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Write An Essay On Fish Research Paper

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The fish in EcoMUVE died because of a chain reaction of abiotic factors leading to the lack of dissolved oxygen. The first event occurs on the first playable date, June 30, when fertilizer was put on the ground. This is qualitative data from the quote of NPC Manny saying, “I think this extra fertilizer I picked up should do the trick.” Subsequently, on July 6, a storm caused a surface runoff. Consequently, phosphates and nitrates in the fertilizer fled into the pond, causing phosphates to be at 0.1 and nitrates to be at 0.56. Phosphates and nitrates are nutrients for plants, therefore algae populations grew higher (Bluegreen algae to 1300, Green algae to 5500) and phosphate and nitrate levels went back down to .03 and .33 respectively. The algae did photosynthesis, which produced dissolved oxygen, thus from July 6-16 dissolved oxygen levels were around 9-10. The large number of algae increased the amount of chlorophyll (chlorophyll at 100), which increased the amount of turbidity (turbidity at 65). Turbidity blocks sunlight, therefore the algae could not do photosynthesis. Algae populations plummeted after July 16, for they could not produce food because they are autotrophs. Ultimately, these …show more content…

From July 16-25, bacteria started to feed off the dead algae matter. The bacteria population skyrocketed, becoming 8x higher than it used to be on July 10 (5,000  40,000). Not only was little dissolved oxygen being made, but also the last of the oxygen was being used by the bacteria. On July 22 and 25, dissolved oxygen levels were 5.4 and 4.1 respectively. On July 28, bluegills and largemouth bass died because of the extremely low oxygen levels and high turbidity levels. Their populations were both zero. Minnows survived the incident. This is due to the fact the field guide states “[Minnows] can survive even when the water reaches high temperatures, has high turbidity, or has low

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