U-High Creek Water Quality

The question being looked into is “What is the water quality of the U-High creek, based on invertebrates found in the U-High Creek? “Dissolved oxygen is oxygen mixed with water. The range to measure how much dissolved oxygen is in a solution is 1-14 milligrams per liter. This is important because fish and other organisms in the ocean breathe off of dissolved oxygen. Phosphorus is used to measure the relative acidity of solutions such as water. The range for pH is measured in 0-14 scale. 0-6 is unhealthy, 7 is neutral, and 8-14 is healthy. Nitrogen is an element that helps invertebrates survive because it has special proteins that help them grow. Nitrogen then enters as ammonia. The range of nitrogen ammonia should be between 1.3 and 2.2 mg/L at all times.
Phosphorus is a chemical element identified with the symbol (P). High levels of phosphorus can lead to pollution because it can kill plants and can create a dangerous form of pollution known as eutrophication. Aquatic invertebrates are simply animals without backbones that live in water. Different types of invertebrates may have outer shells to protect themselves. Invertebrates are references to help determine pollution levels of water. Depending on the amount and type of invertebrates in a body of water can change if the water is polluted. Collecting this data is an effective check on pollution. There are multiple pollutants that can affect the living organisms in water. They are sediment pollution (street runoff), toxic pollution (chemicals), thermal pollution (human activities), and organic nutrient pollution (too much nutrients). Invertebrates are very good at indicating if pollution is present in water. For example, they are stationary organisms. If pollution is present, it can be seen in the survivors. There are three invertebrate pollution tolerance groups that they can be assigned to.
They are pollution tolerant, moderately pollution tolerant, and pollution intolerant. Lots of organisms in the pollution tolerant group can indicate poor water quality, since the organisms can tolerate pollution. A large amount of organisms in the moderately tolerant group can indicate fair water quality. Many organisms in the pollution intolerant group can show good water quality. The groups are based off of their tolerance to organic nutrient pollution. Ecologists take samples of these invertebrates. A big group or absence of a certain invertebrate can help determine water quality. A healthy river has many different types of invertebrates feeding in many different ways. Diversity is a characteristic of stable, healthy ecosystems. If the water quality is low some organisms will not be able to live successfully, therefore the ecosystem will not have as much diversity, and the ecosystem will not be as healthy(River Watch). The sun is an important part of an ecosystem because energy flows from plants to each level of the food chain.(River Watch) Many things contribute into a healthy ecosystem including diversity and energy
flow. The water quality of the U-high creek is fair. Based on observations the water was not perfectly clear. The water was fairly murky for only being about 6 inches in height. The water may have been murky because there were pollutants in the water which would lead to lower water quality. A couple pieces of trash were in or near the creek. There were not very many living organisms in or near the creek. The only organisms that were noticeable in the creek were tadpoles. In order for an area to be successful there must be diversity, and there weren’t very many types of organisms living in or around the creek. Because there was trash in and around the creek, that could mean the creek is polluted and the water quality is fair.