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Using Real Data for Science and Math: Examining Watershed Characteristics

Teachers Mini-Project

Warm-up Exercise on Watersheds

Using the web page http://tycho.cfm.ohio-state.edu and the Introduction and Watershed Characteristics sections explore the definitions for:

• watershed
• the hydrologic cycle
• riparian
• meanders
• sediment
• biodiversity

1. Look at the pictures along with the definitions so that you know what a "healthy" or "good" watershed is and prepare to discuss one of its characteristics.

2. With your group, find or think of three human activities on a watershed that will change the hydrologic cycle by changing the amount or location of water, the habitat, or the quality of the water that gets to the stream. Here are a couple of examples to get you started:
Oil, grease, dirt, and other materials from streets wash off during rain storms and end up in the stream.
A farmer straightens out the meanders in a stream to make their field more regular in shape.

3. If you have time, begin exploring the Sampling Watershed Quality section of the site. We will come back to that.

Getting Started on Your Project

Here are the major steps you need to go through to get started on your project and some hints for the kinds of questions you need to answer. Your group can split up these tasks and then talk about them to begin to form your project hypotheses.

1. Using the watershed your group picked or was assigned, read about the current conditions in there from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency site. You can get there by starting on the watershed classpage and then clicking on the first map as shown to you. Then click on your watershed and you will see a detailed map and a menu. Click on the View Causes and Sources of Impairment button and look at the list of major problems. Use the rest of the buttons on the EPA website and the rest of our class site to interpret what each of the general problems with the watershed is.

2. Look through the maps in your class book for your watershed. Compare the average and maximum levels of the chemicals and the IBI and ICI biology measures with the Big Darby Creek (which has nearly the best quality). There are also segment (stream section) data on the EPA website that tell more specifically what is wrong with each part of the stream (if anything). Make notes on the problems and their possible causes, and the current conditions of different parts of the stream. Where is it "good"? Where is it "bad" or "impaired" (which is what EPA calls "various kinds of bad"). You can print out parts of the web pages and make notes on them or start an electronic notebook on your laptop using Microsoft Word. Ask for help on this if you need it.

3. Now look more carefully at your maps and your Excel datasets. Each of the points has information on the biological quality and some of the chemical pollution measures that have been taken in that stream over the past several years. You can look at the following to try to figure out what the data show you:

IBI value - the higher the number, the better the fish diversity. You can see the definitions for this on the web pages.

ICI value - the higher the number, the better the macroinvertebrate diversity.

Land Use - your land use map may show you areas where there are obvious impacts because of where cities are built or other human changes to the watershed.

Average and maximum chemical concentrations - what should the relationship be between the levels of chemicals and sediment and the biological measures? As the chemical concentrations go up, what should happen to the fish and macroinvertebrates? Will the average or maximum values be better indicators of what happens to the living things in the stream? Make some initial hypotheses about these relationships in your stream.

Habitat change - look at the QHEI value and some of its components. The higher the number, the better the rating for the habitat. As that rating goes down, what should happen to the fish and macroinvertebrates? Form some hypotheses about these relationships.

Point source pollution location and amount - some watersheds have specific data on where pipes from polluting industries and sewage treatment plants dump into the streams. The EPA site also has information on stream sections where this is a problem.

4. With your group, make a summary of all of the possible problems that are occurring in your watershed and what the hypotheses are with the biological, habitat, and chemical datasets.

5. Now figure out some tests of your preliminary hypotheses using the graphing and simple statistical functions of Excel. Begin testing your hypotheses with the real data.

6. Draw some preliminary conclusions and discuss them with your group and the instructors.

7. Make an outline of a final presentation that goes through your watershed description, hypotheses, results, and conclusions. What did you find out about your watershed?