James+Pond+Files

=What are phosphates?= = = =What is an algal bloom?=
 * Phosphates are chemicals needed for plants and animals to grow. Too many phosphates are not good but there is alwasy a small ammount.
 * An algal bloom is when too many phosphates build up from detergent, manure or fertilizer. These things help algae grow. The water becomes green and hard to see through. As the algae and other plants die, they use up oxygen in the water that the fish need to breathe. This causes the fish to die(or at least fish that need a lot of oxygen).

=What does the kingfisher data tell me? =

The kingfisher data shows that there was an algal bloom in James Pond. The kingfisher population was growing steadily up until 10 years ago where they were at their highest. When the algal bloom began around 10 years ago, the fish started dying and the kingfisher started to die too because their food source, the fish, was no longer available. Because the number of algae in the pond had gone up, the duck population went up too because there was more food to support a larger population. The hawk population went down a little because the kingfisher is one of their prey but they still had other things to eat so they didn’t suffer greatly.

Kingfisher data
20 years ago: 1 Hawk, 2 Ducks, 3 Kingfisher.
 * ~  ||~ 9 ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ~  ||~ 8 ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ~  ||~ 7 ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ~  ||~ 6 ||   ||   || Kingfisher ||   || Duck ||
 * ~ Number of Birds ||~ 5 ||  || Kingfisher ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ~  ||~ 4 ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ~  ||~ 3 || Kingfisher ||   ||   || Kingfisher ||   ||
 * ~  ||~ 2 || Duck || Duck & Hawk || Duck & Hawk || Duck ||   ||
 * ~  ||~ 1 || Hawk ||   ||   || Hawk || Hawk ||
 * ~  ||~ 0 ||   ||   ||   ||   || Kingfisher ||
 * ~  ||~   ||~ 20 years ago ||~ 15 years ago ||~ 10 years ago ||~ 5 years ago ||~ Today ||

15 years ago: 2 Hawks, 2 Ducks, 5 Kingfisher.

10 years ago: 2 Hawks, 2 Ducks, 6 Kingfisher.

5 years ago: 1 Hawk, 2 Ducks, 3 Kingfisher.

Today: 1 Hawk, 6 Ducks, 0 Kingfisher. = = =Who is causing the phosphate problem?=
 * === Some possible causes of phosphates include: ===
 * __The cattle ranch__. If animal waste is not disposed correctly, is can cause phosphates in water.Runnoff from the ranch showed that some(not much) of the pollution is coming from the manuer.
 * __Citizens of Grey Land’s Town__ could be hanging clothes lines that have detergent on the clothes that runoff into streams. The town could also put fertilizer into the ground or use detergent on their clothes which they hung up to dry.
 * __The golf course__. Sandy Trapp, owner of the golf course used fertilizer on the grass which drained into the pond.There are emails that state she excessively used fertilizer and watered too much( see emails in picture below).

= = =How does the geography of James Pond help the spread of phosphates? =

= = =What does the bioindicators test show? = = = Bioindicators are living things that are sensative to changes in their environment. If an ecosystem doesn’t have any bioindicators, that means that the living conditions are not good. There are also kinds bio indicators that can live in both healthy and unhealthy water. If an ecosystem has these it does not necessarily mean that the ecosystem is unhealthy, but it they only have these and none of the healthy, fragile bio indicators, then the river is most likely unhealthy.James pond had leeches, blackfly larvae,and aquatic worms. Because these all showed up on the unhealthy list and the healthy and there were no bio indicators that fell under only the healthy list, the James pond could be considered unhealthy. In order to be considered healthy, there would be some organisms that aren’t listed under unhealthy.
 * The geography of James Pond consists of a lot of limestone. The limestone breaks away easily. This is good and bad. It is able to neutralize the water, but also creates a lot of sediment and holes. It makes underground tunnels, rivers, caverns, caves, and sinkholes that aid to the drainage of phosphates into the pond.

