Charlie Todd

11-5-13
3B

Biology in Watershed Recovery

Application of biology provides an effective solution to the issue of watershed
pollution, as the two matters interact and influence each other. Utilization of science for
resolution of conflicts such as this bears its advantages and disadvantages, but overall
proves a sufficient approach to fixing the issue at hand in the Chesapeake Bay
watershed. Researchers can address the multiple forms of contamination in the bay by
observing the effect they instill in the local organisms and ecosystems, as well as the
reverse effect received from them.
A useful medium for observation of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay rests simply
with the organisms that inhabit the area. In recent years, the population and physical
size of oysters in the bay have decreased detrimentally, and scientists have attributed
this substantial decline to the increase of acidity in the bay. They have proved that the
current unsuitable pH levels promote unhealthily diminished shell growth in oysters.
This beneficially deduced connection between biology and the watershed quality carries
with it only one minor limitation, stated by Dr. George Waldbusser to be the limitations
of traditional pH measurements in estuarine waters and daytime sampling bias. He
basically means that environmental and physical conditions may change at night, during
which the scientists conducted no tests for pH. Aside from just the effects of the
Chesapeake Bay on the surrounding life, the two interact on several levels. Not only do
the conditions in the bay affect the organisms in and around it, but these organisms
produce a returned influence on the bay itself. Research supports that bacteria, which
account for some impurity in the water, originate from the waste and feces produced by
other animals. Over 76,000 dogs and cats and over 2,000 cows and horses live in the
Charlie Todd
11-5-13
3B

Back Bay sector of the watershed in Virginia Beach, along with large, increasing
amounts of wildlife such as nutria, beavers, turkeys, muskrats, ducks, and deer. This
abundance of animals in the environment must therefore contribute to the waste levels
and insanitation in the bay. The Back Bay Restoration Foundation has examined the
ethics of this situation, and as a result encourages people and farmers to dispose of
wastes appropriately. For, restoring the Chesapeake Bay damages the economy and
budget of the local foundations and governments. In another experiment, scientists
from St. Marys College of Maryland observed the acidity in the water and determined
that another of its causes may be the release of carbon dioxide from phytoplankton.
This discovery offers yet another instance of biological interaction with watershed
pollution.
Biology addresses the issue of watershed pollution in a variety of effective ways.
Scientists connected the quality of the water in the watershed to the health and
presence of oysters, the waste discharge of animals, and the carbon dioxide dissolution
from phytoplankton. Only a few limitations, such as money and sampling bias, emerged
in this illustration of scientific discovery, but in comparison, they did not hinder the
benefits of biology as a problem-solver. Science has truly attested its universal
interdependence and importance to society, simply by assisting in the attempt to restore
a local watershed.