Ten invasive species of the Chesapeake Bay
- Blue Catfish.
- Mute Swans.
- Zebra Mussels.
- Nutria.
- Phragmites.
- Purple Loosestrife.
- Emerald Ash Borer.
- Northern Snakehead.
What kind of species live in the Chesapeake Bay?
It supports blue crabs, horshoe crabs and American oysters. In fact, humans get over 500 million pounds of seafood from the Bay each year! Sea turtles, eels, dolphins, rays, seahorses, and jellyfish also fill the Bay waters. And hundreds of thousands of birds call Chesapeake Bay their home.
What are 5 organisms that live in the Chesapeake Bay?
Larger creatures that thrive in the Bay include bottlenose dolphins, which are plentiful in deeper waters but can also be found near harbors. Water mammals share the watershed with their on-land neighbors such as river otters, the white-tailed and sika deer, bobcats, marsh rabbits, muskrat, and red fox.
What are some invasive species in the Bay Area?
Infamous Marine Invasive Species
- Green Crab (Carcinus maenas)
- Chinese Mitten Crab (Eriocheir sinensis)
- Clubbed tunicate (Styela clava)
- Vessel Biofouling.
- Ballast Water.
- Fisheries/Aquaculture.
- Oysters.
What are the most important species that live in the Chesapeake Bay?
Some of the most iconic Bay species—and perhaps the most important to the region’s recreation, economy, and way of life—include the blue crab, Eastern oyster, striped bass (also known as rockfish or striper), and Atlantic menhaden.
What is polluting the Chesapeake Bay?
Humans are directly responsible for the excess nutrients that enter and damage the Chesapeake. This nutrient pollution comes from fertilizing lawns, gardens, and farms. Nutrient pollution also comes from urban sources, including exhaust from automobiles, wastewater, septic systems, and stormwater runoff.
How many species are in the Chesapeake Bay?
The mixing of freshwater with saltwater from the Atlantic Ocean in the Chesapeake Bay creates the nation’s largest estuary, home to more than 3,700 species of plants and animals.
Are there sharks in the Chesapeake Bay?
The answer to the question is, yes. At least 12 species of sharks are known to visit parts of the Bay, and can be found here between summer and fall.
Are there natural hazards in the Chesapeake Bay?
Chesapeake Hazards: Floods and Flooding.
Are there octopus in the Chesapeake Bay?
The brief squid is the only cephalopod in the Chesapeake Bay, a group that includes squids, octopuses and cuttlefish.
Are cats invasive species?
Today, more than 100 million feral and outdoor cats function as an invasive species with enormous impacts. Every year in the United States, cats kill well over 1 billion birds. This stunning level of predation is unsustainable for many already-declining species like Least Tern and Wood Thrush.
How do invasive species get into the bay?
Invasive species are primarily spread by human activities, often unintentionally. People, and the goods we use, travel around the world very quickly, and they often carry uninvited species with them. Ships can carry aquatic organisms in their ballast water, while smaller boats may carry them on their propellers.
Why is the black rat an invasive species?
The widespread distribution of black rats, their ability to exploit virtually all available tropical island habitats and competitive dominance over congenerics on forested islands (Harper, 2006, King et al., 2011) make them the most likely invasive rat species to continue spreading.
What are the 3 major causes of habitat loss in the Chesapeake Bay?
The three major causes of habitat loss in the bay are increased pollution, development, and climate change (Habitat Degradation).
What is the Chesapeake Bay known for?
The Chesapeake Bay has the largest land-to-water ratio (14:1) of any coastal water body in the world. More than 100,000 streams and rivers thread through the watershed and eventually flow into the Bay. Everyone within the Chesapeake Bay watershed is just minutes from one of the streams or rivers.
What are the major problems facing the Chesapeake Bay?
Unfortunately, the Chesapeake Bay faces serious problems due to human activities, including polluted stormwater runoff, over-fertilization and pollution from animal wastes, deforestation, wetland destruction from agricultural, urban, and suburban development, and sea level rise caused by global climate change.
What is the biggest pollutant of the Chesapeake Bay?
Nitrogen Airborne
Nitrogen. Airborne nitrogen is one of the largest sources of pollution affecting the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Excess nitrogen can fuel the growth of algae blooms, which can block sunlight from reaching underwater grasses and create low-oxygen “dead zones” that suffocate marine life.
Why is the Chesapeake Bay so dirty?
This excess nitrogen and phosphorus feeds algal blooms that block sunlight to underwater grasses and contribute to the formation of dead zones, areas in the Bay and its tidal waters without sufficient levels of oxygen.
Is Chesapeake Bay a dead zone?
Plant and animal life are often unable to survive in this environment, which is why the area is referred to as a “dead zone”. The main way in which nutrients can enter the Bay is through polluted runoff flowing from its tributaries around the watershed.
What are 5 facts about the Chesapeake Bay?
10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Chesapeake Bay
- The Bay holds about 18 trillion gallons of water.
- Only about half of the water in the Bay comes from the ocean.
- Roughly 51 billion gallons of water enter the Bay each day from the 100,000 streams, creeks, and rivers that feed it.
How deep is the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel?
40-foot
The Chesapeake Channel tunnel is 5,450 feet long and provides a 1,700-foot channel with 50-foot depth and a 2,300-foot channel with a minimum 40-foot depth. The maximum roadway grade in the tunnels is 4 percent.