Introduction to Ecology
A rare bolide hit what is now the lower tip of the Delmarva Peninsula, creating a 55-mile-wide crater. This crater now influences the course of the rivers that flow to what the crater has created known as the, Chesepeake bay.The chesepeake bay today has over 17 million inhabitants. But some inhabitants are very endangered because of humans, such as the clams. Clams have significantly decreased from the effect of intense fishing. Clams are not the only inhabitants that we are hurting, nitrogen and chemical contaminants are two types of pollution that harm both the air and the water. Which means all the all the inhabitants in the chesepeake are in danger.
Energy flow of the ecosystem
All abiotic factors in the chesepeake need energy to survive.Biotic factors, such as other organisms that share a particular habitat, may influence where an organism can live. Predator, parasite or prey, all are examples of biotic factors interacting within food webs.Abiotic factors are things like climate, geology, tides, currents and water chemistry. So the biotic factors control a big part of the populations in the Bay. So if a certain animal was to die out in a food web it would eventually have an effect on all of the organisms living in the Bay.
Interactions of the Chesapeake Bay
As seen in this food web the plankton get energy from the sun, the shrimp get energy from the plankton, the salmon gets energy from the shrimp, and the seal gets energy from the salmon and in this case the seal is the top carnivore. The energy flow through this food chain starts with the organisms that get energy from the sun. When all the organisms feed off of each other thay get energy to survive. So the food webs determines the population of organisms. Suppose the plankton went extinct, then there would probably be a major dedcrease in the organisms that feed off of the plankton.
Impacts on the Bay
Invasive species are animals and plants that are not native to their current habitat and have a negative effect on the ecosystem they invade. Phragmites is an invasive, aggressive marsh plant that grows throughout the Chesapeake Bay region, crowding out and replacing native plants that provide better wildlife habitat. Humans also effect the growth of organisms that live in the Chesepeake Bay. By intense fishing there has been a significant decrease in clams. Also as we pollute the air it endangers the health of organisms in the Chesepeake.