Answer/address all of the following questions. In all cases, we require that your work be typed and that you insert any tables, figures, and statistical outputs from R.
1. Measure one bush, one palm plant, and one leafy plant.
2. Define autochthonus and all ochthonous. Give one example of an autochthonous AND one example of allochthonous input into an ecosystem of your choice.
4. A monitoring project was started in Biscayne Bay to detect nutrients in the water. In 2019, a large sewer main rupture occurred, releasing raw sewage into the bay. The researchers at the monitoring project recorded the levels of nutrients in the water for 1 week before and for 1 week after the sewage rupture. They also measured the amount of Sargassum that washed up onto nearby Miami beaches during those weeks, as an indicator of its growth.
a. What is the limiting nutrient for the growth of seaweed before the sewage rupture? Show your work.
b. What is the limiting nutrient for the growth of seaweed at after the sewage rupture? Show your work.
c. Based on the limiting nutrient before and after the sewage rupture, explain what is happening to the nutrient balance in the Biscayne Bay aquatic ecosystem when the sewage rupture occurs in the area. Then, given the change in amount of seaweed, what may be happening to this species and to the plant community structure in Biscayne Bay?
