution, the south fork will promote a greater diversity of macroinvertebrates. This was due to the fact that there was less runoff and trash that could be introduced to the water in the south fork, than there was in the north fork. We gathered data by analyzing the different organisms living in both forks. We collected a total of fifty vials composed of five organisms from each fork, and inspected them under microscopic view. After gathering data and identifying the different kinds of organisms living in the different forks we assessed whether the organisms from the samples could live in high or low resolution water. We also took a t-test to assess the probability of these differences being due to relevant factors or by chance. Our major findings suggest that organisms in the south fork showed a higher demand to living in cleaner water indicating that our hypothesis was correct.

Land transformation as a result of anthropogenic effects continues to be one of the biggest threats to the ecological integrity of headwater streams today. Land transformation induced by human alterations to the landscape, have been shown to have negative impacts on habitat, water quality, and the biota of natural waterways (Allan 2004). For instance, in 2004 Gage found that macro invertebrates were negatively impacted by anthropogenic mediated land use, which often lead to declines and even eliminations of sensitive taxa from the stream (Gage et. al. 2004). Urbanization is considered to be one of the driving forces behind land transformation and is mainly responsible for increases in impervious surface area. Increases in impervious surface area have led to the rapid conveyance of storm waters, resulting in the increased presence of oils, metals, and road salts within surface waters (Moore et. al. 2005). The increased presence of these solutes are leading to variations in ionic concentrations that deviate from natural concentrations, thus altering the conductivity within the water systems.

Sediments are the main source of water pollution, contributing to turbidity issues as well as irregular or harmful nitrite/nitrate, phosphorus, and pH levels. This contributes to the death of marine organisms and can also change which organisms can survive in the body of water as its conditions change due to runoff. Anthropogenic runoff is also a contributor of adverse water effects, such as cultural eutrophication from fertilizer runoff, and also results in the death of aquatic animals and shifts in which organisms are more prominent in the ecosystem. This lab will address the effects soil will have on variables concerning water quality. There is also the option of including fish and/or aquatic plants in the water column, which are independent variables as well as the soil. The pH, ammonia levels, nitrite levels, temperature, D.O., and physical attributes are the dependent variables that will be measured during the lab. The qualitative physical tests (turbidity and odor) will portray the physical state and cleanliness of the water, as well as the level of runoff from the soil.

Water quality regulation: the riparian vegetation acts as a filter between nutrients, sediments, contaminants, and bacteria from the surrounding land and air, and the river channel itself. The riparian vegetation therefore prevents soil, pesticides, fertilizers and oil from entering the river and impacting on

Phosphorus and nitrogen fuel algae blooms which consume vast amounts of oxygen in the water that lead to dead zones in the slow moving river, a process known as eutrophication. While these pollutants were on the decline in the 1980s, population growth in the area spurred an increase in agricultural practices that has since reversed the numbers. The developmental upsurge has greatly diminished the natural field and forest buffers and filters and replaced them with impenetrable concrete roads and surfaces that hasten the transport of pollutants to waterways. The aging infrastructure of decades old towns struggle to maintain the growing stresses being put on the sewage and pipeline systems by the expanses in population.

Planting on riparian areas promote bank stabilization and water quality protections. The roots of riparian trees and shrubs help stream banks to be held in place, preventing excessive erosion. The vegetation also traps sediment and pollutants, keeping the water cleaner. Streams and rivers are also protected

Humans often use fertilizers in order to increase product production and ensure a healthy crop. In recent years it has been found that large amounts of artificial nitrogen in fertilizer has been used to increase the overall crop rates, to meet the demands of the increased growth rates within the human population ( Zhang, Wang, and Wu 2014). Based on these findings we were lead to question why or if increased levels of fertilizer impair aquatic ecosystems. Therefore we conducted research to find the correlation with increased levels of fertilizer and algae production. To conduct our research we obtained three samples from Dolese Pond, and within two of these samples fertilizer was added. After the fertilizer was added, measurements of dissolved oxygen, within each sample, were then taken over a course of four weeks. Our results offered that within the initial measurements the control held the least amount of dissolved oxygen while the sample with the added 10 mL of fertilizer yielded the highest amounts of dissolved oxygen. Dissolved oxygen concentrations need to be maintained within bodies of water due to the fact that this oxygen is needed to support life while preserving the health for the overall aquatic environment (Bailey and Ahmadi 2014).

Eutrophication, an impending predicament, is defined as “a change of the nutritional status of a given body of water. This enhanced plant growth (algal bloom), reduces dissolved oxygen in the water when dead plant material decomposes and can cause other organisms to die” (Pathak & Pathak, 2012). Sewerage discharge and soil erosion enhances Nitrogen and Phosphate inputs, and forestry practices increase the mobilisation of nutrients (Sandforth, Bloxham, & Worsfold, 2003). Consequently, they are classified as immediate causes of eutrophication (Sandforth, Bloxham, & Worsfold, 2003). The Australian Paper Sustainability Report (Williams, 2013) details the following practices: “Water, sludge and mud, are diverted to the wastewater clarifiers where the solids components are collected, dewatered through the Effluent SludgeRecover (ESR) presses and then composted” and the “testing of the mercury levels of fish in the Latrobe River and onsite billabong, which was only partially completed due to budgetary constraints.” The sludge disposal method reduces: sewerage discharge; therefore, excess nutrient input; and overall, the risk of eutrophication. The soil conditioning methods, mentioned previously, are Australian Paper’s only measures to stop soil erosion. Additionally, there are no strategies designed to minimise the effects of forestry practices on waterways and the partial examination of mercury levels is not sufficient monitoring of Maryvale’s adjoining rivers or

