Water and Estuary

The aim of the river study at both Tannum sands wild cattle and south tree Boyne Island was to undertake and investigate and collect data on the abiotic and biotic contributions to the mangrove ecosystem and to analyse the human impacts, regarding both the animal and plants distribution and abundance.

Scientists and researchers began giving a large volume of effort and look into the extremely complex problems that face the Chesapeake Bay. When research for the improving and saving of the Bay’s overall health began it seemed very simple and there were only a couple of problems. The problems included nutrients from agricultural runoff; these nutrients were phosphorus and nitrogen. The combination of the nutrients in the Bay caused a large volume of algae that choked some of the marine life. While bringing in algae the nutrients also killed grasses on the seafloor. These seafloor bed grasses that once covered more than half of the Chesapeake Bay’s floor now only covered a tenth of their original area. Though the estuary was having problems it did not receive the terrible pollution from industries that many large rivers and lakes do in other urban areas (Brown, p. 397).

Brooks and Dodson, the authors of the article titled “Predation, Body Size, and Composition of Plankton”, conducted research on the effect the small fish called Alosa Pseudoharengus has on an ecosystem, more specifically, different lakes in New England. Along with the data they collected on the aforementioned matter, they studied the sizes and the composition of the miniscule zooplankton inhabiting the lakes, and compared it with that of the Alosa. Their research uncovered important facts regarding water ecosystems and how they are so easily thrown off balance.

Although it supports a number of different organisms, Nudgee Beach lacks many of the fundamentals that make up a healthy and successful ecosystem. The first indicator of this is from the lack of birds present in the area. Although it has been noted for terrestrial bird species – such as kingfishers, pelicans, ibis, egrets, jabiru, stilts and heron – and wading bird species – such as golden plovers, curlews, tattlers and godwits – to have been spotted at Nudgee Beach and surrounding areas in the past; after a day’s worth of extensive observation and research, it was found that the birds observed were limited to magpie, ibis, great knot and eastern curlew species. To intensify this factor, at the time by which this lack of species was recorded, Nudgee Beach was expected to have started seeing tens of thousands of birds arrive for the migratory season [21]. This blatant lack of bird species diversity and quantity may have been due to the lack of small organisms within the ecosystem. The restricted number of small organisms at Nudgee Beach is detrimental to the entire ecosystem as these organisms make up the bottom levels of the food web and provide higher-level organisms with adequate amounts of food to consume. The smaller organisms expected to be observed – including; crustacean, shell, mollusc, lizard, frog, fish, worm, arachnid and insect species – was limited to the infrequent observation of crustacean, shell,

Hastings Point is a small coastal town located in New South Wales that is sounded by a national park. Hastings point has been a great location for tourists due to its marine wildlife, beaches and fishing. This destination is home to a magnificent rocky shore perfectly suited for a vast majority and wide range of marine wildlife. The rocky shore has a wide spread of both biotic and abiotic factors which provides a suitable ecosystem for all wildlife but unfortunately this unindustrialized location is becoming over developed. This takes a toll on Hastings point ecosystem immensely because the estuary, beach and the living organisms are slowly diminishing in

An estuary system is “the resulting collisions of sweet and salt-fresh river water flowing seaward and ocean water inland.” It is an aquatic system where salt and freshwater are constantly mixing. An estuary system is one of most active systems of the planet; it is a hybrid system that contains the best and worst qualities of the ocean, river, and lake systems it conglomerates. Estuaries are unique in nature because of their ability to be the most productive ecosystem on the entire planet; humans have attempted and failed to reach the productivity that estuaries naturally grant. There productivity lies it the constant change that occurs from the conflicting flows of fresh and ocean water. Ocean and freshwater are measured largely based on salinity, or the level of parts of salt per thousand. Ocean water usually

Only one method of planktonic sampling was used so comparison with another method of sampling cannot be done. It is safe to assume that the most appropriate method of sampling in these areas was previously determined by the lab instructor. Isolation of organisms in the samples was met with some difficulty as there was very little life to be observed. Once isolated however, a general identification was simple with the use of the “quick picks” section of the Marine Invertebrate Zoology Lab Manual. One particular organism isolated from the “T-docks” samples, a foraminiferida, was chosen for scientific drawing (Figure 1).

