Final Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 4

Final Project - Essay Example To prove this, data from Anne Arundel, Talbot, Dorchester, Calvert County, and their relative Chesapeake Bay areas, will be collected and compared. Excessive amounts of nutrients can cause the growth of microscopic plants algae. When its population explodes or thrives, the water quality depletes. The water itself appears cloudy and blocks sunlight to the aquatic plants (SAV) that need the precious sunlight for their survival. When they dont get this energy, they die. These aquatic plants provide food and shelter for Bays inhabitants. Fish and crabs are among the prime animals. Overall, the whole Bays habitat is damaged. Algae grows due to excessive nutrients. And preventing sunlight from reaching the aquatic plants is not the only problem they cause. By blocking the sunlight, they also reduce the oxygen levels in the water during certain months. This is especially true through the summertime as decaying algae starts to sink in the water. The microscopic animals and bacteria feed on these plants. This process consumes the limited oxygen present in the water. As a result of the dying algae and hot summers the oxygen levels in the Bays water start to decline, killing different organisms in the process. It is very difficult to find data on this topic. The Chesapeake Bay area is enormous and finding this complicated, and huge volume of data is a time-consuming process. The primary sources used to obtain data for this study were; First the research area was selected. Then a focused area was selected using ArcMap. This process revealed the permanently preserved agricultural lands. Talbot, Dorchester, Calvert and an Anne Arundel are the four primary agricultural areas. Later the priority preserved agricultural areas were identified such as Annapolis in Anne Arundel. The data revealed oxygen levels less than 0.2 mg/l in anoxic