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oyster population and effect on the chesapeake bay
effect of reduction of oysters in chesapeake bay
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Amazing Oysters – The Bay’s Most Valuable Animal
Background
You might be surprised to learn that the most important animal in the Chesapeake Bay is the oyster. In addition to being a tasty dish on the menu at many seafood restaurants, and an important part of the economy of the Bay area, oysters play a critical role in maintaining the health of the Bay for a variety of reasons.
First, oysters are natural water purifiers. Because they are filter feeders, oysters help keep the water in the Bay clear by eating (or filtering) algae and sediments from the water. Oysters are such efficient cleaning machines that a single adult oyster can filter up to 60 gallons of water a day. Before the Chesapeake Bay’s decline, it took only three to six days for the oysters to clean the amount of water in the bay.
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Thin flat fish like skillet fish and blennies can slip in and hide in the small spaces within the reef.
These small fish live, feed and breed in the reef. Their larval forms eat oyster larvae and the mature fish are eaten by other reef residents such as mud crabs and striped bass. Reefs are shelter and feeding grounds for a variety of animals throughout the food chain including striped bass, oyster toad fish, puffer fish, skates, blue crabs, grass shrimp, mussels, sponges and barnacles. The diversity and abundance of species living in the reef area depends on the health of the reef. Not only do healthier reefs contain more oysters, but they also contain more fish and crabs.
Young oysters, called spat, need to attach to the older oysters shells in order to develop. The layering of oysters is how reefs are formed and grow as older oysters at the bottom die, and new oysters settle on the top. The reef grows both vertically and horizontally over time and the older a reef is, the more surface area it contains where other plants and animals can grow, hide, feed and
This ad is directed to many people in the Chesapeake Bay region because there are tons of pollution each year that are destroying the nation’s largest estuary, or part of a body of water where the fresh and salt water mix, and are also killing the Bay’s crabs, oysters, and fish, which is a huge industry in the area and also something the state of Maryland is known nationally for (Environment, p. 8). Pollution is destroying the Chesapeake Bay every single day, however now people are taking steps in the right direction to fix this problem but many people fear that time has run out.
One of the Bays biggest resources is its oysters. Oysters are filter feeders which mean they feed on agley and clean the water. The oysters feed on agley and other pollutants in the bay turning them into food, then they condense the food down to nutrients and sometimes developed pearls. Filtering the water helps the oysters to grow, and also helps clean the Chesapeake Bay. One oyster can filter 50 gallons of water a day, Oysters used to be able to filter the Bay in about a week. However, these creatures are now scarce in the bay. The Chesapeake Bays Oyster (crassostrea virginica) Population has declined severely because of over harvesting, agricultural runoff, and disease. Now the Chesapeake Bay is becoming polluted without the oysters and the water is not nearly as clean as it once was. The Chesapeake Bay was the first estuary in the nation to be targeted for restoration as an integrated watershed and ecosystem. (Chesapeake Bay Program n/d). This report will show the cause and effect of the Chesapeake Bay's Oyster decline on the Bay.
They also look after the quality of coastal waters by watering down, sifting, and settling deposits, left-over nutrients and contaminants. They are highly productive ecosystems and provide habitats and act as nurseries for all manner of life.
The Long Island Sound is an estuary, and is in fact one of the largest in the world. An estuary is a place where salt water from the ocean mixes with fresh water from the rivers that drain from the land. Moreover, like other estuaries, the Long Island Sound has an abundance of fish and other waterfowl that add to the natural balance of the island, as well as one of the most important economic factors (Tedesco). Like other estuaries around the world, the Sound provides breeding, feeding, nesting, and nursery areas for many species that will spend most of their adult lives in the oceans (Long Island Sound Study). Despite these similarities to other estuaries, the Long Island Sound is unique from anywhere else in the world. Unlike other estuaries, the Long Island Sound does not just have one connection to the sea but it has two. It has two major sources of fresh water flowing into the bay that empty into the ocean. It combines this two-...
The Chesapeake Bay is a large estuary located on the east coast of the United States. The bay is over 200 miles long and goes through Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. The bay has much to offer the locals. Many locals have made a career out of harvesting the bay's sea food. The bay's harvest and many of its other attractions bring tourists and in turn revenue for the area. Oysters and blue crab are a big part of the culture in the bay area. However, these organisms are in danger and need help.
