Is Your Local Ecosystem Healthy?
Abstract:
The purpose of studying this question was to collect data from all of the close and
local ecosystems and use that data to graph the difference between invasive species
and the total number of species found. When researching, I recorded data from
Southport Island to Bristol and included the specific cove, lake, or preserve and the
number of different species found. The different ratios of invasive to total species I
found using my graph, were: 10:3, 9:4, 3:2, 6:3, 5:3, 8:4, 8:4. This shows that invasive
species covered about 50% for every location except Hendricks Head beach.
Introduction:
The essential question I am studying is: Is your local ecosystem healthy? I am
interested in this question because I live the ocean. I want to know if the ocean near
where I live is healthy, if it isn’t I want to research and find out what I can do to help.
If it is, I am interested in how I can keep it healthy. Researching this essential
question will help me stay in touch with the current issues of my local ecosystem.
This is a very important subject to study because ecosystems need to be healthy in
order to last for a long amount of time and maintain the native species. According to
the Damariscotta River Association, “The Damariscotta River Estuary is in relatively
good health.” And invasive species got graded an F due to far below carrying
capacity and management goals and minimal controls. During my study, I will be
researching and studying: biodiversity count and native and invasive species survey.
After I have collected all of my data, I will determine the health of my local
ecosystem using that data. My hypothesis before I collected data was that most of
the areas our class has collected data from were fairly unhealthy because of the
amount of invasive species we found.
Methods:
To research, I used the Vital Signs website. I mapped the data and zeroed in on
Southport Island to South Bristol. I found clusters of data throughout each town and
examined each species found in the clusters. I recorded each found species and how
many different species were found with it to find the total number of species found.
The amount of invasive species was my dependent variable. The total number of
species found was my independent variable. This is because the number of invasive
species depends on the total number of species found.
Results:
After I collected my data, I ended up with this:
34 found species total— 24 invasive, 10 native
Hendricks Head, Southport Island— 10 species total— 3 invasive
Boothbay Harbor, Boothbay— 9 species total— 4 invasive
Sand Cove, Bristol— N/A— 2 invasive, 1 native
Jones Cove, Bristol— N/A— 3 invasive, 3 native
Miles Rd. Cove, Bristol— 3 invasive, 2 native
Library Park Preserve, Bristol— N/A— 4 invasive, 4 native
Rachel Carson Salt Pond, Bristol— 8 species total— 4 invasive
This graph shows the difference between the total number of species found and the
invasive species. The largest difference found was in the first bar, showing a ratio of
10: 3.
Conclusion:
The original problem is that invasive species are taking over our native species
populations. My hypothesis was that the areas our class has collected data from
were fairly unhealthy because of the amount of invasive species we found. I knew
my hypothesis was supported after I read the article from the DRA because they
stated that the ecosystem was healthy beside the fact of invasive species population
(and a couple of other things). After I collected all of my data, I also noticed that it
supported my hypothesis due to the ratio of invasive species to total number of
species found. This information is useful because now the scientific community can
focus on the issues that got extremely low grades. For example— the invasive
species control.
One problem I had while researching was that all of the study sites from Bristol
didn’t include all of the required data. The section that affected it the most was
when Bristol didn’t include the total number of different species that they found in
their area. This affected how my graph turned out because what I ended up having
to do was add the number of invasive species and the number of native species to
find the total number, rather than counting the number of total species that should
have been listed in the submitted data.
In terms of further study, it is not realistic that scientists can prevent all invasive
species from invading the native species habitats. So for now, I think focusing on
these affected areas and removing as much of the invasive population as possible
will be as helpful as possible. To do this, our local scientists need to continue doing
what they are doing. According to the National Wildlife Federation, the methods
they are using to stop invasive species are: create effective mechanisms to prevent
their introduction in the first place, to create monitoring systems for detecting new
infestations, and move rapidly to eradicate newly detected invaders. If scientists can
accomplish stopping invaders using these methods, I think it will put our
ecosystems on the right track and cause them to get an A+.