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C&O Canal, Pennyfield Lock, Potomac, MD
My second photo relates to Pennyfield Lock. This part of the canal is a critical habitat and ecosystem for bats and other organisms that help us mitigate climate changes, and because of the number of people who visit it, it improves education on climate change matters. The health of bat populations depends on interconnected factors including water quality, forest habitat, insect abundance, and human land use, demonstrating to us how changes in one part of an ecosystem can affect many others. Bats are sensitive to habitat fragmentation and climate change because both affect insect availability and roosting sites. This photo relates to SDG 13, “take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts,” since the lock helps mitigate climate change problems and given the number of people who visit the lock each year, it also aids in environmental education including adaptation. Pennyfield Lock is part of the Potomac River & C&O Canal corridor, and it is a really important part of the DMV’s aquatic ecosystems. Bats often forage over rivers because aquatic insects emerge from the water. Good water quality supports insect populations, which in turn support bats. Bats are also considered indicators of healthy ecosystems because they depend on intact habitats, abundant prey, and healthy food webs. (I will also add, as a bit of an aside, that the recent Washington, DC sewage pipe implosion and subsequent water and habit contamination is a strong risk factor for the pipes all the way up the canal to both MD and DC. Pennyfield Lock is right now undergoing aging pipe replacement to make sure we avoid seeing the same awful spills that DC underwent for several weeks this spring.)
C&O Canal, Pennyfield Lock, Potomac, MD
My second photo relates to Pennyfield Lock. This part of the canal is a critical habitat and ecosystem for bats and other organisms that help us mitigate climate changes, and because of the number of people who visit it, it improves education on climate change matters. The health of bat populations depends on interconnected factors including water quality, forest habitat, insect abundance, and human land use, demonstrating to us how changes in one part of an ecosystem can affect many others. Bats are sensitive to habitat fragmentation and climate change because both affect insect availability and roosting sites. This photo relates to SDG 13, “take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts,” since the lock helps mitigate climate change problems and given the number of people who visit the lock each year, it also aids in environmental education including adaptation. Pennyfield Lock is part of the Potomac River & C&O Canal corridor, and it is a really important part of the DMV’s aquatic ecosystems. Bats often forage over rivers because aquatic insects emerge from the water. Good water quality supports insect populations, which in turn support bats. Bats are also considered indicators of healthy ecosystems because they depend on intact habitats, abundant prey, and healthy food webs. (I will also add, as a bit of an aside, that the recent Washington, DC sewage pipe implosion and subsequent water and habit contamination is a strong risk factor for the pipes all the way up the canal to both MD and DC. Pennyfield Lock is right now undergoing aging pipe replacement to make sure we avoid seeing the same awful spills that DC underwent for several weeks this spring.)