In Lab, you will be examining the water quality of Raquette River and Woodstock

Question

In Lab, you will be examining the water quality of Raquette River and Woodstock Pond. In your own words, how would you define water quality? What factors would you consider to determine if a body of water is healthy or unhealthy? Based on your knowledge of the two locations of these bodies of water, develop a testable hypothesis about these two bodies of water.

Find a relevant news article that discusses coral bleaching and ocean acidification. Explain the relationship between ocean acidification and global climate change.

Explanation / Answer

Water Quality is referred in terms of chemical (chemical composition), physical (color, odor etc) and biological characteristics which are measured in relation to the requirement by any biotic species which lives into it or related to human needs.

To determine if a body of water is healthy or unhealthy water quality indicators are measured which includes measurements of parameters like dissolved oxygen (DO), Water temperature, pH, Escherichia coli (E. coli), Specific conductance, Transparency, visual tests etc. in addition biodiversity indices and biotic indices in microinvertibtares can also be used to determine water quality.

DO: unhealthy water bodies have less dissolved oxygen content compared to healthy bodies. It is measured in milligrams per liter.

Temperature: measured in degree Celsius. Optimum temp is healthy for living organisms.

pH: normal range is 7-8 which is indicator of optimum pH required by living organisms.

E. Coli: High value in E. Coli colony forming units represents more human and animal waste in the water body.

Conductance: It is the ability to conduct electricity. More conductance means more industrial pollution due to increased inorganic dissolved solids.

Water quality of Raquette River and Woodstock Pond. can be tested by biological (benthic microinvertebrate) assessment and nutrient biotic index.

Benthic microinvertebrates are classified according to their sensitivity towards pollution in following categories

Semi-sensitive to pollution, sensitive to pollution, tolerant of pollution and semi-tolerant of pollution

So to conduct the test organisms can be collected and tested for biodiversity and water quality.

Hilsenhoff’s Biotic Index can be determined by using benthic organisms to check water quality and Simpson’s Biodiversity Index can be determined to analyze biodiversity.

Ocean Acidification: when fossil fuels are burned mainly carbon di-oxide is evolved due to combustion and about 25 % of CO2 hence generated is absorbed by the oceans. When CO2 dissolves in water it reacts with water to form carbonic acid which leads to lowering of ocean pH and make it acidic; the process is known as ocean acidification. Carbonic acid dissociates into hydrogen ions (H+) and bicarbonate ions (HCO3–).The added H+ ions combines with carbonate ions(CO32–), forming more HCO3 –  due to which less CO32– is available for calcification (the formation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) by marine organisms such as corals. The healthy coral reef in supports a highly diverse group of species but now due to ocean acidification, coral bleaching takes place. The disappearance of coral reef ecosystems would be a tragic loss of biological diversity. In addition, coral reefs provide shoreline protection; a feeding ground for many commercial fishery species, and a popular tourist draw, so coastal human communities would suffer from greater wave damage, collapsed fisheries, and reduced tourism.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse I
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.