H2O Project Research Questions

Question 1: What role does water play in the plant and animal ecosystem at mission beach?
The main way environment affects the water nearby it is through pollution. When the water gets polluted, either through the air around it or from litter, it affects the quality of the water, and can kill life inside it. Once this happens, it can ruin the whole food chain inside the water. For example, if the plankton in the water die off, the creature that eats the plankton will die, and then the creature that eats that creature will die. This completely throws off the ecosystem. Pollution is not the only way outside forces affect the water - the ecosystem itself has a large effect on what happens all around, and therefore to the mass of water. Land based creatures may feed on creatures inside the water, and therefore, they may live in that area, so they can fish for food more easily. This will most certainly affect the life inside of the water even more.

Question 2: What outside forces affect the water at pacific beach and how?
Going back to the ecosystem - it all moves around in one giant circle. Like I said before, the outside environment can affect the water, which can in turn affect the outside environment. Animals aren't the only ones affected by this cycle, either. Plants are a huge part of the process. They need water to survive, so it's far more likely that more plant life will grow near a body of water. There are likely to be more trees, grass, and plants. Depending on the location of the water, it could affect it's environment in an entirely different way. If the area around the body of water is populated by people, they may have built homes and buildings nearby to or bordering it. This can be a problem is erosion happens. Erosion is a problem that commonly occurs with homes on hills near bodies of water. Water runoff causes the soil to soften, leading to a mudslide, and therefore, for homes (and sometimes lives) to be ruined. Water has potential to affect it's environment in both great and terrible ways, but when it comes to nature, we must always take the good with the bad.