Are Freshwater Polls Affecting Alabama's Biodiversity Of Life?

Hypothesis: High amounts of algae growing in the salt marsh will cause a large decrease in the mud snail population.

Biologists Robin Seeley conducted an experiment in which she gathered periwinkle snail shells on Appledore Island and measures their thickness. The time period in which she has found the snails was before the inhabitation of the European green crab. Eighty years later, the shell thickness of the snails were measured again and recorded. This time, the inhabitation of the european green crab has increased significantly and the thickness of the snail shells has increased. She has concluded that when the crabs arrived on the island, they began to eat the thin shelled snails because their shells were easier to crack.

Alterations of environmental conditions appear constant to aquatic organisms that live within rocky shore ecosystems. The Zebra-top Snail was examined species within the following report, found on intertidal rocky shores of south-east and West Australia. The reaction and mass change of the Zebra-top Snail was examined whist carrying out this experiment. It was hypothesised that the Snails placed into higher salinity water will attempt to find higher ground, and their mass will be less than their original weight. The Snails were placed in water, each containing different amounts of salinity, as the rate of reaction was examined. The Snails placed in greater salinity showed a significant response in reaction within 10 minutes of observations.

The macroinvertebrates graph (figure 2) represents the diversity of species inhabiting the Baldwin Swamp. In 2009 the Baldwin swamp was flourishing with a large diversity of species. A total of 33 macroinvertebrates, 8 species were recorded. At this time the baldwin swamp was healthy, abundant in life and the ecosystem and food webs were unaffected by the floods. Whereas 3 weeks after the floods swept through there were little to no range of species of macroinvertebrates. There were a recorded amount of 2 Damselfly Nymph and 1 waterboat man. A theory to why these two

The Blanding turtle are freshwater medium sized turtle usually found in The Great Lakes Regions in USA and in Canada. They are from the omnivorous species and usually eat crayfish, small animals, and plants. Their life histories traits occurs between April and November, as May and April tend to be more for mating and Early June for nesting. Less than half of these females will actually go on to reproducing. Many of these turtles can actually live up to sixty to a hundred years in age. Though these turtles spend a majority of time in the aquatics they also come on to the mainland. This is were the problem starts to occur and this is why the Blanding sea turtles are currently threatened and may soon be extinct. It is because of us humans that these species are currently facing habitat loss, have threatened nesting areas, and are unable to get from nesting areas to the lakes because of manmade roads. Why should we as humans care so much if these Blanding’s turtles go extinct? These turtles play an important

The American horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) has persisted largely unaltered for millions of years (Smith et al. 2006), and has ancestors that date back 450 million years (Swan, 2005). Limulus polyphemus inhabits the eastern coast of the United States (Goode & Wahle, n.d., Swan, 2005), from the Yucatan Peninsula to the Gulf of Mexico (Shuster, 1979; Moore & Perkin, 2007). Limulus polyphemus are found within estuaries, coastal embayments, and on the inshore continental shelves near the mouths of estuaries, usually in waters that are less than 30 meters deep (Botton et al. 2003; Sekiguichi & Shuster, 2011). Four species of horseshoe crabs exist worldwide; however, Limulus polyphemus is the only species found in the United

Nutria are large semiaquatic rodents that appear to look like beavers with long, thin tails, however they are considered to be an invasive species. They survive in swamplands and typically other wetlands surrounding Louisiana. These organisms have created a problem to the Louisiana environment by creating openings in the marsh vegetation that sustains the Louisiana coastline and by weakening flood control levees that protect low-lying areas. Nutria are also known for their high procreative rates. Because of this, maintaining a well balance between the factors of supply and demand are difficult. Preventive measures and other available techniques have been presented in order to alleviate ongoing damage and to reduce the levels of damage already

Mississippi is one of the most biodiverse states in the nation. Because of this biodiversity, the vast forests, rivers, and plains provide food and shelter for a host of animals. Species in Mississippi include everything from birds and mammals to mussels and fish. In the waters of Mississippi and the Mississippi River, there are over 280 species of fish. These species include carp, bass, and many others. However, the fish that is most known in Mississippi is the catfish.About 60% of all the catfish raised in the US are grown in Mississippi. Despite this popularity of catfish in Mississippi, many might be surprised to discover how many species of catfish there are and how they live and thrive.

