CW2:5273

From Environmental Technology

Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem

a) Wetlands are a type of landscape that come between a given body of water and dry land. There are two types of wetlands, estuarine and palustrine. There are many types of wetlands such as marshes, swamps, bogs, etc.

b) Wetlands protect and improve water quality, help control flooding and erosion, and they also provide habitats for terrestrial and aquatic wildlife.

c) There has been a forty percent loss of total forest area in the Chesapeake Bay. There are more than 50 tree species and 2,700 different plant species in the bay area.

d) The functions of the forest are to create a habitat for wildlife, encourage recreation, improve air quality, contribute to the economy, and protect water quality.

e) Heterotrophs, or animals, cannot produce their own food so they must feed on organic matter such as plants or autotrophs. Autotrophs produce their own food and provide oxygen for heterotrophs. In turn Heterotrophs breath out carbon dioxide which helps autotrophs in the process of photosynthesis. This cycle helps the ecosystem to continue in balance.

f) Plankton are a part of the ecosystem and play a part in its delicate balance, if all plankton were removed other parts of the ecosystem that depend upon it for survival would die off. If plankton were in an unnatural overabundance then the parts of the ecosystem that are dominated by it would die off and soon the plankton would follow.

g) The decimation and encrochment on wetlands is not just a costal problem but one that also effects other areas. This is a problem that we should definatly be worried about. Nature holds a delicate balance and when even one part of this balance is disrupted the shockwave is felt everywhere. In recent times humans upsetting the balance of nature has been linked to tsunami's, global warming, and hurricanes. This is not just a Chesapeake Bay problem, this is a global problem.