The Wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay's Watershed
By: Katelyn Carnes
What is an Ecologist?
What is an Ecologist?
~ Ecologists are scientists that study the relationships between organisms and various types of habitats such as:
-Deserts
-Rainforests
-Coral Reefs
-Grasslands
-Wetlands
How Much Money do Ecologists Make Per-Year?
How Much Money do Ecologists Make Per Year?
- The average salary of ecologists in Virginia is $90,461 per year.
- Based on skill and experience this number can vary from $61,838-$112,113
- The average salary for all jobs in Virginia as of May 2015 was $51,670.
- I believe that the trend of average salaries will continue to increase as the cost of living rises.
What Important Tools do they Use?
What Important Tools do they Use?
- Ecologists use several vital tools to help make studing the wetlands easier two example is: waiters, and nets.
- Waiters are important to ecologists because they keep them dry, and away from any animals in deep water.
- Nets are useful aswell because it helps ecologists pick out and transport different speciess without hurting it or themself.
What is a Bay?
- A bay is a body of water partially surrounded by land.
The Chesapeake Bay
- Bays are usually smaller and less enclosed than gulfs.
Chesapeake Bay Quick Facts
- The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in North America, and the third largest in the world.
The
Chesapeake Bay
- There is over 1.5 million acres of wetlands in the Chesapeake Bay's watershed.
What is an Estuary?
What is
an Estuary?
- An estuary is a semi-enclosed, body of water where freshwater from rivers and streams mixes with salt water from the Atlantic Ocean and creates brackish water.
Where is the Chesapeake Bay located?
- The Chesapeake Bay is located in the US and extends from Cooperstown New York, to Norfolk Virginia.
Where is the Chesapeake Bay Located?
- The Bay's watershed touches 6 states:
-New York
-Pensylvannia
-Maryland
-Delaware
-West Virginia
-District of Columbia
-Virginia
What are Wetlands?
- A wetland is an ecosystem that can either be submerged or slightly dampened by water, and its made up of all sorts of vegetations. Another name for a wetland you have probably heard before is: swamp, marsh, or bog.
What Types of Species Live in the Chesapeake Bay?
- More than 3600 different species of plants and animals inhabit the Chesapeake Bay
- including:
What types of Species Live in the Chesapeake Bay?
-Amphibians
-Reptiles
-Fish
-Shellfish
-Waterfowl
-Mammals
-Insects
-Sea urchins
-Seagrasses
-Weeds
-Flowers
-Trees
How to Identify a Wetland
How to Identify Wetlands?
- You can find wetlands in the Chesapeake Bay's watershed mostly anywhere where land meets water.
- Wetlands are made up of varied vegetations; with the most common ones being:
-Cordgrasses
-Button Bushes
-Saltgrasses
-Cattails
-Pond lilies
Benefits & Threats to the Wetlands
The Benefits & Threats to the Wetlands
The Wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay's watershed are the most productive habitats on the planet, yet they are being put at risk every day by many different threats. I am going to share with you the five main benefits and the four main threats to the wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay's watershed.
Benefit 1
- Wetlanded buffer zones help to improve the Chesapeake Bay's water quality by absorbing polluted stormwater runoff from highly populated areas flowing out of storm pipes then getting into rivers and streams and stopping it before getting into the Bay
Benefit 2
- Wetlands are able to diminish the flooding of storm surges because they can act as sponges and soak up water from the surges, then slowly release it. Preventing low-lying communities and waterfront properties from getting submerged or damaged.
Benefit 3
- Wetlands provide habitat for more than 3,700 various species of plants and animals.
Benefit 3
Benefit 4
- Wetlands can also control erosion by decreasing the harsh impact of waves crashing into shorelines, which protects them from eroding. Without wetlands, thousands of miles of shorelines would erode horribly, and end up looking like this. →
- Which would cause habitat loss for numerous species.
Benefit 5
- Lastly, wetlands contribute enjoyable recreational activities for people such as:
-Kyaking
-Hunting
-Fishing
-Bird watching, etc.
Development
Threat 1
- Shoreline development is immensely harmful to the wetlands because it sends excess sediment into the water.
- Also, many people with waterfront properties are converting their wetlands into beaches, which gets rid of very needed buffer zones for the runoff that washes off their fertilized lawns, making it able to seep into the Bay.
Rising Sea Levels
Threat 2
- The rising of sea level is a major threat aswell because as the sea level rises, tidal wetlands and low-lying wetlands become submerged and disappear; like the Tanjier Islands.
- Which creates a loss of habitat for the animals inhabiting the wetlands and it also gets rid of many acres of needed buffer zones.
Invasive Species
Threat 3
- Invasive species are very harmful to the wetlands because they:
-Grow/reproduce too rapidly
- Lower the amount of food and shelter sources
-Invasive plants take nutrients from other plants
-Invasive animals can alter wetland conditions.
Excess Nutrients
Threat 4
- Excess nutrients such as, phosphorous and nitrogen harm the wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay because they fuel invasive algae blooms which are bad for SAV and boats.
How Can Phosphorus and Nitrogen be Beneficial?
How Can Excess Nutrients be Beneficial?
- Phosphorous and nitrogen can be beneficial to the wetlands of the Bay because they help fuel the growth of submerged aquatic vegetation.
Graphs
- The trend is increasing and I can predict that the trend is still increasing today.
Graphs on Phophourus and Nitrogen
- In 2018-2019 there were dramatic rises then drops because of the amount of ranfall in those years, because when it rains stormwater picks up nutrients from lawns and roads then takes them back into the water.
Why are Algae
Blooms Inferior?
Why are Algae
Blooms Inferior?
- Algae Blooms on the surface block sunlight from getting beneath the water, killing the plants living below.
- When algae blooms become too thick, they can get stuck in boat propellers.
- To restore the wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay's watershed you can plant native trees and grasses to create more wildlife habitat and more buffer zones.
- You could join/voulenteer at the Chesapeake Progress workgroup. They are restoring wetlands all around the Bay's watershed. Their goal is to restore 150,000 acres of wetlands by 2025. Or you could make a donation to the company.
How do we Help to Restore the Wetlands?
Bibliography
Entire Bibliography
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14TxmfbndAdwQM1kPumqAgfyWYfsUzmkQsYCYhhZ9dOk/edit