Maryland's Ecology and Environment

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Maryland is the 42nd largest state, making it one of the smaller states in America. It is

located in the South Atlantic region on the United States eastern seaboard. Prince George's is

one of twenty four counties in Maryland. It is also the geographic center of the state. Maryland

has a varied climate. The state is home to a variety of different ecosystems. This is also true of

Maryland’s environment, which has the Atlantic Ocean on the coast, mountains, and forest land.

My paper will focus on Prince George’s county and the state of Maryland. The size of the state

and how connected parts of Prince George’s county is to its neighboring counties and cities

makes it sensible to take a wider view of Maryland’s ecology and environment.

There are many fresh water ecosystems in Maryland. Many of these are found in Prince

George’s County. There are several streams and rivers in the county that feed into the

Chesapeake Bay. Many of these water ways developed after glaciers began to melt flooding

existing rivers and craving out new waterways. The Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries grew and

formed as the ice age ended. These rivers and streams are home to several species of fish. These

species include small and large mouth bass, catfish, bluegill sunfish, yellow and white perch,

carp, pumpkinseed sunfish, pickerel, and eel. Perch and sunfish are considered threatened or

endangered species. This is true of many creatures that live in fresh water dwellings. Forty –

one percent of Maryland’s fresh water fish are now listed as rare, threatened, or endangered. The

state of Maryland and Prince George’s county are trying to save and restore these fresh water

dwellings. The county along with the ...

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...ill,

Deborah J. Chaloud, Elizabeth R. Smith, &Anne C. Neale. (1997). An Ecological

Assessment of the United States Mid-Atlantic Region. United States Environmental

Protection Agency, Washington D.C.

Maryland Department Natural Resources Responding to Climate Change. (2011). My Green

Guide Maryland. Retrieved from http://www.mygreenguidemaryland.com/Land-

Conservation-and-Preservation-in-Maryland/maryland-department-natural-resources-

responding-to-climate-change.html

Maryland’s Environment: A 20,000 Year History of Change. Retrieved from

http://www.jefpat.org/archeobotany/PDF/PaleobotEssay.pdf

Stranko, Scott , Kilian, Jay, Becker, Andy, Klauda ,Ronald & Dan Boward (2009). The

Blackbanded Sunfish, Protecting Maryland’s freshwater Ecosystems. Retrieved from

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/naturalresource/winter2009/sunfish.pdf

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