AY Honors/Environmental Conservation/Answer Key

1. What is the difference between ecology and environmental conservation?

Ecology

Is defined as "the study of how organisms interact with each other and their physical environment."

Environmental conservation

Is defined as "the rational use of the environment to provide the highest sustainable quality of living for humanity."

2. Write a 500 word essay on how the increase in human population is threatening our existence on earth.

The most important threat to our existence on earth today is that of global warming. The human activity that has the greatest effect on warming is the release of greenhouse gases such as C0₂. For your research into this issue, see the following Wikipedia articles:

• Global warming
• Greenhouse effect
• Kyoto Protocol
• Carbon offset

Other factors include Overpopulation and Deforestation. Can you think of others?

3. What does the term “death” of a lake or river mean? Is there a lake or river in your area or country which is classified as “dead”?

The death of a lake or river is said to occur when it becomes so polluted that it can no longer support life (such as fish, turtles, crustaceans, etc). The most famous dead river is probably the Cuyahoga River in Ohio which actually caught on fire many times, helping to spur the environmental movement in the late 1960s.

Fires plagued the Cuyahoga beginning in 1936 when a spark from a blow torch ignited floating debris and oils. Fires erupted on the river several more times before June 22, 1969, when a river fire captured the attention of Time magazine, which described the Cuyahoga as the river that "oozes rather than flows" and in which a person "does not drown but decays."

This event helped spur an avalanche of pollution control activities resulting in the Clean Water Act, Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, and the creation of the federal and state Environmental Protection Agency. As a result, large point sources of pollution on the Cuyahoga have received significant attention from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency in recent decades.

Water quality has improved and, in recognition of this improvement, the Cuyahoga River was designated as one of 14 American Heritage Rivers in 1998. Pollution remains, however, including nonpoint source problems, Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs), and stagnation due to water impounded by dams. For this reason, the Environmental Protection Agency classified portions of the Cuyahoga River Watershed as one of 43 Great Lakes Areas of Concern.

4. Carry out a stream investigation of a small stream flowing through or near your home town. Check for the following:

a. Signs of Purity

• Minnow up close2.jpg

  (1) Abundance of small fish present

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  (2) Water visually clear and fresh smelling

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  (3) Stream banks covered with vegetation down to water's edge.

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  (4) Small amounts of green algae in water (light green in color)

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  (5) Some aquatic plants present, such as cattails, arrow-leaf, or pickerel weed.

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  (6) Turtles present in the stream

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  (7) Crayfish under stones in the stream

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  (8) Sandbars covered with growing weeds indicating relatively stable water level

b. Signs of Stream Deterioration and Death

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  (1) Large masses of blue-green algae present (dark green in color)

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  (2) Scoured banks from high water level during storms

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  (3) Putrid smell of the water

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  (4) Detergent foam present

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  (5) Trash sticking out of mud and sand bars along the stream

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  (6) Water loaded with silt

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  (7) No aquatic insects or fish present

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  (8) Presence of raw sewage

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  (9) Presence of oil on the surface of the water

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  (10) No salamanders or frogs under rocks along stream bank

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  (11) Stores or small factories dumping their wastes into the stream