For our experiment we had four predictions. For the control there should have been a relatively low number of snails at the surface or above the water. The setups with just crayfish in the water and just crushed snails in the water would have had similar response and numbers of snails at and above the surface. The setup that would have the severest response would be that containing crushed snails and crayfish in the same fish tank. In this group most of the snails were predicted to be above the surface of the water. These predictions are due to the chemical awareness and response of snails due to predation (Lab 8- Behavioral Response of Prey to Predator Presence 2016).

spatula is commercially harvested in Louisiana, Texas, and Mexico (DiBenedetto 2009). This fish has had a long history with humans as Native Americans would make jewelry out of the scales and bones (Suttkus 1963). Many people do fish for them recreationally; bowfishing and hook and line fishing are becoming more common as they are seen as a trophy fish (Alfaro et al. 2008; DiBenedetto 2009). This fish is important to the local economies as the average yearly harvest of A. spatula in Louisiana is roughly 225,000 kg and brings over $500,000 into the economy (DiBenedetto 2009). It was once seen as a threat to sport fishes but now attitudes are changing (Brinkman 2008). The populations of A. spatula do not currently occur in its full historical range and only limited attempts are being made to encourage its spread back into its historical range (Buckmeier 2008 McDonald et al. 2013). The main factor that has been cited as the cause of the decline is the loss of floodplain connectivity that served as the spawning area (DiBenedetto 2009). The building of levees, dams, and other structures that disconnect the rivers from backwater areas and floodplains not only reduce the amount of flooding events but has also greatly hindered the ability of A. spatula to reproduce sufficiently (Brinkman 2008; DiBenedetto 2009). This native fish is not known to be used as bait, but, because of the major disturbance to the spawning habitat, is of concern to many management agencies (Buckmeier 2008; McDonald et al.

The rich habitats of the Gulf of Mexico help make it one of the most ecologically and economically productive bodies of the water in the work. The meeting of land and sea along more than 16,000 miles of coastline from Texas to Florida creates a wealth of ecosystems (National Geographic Society, 2010). The dynamic mixing of saltwater and freshwater and the daily infusions of sediments from rivers nourish areas that provide habitat for wildlife and protection from pollution and storms (National Geographic Society, 2010).

Beavers, as ecosystem engineers, can reshape the geomorphology, hydrology, and biotic composition of a channel through their activities. By doing so, beavers increase habitat heterogeneity plus species diversity at the landscape scale. Sometimes a beaver’s activity will disturb humans and cause them to question the benefits of beavers. The question of whether beaver activity is a public nuisance or beneficial ecological restoration has much to do with people’s understanding of beavers. The abundant geomorphic and ecologic literature on beaver processes seem to have been generally overlooked in the debate of public policy. Since there is very little scientific literature showing the benefits or consequences of beavers on urban environments, our study seeks to fill those gaps so that communities can make more informed decision about their beavers. We found that natural and beaver-dammed streams did not have a higher biodiversity when compared to urban and non-dammed channels. We recorded great similarity across all sites for bird diversity but not as much for the plant communities. While this experiment did not display that any one group was more diverse than the others, it may indicate that many of these identified species can now live in urban environments and support other organisms that would usually steer clear from human settlements.

In the Gulf of Mexico region, some of the species of birds that live in wetlands include white egrets, ibises, anhingas, blue herons, and roseate spoonbills. In fact, wetlands are some of the most productive ecosystems in world. Wetlands provide a habitat for more aquatic and terrestrial species on an area basis than any other habitat type, making them among the most ecologically important ecosystems on earth (Comer et al., 2005). In the Gulf, wetlands are also home to many endangered species such as the Louisiana black bear, wood stork, snail kite, and Bachman’s warbler. In fact, more than one-third of the United States' threatened and endangered species live only in

I have gotten in touch with you on behalf of Adam Burns from Troy Athens High School.

All of the changes we as a society have adjusted to over the past few decades have created revolutionary milestones for our everyday lifestyles and habits. Thanks to these advancements, we are also given a glimpse of what our society may become in the near and distant future. One of the most evolutionary aspects to today’s society is the cell-phone. As of today, our society most definitely takes the idea of cell-phones for granted, since they are now so easily accessible and common. But cell-phones weren’t nearly as useful and convenient to society decades ago. Throughout the nearly seventeen years of my life, I have observed how much society has improved technologically. How cell-phones became such an important part of our everyday lives is the idea that I am most curious about.