Great Miami Loramie

Melanie Cohn Drew Taylor

Kaitlynn Sandstrom

Miami Loramie Watershed

Our watershed is located in western Ohio north of Dayton.These areas are rural and have lots of agriculture.

Our watershed has 6 major impairments. The highest were habitat alterations, nutrient enrichment and siltation.

Mercer Auglaize

Miami

Shelby

Champaign

Darke

Montgomery

Clarke

Definitions• IBI- It measures the diversity of fish.• Nitrites- Chemical compound that is found in fertilizers and septic tanks.( NO2)

• QHEI- It measures habitat quality of streams.• Riparian-The area next to the stream.• Substrate- Bottom of the stream, healthy streams have a rocky bottom.•DO- dissolved oxygen, which fish need to breath.

Melanie’s HypothesisThe healthier the Substrate (river bottom), the

better the IBI score(fish diversity) will be.

Bad Good

mucky sandy gravel rocky

Reasoning:• Substrate creates breeding grounds and shelter.• Rocky substrate is able to support a larger

diversity of fish species.

0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.00.0

10.020.030.040.050.060.070.0

f(x) = 1.9206717950547 x + 14.4663844448459R² = 0.606106943432085

Average IBI and Substrate Score

Substrate Score

IBI

Scor

e

Results:The data I looked at gave evidence to

support my hypothesis.

As the QHEI decreases so does the IBI.

Reasoning Vegetation prevents erosion and

provides shade for fish.Vegetation stops most runoff.Meanders and healthy substrate

provide different habitats for fish.

KAITLYNN’S HYPOTHESIS

0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.00.0

10.020.030.040.050.060.070.0

f(x) = 0.543144861933124 x + 6.35203990397168R² = 0.700839751486877

QHEI and IBI

QHEI Score

IBI S

core

•Melanie and I have the same outliers. • An outlier is data that does not follow the trend. • We think that the outliers may be caused by an

unusually high COD.

When looking at our data I found evidence supporting my hypothesis.

Melanie and Kaitlynn’s ConclusionWe concluded that our hypothesizes were supported

by the data and there are ways to improve the IBI.People can improve the riparian zone to help slow

erosion and provide shade.Thankfully there is a program set in place called the

Bonus Filter Program. If the people who own the land near the river put in

grass they get $90/acre. If they put in woodlands they receive $500/acre.

After the buffer zone is put in, the land can not be used for animal grazing or growing hay.

Drew’s HypothesisWhen Nitrite goes up IBI goes down.

Regressive

Relationship

•Nitrite helps algae grow. Later when dead algae rot lots of DO is used.•Fish need DO to breathe.

•If the nitrite increases the fish will die or they will swim to a new habitat.

0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.400.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

f(x) = − 88.6091682100144 x + 47.3997948020098R² = 0.558095333917564

NO2 & IBI

NO2 in ppm

IBI S

core

When I compared the data, my graph showed evidence that my hypothesis was correct.

Drew’s Conclusion The Nitrite helps algae grow . Sometimes too much Nitrite gets into a river. We can stop from having too much Nitrite into the watersheds. We can help homeowners, businesses and farmers from letting Nitrites runoff into the river.

We can reduce the amount of fertilizer used.

Adding more buffer zones will help block runoff from entering the river.

Why Should We Care???

Healthy fish Healthy stream

Good Drinking water for us.

Healthy fish Good Fishing

A BIG thanks to:

•Ohio Supercomputer Center • YWSI• The Ohio State University• Teachers and Counselors •American Electric Power•Battelle• P&G• Ingram White Castle Foundation

Acknowledgements