This is my final week in Maine as a research and coastal training program intern for the summer. I have mainly been studying the detrimental effects of nitrogen runoff. The three-year project that I helped start looks at Branch Brook and the Merriland River in the Little River Watershed. We selected 20 sites to analyze nitrogen runoff and how it affects the fish, the macroinvertebrates, the river habitat, and the water quality itself.

Nitrogen is a natural fertilizer in the environment, however excess nitrogen from lawn fertilizers can also run off into our streams and rivers. The boom in nitrogen can cause eutrophication, an algal bloom of algae and phytoplankton in the water. This can block sunlight from getting to the bottom of the water column, not allowing aquatic plants any sunlight to perform photosynthesis and produce oxygen for other organisms. When the algae die and decompose, the process uses a lot of oxygen from the water column. This causes a dead zone in the water where no fish or plants can survive.

Coming from the Chesapeake Bay area, I know a good amount about dead zones. It is common to read about them in the newspapers every week in the summer. For me, it is hard to accept that I will not be able to make a great difference in slowing down frequency of eutrophication in the Chesapeake. However, I felt as though this project at the reserve will make a difference. Here in this watershed, we are working to find buffered and unbuffered streams, however it is hard to find an unbuffered stream. At home in Maryland, it is extremely hard to find a buffered stream. The wildlife is so much more abundant here because of the regulations and monitoring that places like the reserve do. We are working on preserving an already healthy ecosystem, and this data can provide a baseline of information for other ecosystems to model after. I feel extremely privileged to have had the opportunity to work for the Wells Reserve. I know that this is a great step toward the career that I want and a summer that I will never forget.

To read more about the negative effects of nitrogen and phosphorus, visit EPA Water Quality Criteria.