The Chesapeake Bay is a large bay that stretches from Maryland to Virginia, fed by many rivers and streams that run from as far north as New York to Virginia and West Virginia.5 It is home to a plethora of plants and fish species, many of which the people of the area fish for food and supplies. The pollution present in the Chesapeake Bay is affecting the livelihood of both the fishermen and the fish – the less the fishermen haul due to the death of the species they catch, the less they get paid – and as consumers of these fish, we are consuming the toxins as well.
One of the Bays biggest resources is its oysters. Oysters are filter feeders which mean they feed on agley and clean the water. The oysters feed on agley and other pollutants in the bay turning them into food for them, then they condense the food down to nutrient and developed things like pearls.Filtering the water also helps the oyster to grow. One oyster can filter 50 gallons of water a day, Oysters used to be able to filter the Bay in about a week. However these creatures are now scarce in the bay. The Chesapeake Bays Oyster (crassostrea virginica) Population has declined severely because of over harvesting, agricultural runoff, and disease. Now the Chesapeake Bay is becoming polluted without the oysters and the water is not nearly as clean as it once was. The Chesapeake Bay was the first estuary in the nation to be targeted for restoration as an integrated watershed and ecosystem. (Chesapeake Bay Program n/d). This report will show the cause and effect of the Chesapeake Bay's Oyster decline on the Bay.
Not only are they a critical part of the bays ecosystem, but they serve as a primary food source for humans living near the bay. Some examples of fish from the Chesapeake Bay Program website include: Striped bass, Atlantic Croaker, Atlantic Sturgeon, and even Sandbar Sharks. Fish are at the top of the food chain in the chesapeake bay and they take a large responsibility in keep the ecosystem in check. Some fish feed on almost any living organism they can find while others search the bottom for smaller nutrients. Fish even serve as a food source for scavengers such as birds living along the
A first reason that the Bay should be restored, is because as explained in Source 2 , "The resulting low dissolved oxygen concentrations drive blue crabs from their preferred habitat and kill many of the small bottom organisms on which the blue crabs feed." Because human's outlet a lot of nutrients, it causes an excess growth of algea, which ends up inhibiting the blue crab and other organisms, and can possibly lead to extiction. It is important to save the many species that live in the area. Another reason in it pf great importance to save Chesapeake Bay, is because there are plants which serve as food to many other organisms, that are going extinct. For instance, "the atamasco lily"(Source 1). It has been in a great decline, and it supports many other life sources, if nothing is done to try and save it, then there will be even more animals or other life that will be hurt. It is important to save
In conclusion, the Chesapeake Bay is the largest Estuary in the United States. It is diverse with many different plants and animals. The bay is made up of salinity, temperature, and circulation (“Chesapeake Bay Program”). The Alewife and the Atlantic Croaker are different, unique, and interesting fish with many interesting characteristics. Humans can have a great or terrible impact on the bay by forming groups to help protect the bay, and polluting the bay with agriculture, urban and suburban runoff, and air pollution from all the cars. The Chesapeake Bay has a very big area of information to learn about. That is what makes the Chesapeake Bay such a unique estuary.
In the coral reef habitat, food consumption is based on sunlight. The sunlight gives food to the plants, bacteria and algae, which is eaten by the plant eaters or herbivores, such as parrotfishes. The bigger carnivores, such as the Whitetip Reef Shark, in the ecosystem then eat those fishes along with the bacteria and plankton in the water. On the other hand, the deep sea is based on dead animal bodies or waste, shown in the fake whale carcass in the deep sea exhibit. Organisms of the deep sea feed on waste because sunlight does not have the ability to reach that deep in the ocean. Nektons are the fishes that feed on the waste produced by the epipelagic zone.
Coral reefs are limestone ridges built by tiny, coral animals called coral polyps. These reefs form when a single, free-swimming coral larva attaches itself to a rock or another f...
Coral reefs “form the foundation of all atolls are composed of the skeletons of marine animals which have become fastened onto a rocky substrate in shallow warm water, rich in the calcium used for construction of the skeletons. Most often this attachment is to the skeletons of preceding
The outer layer of a reef consists of living animals, or polyps, of coral. Single-celled algae called zooxanthellae live within the coral polyps, and a skeleton containing filamentous green algae surrounds them. The photosynthetic zooxanthellae and green algae transfer food energy directly to the coral polyps, while acquiring scarce nutrients from the coral. The numerous micro habitats of coral reefs and the high biological productivity support a great diversity of other life.