1. Chesapeake Bay

3. Largest estuary in the United States
Land and Ocean Meet
Protected
High Nutrients
One of the most productive ecosystem in world!

4. Widely Known Fishing Industry of
Blue Crab
Oysters
Clams
Striped Bass
No other American estuary has a higher yield

5. The Bay Is Not Healthy
Notice the green throughout the bay.

6. Causes of algal blooms
Excess nutrients in the water leads to an explosion of algae
the availability of nitrogen is no longer a limiting factor holding their growth in check.

7. What causes the excess nutrients?
Rivers and tributaries are bringing the nutrients to the Chesapeake Bay.
Farming
Fertilizers
Animal waste – 650 million lbs of chicken manure each year in just MD.
Sewage
– good article on chicken manure in MD

8. The problem of excess nutrients and algae
Algae die  detritus
Detritus  decomposed by microbes
Microbes explode
They have a lot of detritus to eat
Microbes use oxygen
Use up the oxygen in the water. (Now low dissolved oxygen)
Less oxygen  kills fish and other organisms that need the oxygen to live
Dead zone
Fish kill caused by nutrient build-up, Nanticoke River, Chesapeake Bay, 1992