Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem Research Paper

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The Chesapeake Bay is a complex ecosystem and is similar to a living organism in that it needs certain things to live and stay healthy. The Chesapeake Bay ecosystem is a watershed with multiple habitats for animals and many different organisms. It's composed of forests, streams, and marshes. All of the animals and plants in these habitats thrive off of each other through different energy transformations and the recycling of it. Plants use the sun's solar energy to grow and carry out various tasks and transform nutrients from dead organisms or their wastes. The animals then eat these plants and through their waste or death, that energy is reused for different organisms. The animals and plants within these habitats survive through this cycle …show more content…
Human development continues every day and we constantly replace various ecosystems within the bay with the development of new residential, shopping, and work buildings. As stated in article 1 "Large tracts of land were cleared for various uses, leading to the loss of forests and habitat." The removal of these habitats causes great sorrow to the organisms in them and these habitats are vital for organisms to thrive and causes these habitats extreme decline. Also stated in Article 1" Intensive hunting practices led to the serious decline or extinction of some species like bison, turkeys, wolves, and certain fish." As well as clearing habitats, humans also hunt the animals that live in them, causing a decline through animals not being able to reproduce because of a lack of others to mate with, sometimes causing extinction. These ecosystems are easily hurt by these human developments, the Bay's health …show more content…
A healthy bay can provide a lot of the necessary resources for wildlife within it as well as a place for them to thrive and continue to populate. Buildings such as power plants and factories stationed in the bay need water to cool and take from the bay. The water they take is heated and sometimes thrown back into the bay, which causes unnecessary algae growth, which inhibits needed sunlight for plant growth. These plants that need to grow are a food source for various species. As stated in article 2 "When there is too much algae, the water becomes cloudy and blocks the light needed by underwater plants called submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV).". This sudden change in the environment disrupts the bay's habitat and causes more competition for food and resources needed for some organisms to survive and causes organisms to not get along. Furthermore, some animals and other species cannot adapt to our sudden environmental actions which causes them to have to relocate or die because of a lack of resources. Again stated in Article 1, "Today, elk, wolves, and cougars are extinct in Maryland." This is an example of how these sudden changes cause species to die off in this area because they cannot adjust to the human-dominated land and cause negative changes to the bay's ecosystem. Despite the negative actions humans cause to the Chesapeake Bay, we have put into effect some steps into restoring the
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