Biodiversity Improves Water Quality Through Niche Partitioning

By Ligia Pasc and Tyler Wood

IntroductionDiverse ecosystems have proved particularly good at removing pollutants from human interaction

Importance• People claim that there is no technological

way to solve the many environmental problems facing us today.

• Increasing Biodiversity is a natural method for improving the quality of surrounding ecosystems.

Why we Chose this Article

Relevant to class material

Prominent to where we live

Presents information about water

pollutants

A step towards solving the water crisis

Question Asked

How does biodiversity help cleanse water of pollutants?

Niche Partitioning

Methods Used Two changes in the environment

1) Stream Flow (Heterogeneity and homogeneity)

2) Temporal Disturbance

Eight different algae

Figure 1

Figure 2

Relevance to Sustainability

Water Crisis Biodiversity Pollution

Results Obtained

Algae absorbs more pollutants through niche partitioning

Significance of Results

Rivers with heterogeneous environments can house more biodiversity, therefore reducing the amount of pollutants in the water

What Was Unclear?

No clear description or diagrams of “flumes” used in experiment

Different method types not clearly explained

Complex figures with confusing graphs

Future Experiments

Could test other environmental factors such as moss in forests, or plankton in the ocean

Limits of pollution in inhabitable water for algae

THE END