Bryan Bowling Water and Animal Surveying of Deer Creek Watershed

The Dam

The Lake

Map and Site Locations I tested 5 locations for water samples and animal surveys Samples were taken from the Dam, Lake, Dry Run, Stone Run, and Opossum Run.

What’s being measured in the water? TurbidityFlow Mirkyness of the water samples m/s Tested by placing apple in water and measuring how long it takes to go 2 meters. Then divide that time in half.

What’s being measured in the water? pH Used litmus paper to test the pH of water samples collected.

Deer Creek Dam and Lake Water Samples DamLake

Dry and Stone Run Dry Run SampleStone Run Sample

Opossum Run Opossum Run Sample

Results of Water Analysis Deer Creek Watershed Turbidity (NTU) Flow (m/s) pH Lake Dam Opossum Run Stone Run Dry Run90.987

Water conclusion Overall, Deer Creek watershed continues to increase in terms of healthiness. Water is clear enough with most containments removed it would be excellent drinking water. In terms of flow the streams were moving at an exceptionally well pace, which could be do to the recent rain storms that hit. pH was acidic in a few spots, which is fine due to some parts of the watershed being naturally acidic.

The good water quality that I found in the Deer Creek watershed helps explain why the blue-breasted darters are making a comeback They’re known to be associated with good water quality Unfortunately I did not see any in my locations but doesn’ mean they’re not there.

Deer Creek Animal Survey This was done in the five spots where I took water samples: Lake, Dam, Opossum Run, Stone Run, and Dry Run The areas were monitored on average for an hours each looking for all species. Results are horrible!!! Results would improve though if I had another month to do the surveys, when animal life starts picking up.

Survey Results LakeDam SpeciesCommon nameCount Corvus brachyrhynchosAmerican Crow6 Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey2 Turdus migratoriusAmerican Robin14 Cathartes auraTurkey Vulture4 Agelaius phoeniceusRed-Winged Blackbird8 Cyanocitta cristataBlue Jay1 Cardinalis cardinalisNorthern Cardinal6 Tamias striatusEastern Chipmunk3 Mus musculusHouse Mouse1 Mustela visonMink3 Procyon lotorRaccoon2 Tamiasciurus hudsonicusRed Squirrel10 Mephitis mephitisStriped Skunk2 Odocoileus virginianusWhite-Tailed Deer5 Ictalurus punctatusChannel Catfish1 Pomoxis annularisWhite Crappie3 Sander vitreus x Sander canadenseSaugeye2 SpeciesCommon nameCount Corvus brachyrhynchosAmerican Crow0 Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey0 Turdus migratoriusAmerican Robin18 Cathartes auraTurkey Vulture3 Agelaius phoeniceusRed-Winged Blackbird6 Cyanocitta cristataBlue Jay0 Cardinalis cardinalisNorthern Cardinal2 Tamias striatusEastern Chipmunk1 Mus musculusHouse Mouse0 Mustela visonMink0 Procyon lotorRaccoon2 Tamiasciurus hudsonicusRed Squirrel16 Mephitis mephitisStriped Skunk0 Odocoileus virginianusWhite-Tailed Deer0 Ictalurus punctatusChannel Catfish0 Pomoxis annularisWhite Crappie16 Sander vitreus x Sander canadenseSaugeye26

Dry RunStone Run SpeciesCommon nameCount Corvus brachyrhynchosAmerican Crow5 Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey0 Turdus migratoriusAmerican Robin12 Cathartes auraTurkey Vulture6 Agelaius phoeniceusRed-Winged Blackbird12 Cyanocitta cristataBlue Jay3 Cardinalis cardinalisNorthern Cardinal4 Tamias striatusEastern Chipmunk12 Mus musculusHouse Mouse3 Mustela visonMink0 Procyon lotorRaccoon0 Tamiasciurus hudsonicusRed Squirrel18 Mephitis mephitisStriped Skunk1 Odocoileus virginianusWhite-Tailed Deer9 Ictalurus punctatusChannel Catfish0 Pomoxis annularisWhite Crappie0 Sander vitreus x Sander canadenseSaugeye0 SpeciesCommon nameCount Corvus brachyrhynchosAmerican Crow6 Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey1 Turdus migratoriusAmerican Robin18 Cathartes auraTurkey Vulture1 Agelaius phoeniceusRed-Winged Blackbird15 Cyanocitta cristataBlue Jay0 Cardinalis cardinalisNorthern Cardinal0 Tamias striatusEastern Chipmunk6 Mus musculusHouse Mouse9 Mustela visonMink2 Procyon lotorRaccoon0 Tamiasciurus hudsonicusRed Squirrel11 Mephitis mephitisStriped Skunk0 Odocoileus virginianusWhite-Tailed Deer2 Ictalurus punctatusChannel Catfish0 Pomoxis annularisWhite Crappie0 Sander vitreus x Sander canadenseSaugeye0

Opossum Run SpeciesCommon nameCount Corvus brachyrhynchosAmerican Crow9 Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey0 Turdus migratoriusAmerican Robin10 Cathartes auraTurkey Vulture6 Agelaius phoeniceusRed-Winged Blackbird12 Cyanocitta cristataBlue Jay4 Cardinalis cardinalisNorthern Cardinal3 Tamias striatusEastern Chipmunk12 Mus musculusHouse Mouse2 Mustela visonMink0 Procyon lotorRaccoon7 Tamiasciurus hudsonicusRed Squirrel5 Mephitis mephitisStriped Skunk0 Odocoileus virginianusWhite-Tailed Deer1 Ictalurus punctatusChannel Catfish0 Pomoxis annularisWhite Crappie0 Sander vitreus x Sander canadenseSaugeye0

Total Species Found Lake-17; most diverse species region I found, probably in large part this was the biggest water body monitored. Dam-9; mostly fish species were dominant here thanks to the many anglers. Dry Run-11; dominated by mostly small tree dwelling mammals and birds. Biggest deer population seen here due to the vast number of pastures. Stone Run-10; had very similar results to Dry Run, where it was dominated by small animal and bird species Opossum Run-11; dominated by many field dwelling birds and small animals. This is due to that particular area not having a lot of tree coverage.

Animal Survey Conclusion The data was alright, but could have been significantly better if studied in the summer months. That would boost the species number for each site to well over This is because you have to now add in insects, arachnids, and amphibians that will be spotted. Overall for the area to have the number and volume of species it did for the winter months, I’ll account that to good biological stability in the Deer Creek Watershed.