In this experiment dissolved oxygen levels were tested based on the amount of water flow at the pier and the beach of Winthrop Lake. As water flow speed increases, the dissolved oxygen content is predicted to increase as well. At the pier of Winthrop Lake there is a irrigation system that is moving water around in that area and on the beach side the water is not seemingly flowing at all. Five different samples from each location were collected and their dissolved oxygen content was tested. The water flow was tested at the site of the water collection. The water flow was seemingly a small amount higher near the beach than at the pier, with the results being significantly significant with a p-value of .000. Dissolved oxygen levels were equal in both locations of the lake, being statistically insignificant with a p-value of 1. The results yielding this experiment did not support the idea that where there is more water flow then the dissolved oxygen content will be higher.

Because streams play important roles in ecosystems and also provide drinking water for humans, this experiment was performed to determine if water velocity affects the health of a stream. For our purposes, water heath was determined by concentrations of dissolved oxygen. We predicted that areas of higher water velocity would have a lower chlorophyll a concentration and higher dissolved oxygen concentration. We collected six samples of water from Wild Basin Preserve in Austin, TX, three from areas of still water and three from areas of running water. We measured the dissolved oxygen concentrations of each sample using an YSI 550A Dissolved Oxygen Instrument and measured the chlorophyll a concentrations of each sample using a DU 800

Cultural eutrophication is the process by which abnormally high levels of limiting nutrients (mainly nitrogen and phosphorus) are carried, by runoff, into a naturally occurring body of water, causing the out of control growth of algae. The unruly growth of algae, caused by the abundance of nitrogen and phosphorus, leads to harmful algal blooms on the water’s surface that have negative effects on the surrounding environment. This creates an area where there is no life, known as a “dead zone. All plants require the nutrient phosphorus to live and grow, therefore the algae thrives on the high levels of the nutrient phosphorus. As the runoff carries phosphorus, from fertilizers and other sources, into the body of water (in this case, the Maumee River into Lake Erie), an excessive amount of phosphorus is accessible and the algae begins to rapidly grow in a large quantity. This rapid growth causes the formation of harmful algal blooms on the surface of the water that restrict the amount of sunlight that can enter the water. The restriction of sunlight reduces the rate of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis captures sunlight turning it into chemical energy, and a product of this process is oxygen. Although there are organisms that do feed on algae, the growth becomes so rapid that an abundance of excess algae builds up, dies and decomposes. This process of decomposing the excess algae requires a large quantity of oxygen. Both factors, the reduction of photosynthesis and excessive

Pollutions such as sewage and fertilizers contain nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates. At high levels, nutrients can over stimulate the growth of aquatic plants and algae. Excessive growth of these types of organisms consequently clogs our waterways, use up dissolved oxygen as they decompose, and block light to deeper waters.[David Krantz] This could be very harmful to aquatic organisms as it affects the respiration ability of fish and other creatures of the sea. Pollution is also caused when silt and other suspended solids, such as soil, washoff plowed fields, construction and logging sites, urban areas, and eroded river banks when it rains.[David Krantz] Pollution in the form of organic material enters waterways in many different forms as sewage, as leaves and grass clippings, or as runoff from livestock feedlots and pastures. When natural bacteria and protozoan in the water break down this organic material, they begin to use up the oxygen dissolved in the water. Many types of fish and bottom-dwelling animals cannot survive when levels of dissolved oxygen drop below two to five parts per million. When this occurs, it

Eutrophication is defined as the natural ageing process of natural body of water, generally understood to refer to enrichment of water systems by nutrients, notably phosphorus and nitrogen, and to the improved production of algal and higher plant biomass that the added nutrient loads stimulate (Reynolds, 1992). Customarily, the eutrophication is a natural phenomenon, but during the past decades, the word ‘eutrophication’ has been frequently used to signify the artificial and unwanted addition of plant nutrients to waterbodies (Ryding & Rast, 1989). Eutrophication is a process whereby water bodies, such as lakes, estuaries, or slow moving streams receive extra nutrients that stimulate unnecessary plant growth (periphyton attached algae, algae, and nuisance plants weeds). This boosted plant growth, regularly called an algal bloom, reduces dissolved oxygen in the water when dead plant material decays and can frequently cause other water biota (fish in particular) to perish. Nutrients can come from many sources, such as: fertilizers applied to agricultural fields, suburban lawns, and deposition of nitrogen from the atmosphere, erosion of soil containing nutrients and sewage treatment plant discharges. In the simplest definition, Eutrophication is the decreasing of the water quality within a body of water (Henry, 1993). Accelerated eutrophication of water ecosystems, as a direct

Brazos River, the streams and lakes along the river are a major source of public water supply for drinking and agricultural uses for communities in around the Brazos River basin. Segment 1242 of Brazos River and the watersheds (Leon River watershed and Lower Brazos-Little Brazos watershed) and their tributaries flowing into Brazos river in this segment are known to be impaired for bacteria, salts, nutrients and chlorophyll-a (TCEQ, 2013). The flow of nutrients from rain water run-off from land into Brazos River results in eutrophication of the river and algae (Chlorophyll-a) bloom, thereby reducing the dissolved oxygen content in the water. This hypoxia in the water causes the death of fish and other living organisms in the river. This can