ECOL 1000L Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Riparian Zone, Riparian Buffer
DISCUSSION
Looking back on my data, I concluded that my hypotheses were correct in
that the bioindex was greater in Orange Trail than at Lily Branch. I hypothesized this
on the fact that the Orange Trail had a larger riparian buffer zone that would help
prevent erosion and pollutants coming in. Also, its land use was minor, such as trail
walking. Although there aren’t many potential sources of pollution, there could be
some factors such as litter from the people who walk the trail. Meanwhile, Lily
Branch is surrounded by roads and buildings which would inevitably give off runoff
water into the stream. Also, because Lily Branch is considered an urban water shed,
its impervious surfaces could have caused runoff into the water and could have
runoff pollution from cars. These factors also played a role in my hypothesis that
Orange Trail would contain more sensitive organisms than at Lily Branch. Orange
Trail had more sensitive species than at Lily Branch. This is because of the
differences in water quality at each location; the sensitive species are much more
likely to thrive in waters that is not polluted. Finally, my third hypothesis was that
the Lily Branch would have a larger cross section than Orange Trail. I based this off
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Document Summary
Looking back on my data, i concluded that my hypotheses were correct in that the bioindex was greater in orange trail than at lily branch. I hypothesized this on the fact that the orange trail had a larger riparian buffer zone that would help prevent erosion and pollutants coming in. Also, its land use was minor, such as trail walking. Although there aren t many potential sources of pollution, there could be some factors such as litter from the people who walk the trail. Branch is surrounded by roads and buildings which would inevitably give off runoff water into the stream. Also, because lily branch is considered an urban water shed, its impervious surfaces could have caused runoff into the water and could have runoff pollution from cars. These factors also played a role in my hypothesis that. Orange trail would contain more sensitive organisms than at lily branch. Trail had more sensitive species than at lily branch.