The Chesapeake Bay Watershed is considered of national high importance due to its 64,000 square miles and 17.4 million people inhabitants. However, this has not been sufficient to improve the health of the ecosystem over the last 25 years. The primary reasons for this lack of improvement are the lack of knowledge and information of the people living on the watershed, the multistate composition of the watershed and the broad range of activities that the watershed supports.

*Department of Oceanography, Techno India University, West Bengal, India and ** Department of Marine Science, Calcutta University, West Bengal, India

The aim of this experiment is to test the changes in and effects o abiotic and biotic factors along a transect line form low tide to high tide in the mangroves at Nudgee Beach. The hypothesis is that at low tide the soil texture would be a brown clay with a pH of 9-10, however; at high tide the soil would be light brown sand with a ph of -8-9. The purpose of this report is to analyze whether the hypothesis true. The results found match with the hypothesis. At low tide the pH was 8 ½ , whereas at high tide the pH was 8. At each tide, the air temperatures were similar, except for the low tide, where the temperature was 17.5°C. The conclusion made was that because mangroves grow better on ecosystems where there is a high level of rainfall

On Wednesday the 9th of March, Students from Sacred Heart College Travelled by Bus to Siren’s Rock’s which lies between Owhiro Bay and Island Bay. At Siren’s rocks we had to explore the rocks and collect data of all the different species we found at the rocky shore. The rocky shore is an intertidal place where solid rocks predominate. It is useful for the study of Organisms living on the rocky shore. The rocky shore consists of the low tide, mid tide, high tide and splash zones. We used quadrats to sample which species was located in these zones and we did this when the tide was low. Quadrats is a sampling method used to see which organisms are located in certain proportions. The species I have chosen to talk about in my report today is one type of Limpet and one type of Top Shell. The common name for the Limpet I found is the Golden/ Radiate Limpet of whose scientific name is Cellana Radians which was found in the lower intertidal zone. The Cellana Radians is predated by starfish, whelks and shore birds. The Limpet is an herbivore because it eats Algae and Angiosperm which both are types of growing plants located within the rocky shore. The common name for the species of Top shell I found was actually Scorched Monodont whose scientific name is Diloma (Melagaphia) Aesthiops which is also found in the Lower intertidal name zone. The Diloma (Melagraphia) Aesthiops is predated by starfish, shore crabs and coastal reef fish. The Diloma (Melagraphia) Aesthiops is also an

80% of the world’s cities are situated near an estuary. For its abundance in resources are crucial to to the longevity of the cities. It is recognized globally as one of the most threatened ecologies in the world. Human activities such as agriculture, waste water processing, land clearance, introduction of exotic species have rapidly increased the erosion rate of rivers, and have redirected river flows both into and within estuaries. This in turn leads to its accelerated aging process. Sediments from rivers upstream are rapidly surging into the estuary at a rate more than the tide could erode away. Estuaries that exist without human activities collect a net sediment layer of 1 millimetre per year. This is directly juxtaposed to the poorly maintained estuaries disrupted by human activities, gaining a staggering net sediment layer of 20 millimetres per year. Eventually this causes many estuarine ecologies to decay and render them incapable of supporting life.

In the present study water quality status of Ayyanakere lake near Chikmagalur district of Karnataka was assessed by zooplankton analysis during April 2008 to March 2009. A total of 17 species and 15 genera of zooplankton were recorded and represented by 4 main groups namely Rotifera, Cladocera, Copepoda and protozoa. Among zooplankton Cladocera was dominant with 6 species followed by Copepoda and Rotifera with 04 species each and protozoa with 3 species. Abundance status and population density of the zooplankton groups were also recorded. Cladocera was dominant group among zooplankton community constituting 33.33% of the zooplankton population. In the present study, as per water quality recommended by WHO and BIS standards, the lake water is suitable for human consumption.

On the 9th of March, I went to Siren’s Rocks to investigate the community pattern, also called zonation, within the bounds of Island Bay’s Wellington Ecological Marine Reserve. The ecosystem of Taputeranga Marine Reserve takes the full impact of the Southern ocean swells. This Reserve is influenced by three different oceanic currents. This is an abiotic factor. The currents impact helps shape the rocky shoreline into the ecological community of different species of shore life into a pattern of different zones (zonation).

The Mpenjati estuary is a temporarily open/closed estuary which is located approximately 165km Southwest of Durban. The river mouth is generally closed during the winter months and is enclosed by a sand bar separating the saline rich ocean water from the fresh water river.