Aquatic Ecology

Mentor: Mike Ryon

Facilitator: Art Stewart

The aquatic ecology group went to Town Creek, Rock Springs Park, Fox Run, and Brushy Fork Creek. At these points, we took TSS (Total Suspended Solids) samples, took a turbidity reading, used a heli-trap to catch loose solids, and took a habitat evaluation of each spot. We also counted snail species Eliminia and Pleurocera and recorded the data. Our mentors had placed sediment traps with ceramic cylinders in them in the creeks two weeks prior to our arrival. We took out the traps and measured how far some of the cylinders had been carried from the traps. In the second week we went electrofishing to count and record the species and the amount of that species in each area. In the lab we conducted two experiments. In the first experiment, we were trying to determine how the amount of sediment in the snail's environment affects its eating habits. We placed 14 medium sized Elimia in cylinders. In these cylinders we placed 500ml of water and equal amounts of lettuce. In some of the cylinders we placed no sediment, some moderate sediment, and some a large amount of sediment. After 24 hours, we removed the lettuce and weighed it to see just how much the snails actually ate. The second experiment involved deposited sediment and the movement of snails. We placed 1mm of sediment in 2 phototrays, and 3mm in 2 trays.

Aquatic Ecology Photos