CW2 6241

From Environmental Technology

a)‘Wetland’ refers collectively to marshes, swamps, bogs and similar areas found between dry land and water along the edges of streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, and coastlines. Although most wetlands have standing or flowing water, many are dry for part of the year. For example, estuarine wetlands that are influenced by the tides may be dry twice a day. Several wetland types occur throughout the Chesapeake watershed due to its variability in typography, climate, soil, hydrology, salinity, vegetation and other factors. Estuarine wetalnds and Palustrine wetlands are thw two major groups of wetlands.

b)Protect and improve water quality, help control flooding and erosion, and provide habitat for terrestrial and aquatic life.

c) 35% of the orginal forests are gone.There are 50 major tree species and more than 2,700 different plant species grow in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

d) the forests protect water quality, create habitat for fish and wildlife, improve air quality, encourage recreation, and contribute to the economy.

e)heterotrophs- other feeders autotrophs- respire and also carry out photsynthesis

f) Other than the plankton being the food of zooplankton and so on up the line, the loss of plankton in the bay could deplete the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water and suffocate other estuarine animals.

g)This sort of thing definitely occurs inland in the form of air pollution from cars, fertilizer runoff from farms and yards, and treated water being put back into the Bay.Yes this a real problem and it gets worse everyday that we don't make a conscious decision as a society to stop degrading one of the few ecosysytems like this.