Britt Hallenberg
BIO366_photo1_pond
This photo was taken on January 21, 2018 on UNCW campus at the beginning of Chancellor’s Walk. It is a picture of a pond with a fountain in it. As on can see, there is much biodiversity in and around the pond area. Often with ponds or other bodies of stagnant water, a process of eutrophication can occur. This is when a lot of nutrients are somehow added to a body of water, which can cause a jump in growth of plant and animal life. Algae is one thing that can exponentially grow when this happens, sometimes covering whole bodies water. This can block sunlight from reaching the bottom of the pond and getting to other plants. Because the plants would not be getting light, they would eventually die and decompose. Bacteria helping with decomposition use oxygen in the water, which, if there is a lot of decomposition, a majority of the oxygen will be used, ultimately causing hypoxia in organisms. Hypoxia is when very little oxygen reaches the tissues of an organism. Luckily, this problem is avoided by the inclusion of the fountain in the pond! The fountain helps keep the water moving, preventing the buildup of algae on the surface and hypoxia in the organisms.
BIO366_photo1_pond
This photo was taken on January 21, 2018 on UNCW campus at the beginning of Chancellor’s Walk. It is a picture of a pond with a fountain in it. As on can see, there is much biodiversity in and around the pond area. Often with ponds or other bodies of stagnant water, a process of eutrophication can occur. This is when a lot of nutrients are somehow added to a body of water, which can cause a jump in growth of plant and animal life. Algae is one thing that can exponentially grow when this happens, sometimes covering whole bodies water. This can block sunlight from reaching the bottom of the pond and getting to other plants. Because the plants would not be getting light, they would eventually die and decompose. Bacteria helping with decomposition use oxygen in the water, which, if there is a lot of decomposition, a majority of the oxygen will be used, ultimately causing hypoxia in organisms. Hypoxia is when very little oxygen reaches the tissues of an organism. Luckily, this problem is avoided by the inclusion of the fountain in the pond! The fountain helps keep the water moving, preventing the buildup of algae on the surface and hypoxia in the organisms.