Today we had a great day out on Cayuga Lake. We studied the effects of land use in the Salmon Creek Watershed on water quality in the lake. We learned that farming and road salting in this area could potentially have harmful effects on the lake when things like pesticides, manure, soil, and salt make their way into the streams.

Here, the first group measures the average depth of a cross section of the stream. We calculated that Salmon Creek was discharging approximately 93 cubic feet/second into the lake. We learned that this stream accounts for about 12% of all water entering the lake.


At one station on the boat we drifted a net through the water to catch the plankton (tiny plant and animal-like organisms that live in the water).













Then we went inside the cabin to get a closer look under the compound light microscopes. Here, JORDAN and STEVEN get a good look at some diatoms and Daphnia.
ARRRRRRR!