Question

Write a one-page mini-proposal for a research project that would test your hypothesis.

Introduce the objective of your research. Use scientific species names and specific names of communities/habitats/biomes, focus on ecological interactions, and include scholarly references*. Describe the experiment you propose to conduct. Describe your controls and the kind of measurements you would take, with scholarly references*. Explain how your results could refute or confirm your hypothesis. Using scholarly references*, propose which ecological problem(s) your project could potentially contribute to solving? (e.g.: conservation, sustainability)

Answer 1

Ans. Of all the major ecological problems one which has been recently came across is the salinisation of the fresh water. Salinisation of fresh water has posed a major threat for the health of the rivers and the ecosystem services which human derive from them. A rise in salinity would result in severe biodiversity losses which would result in thriving of exotic species. If the salinity increases the number of species would tend to decrease at a specific site and there would be migration of species from specific site. Resulting in the imbalance of the species population.

The major reason for salinisation is dryland, agriculture irrigation and minning. The use of salts as deicing agents for roads has also been widely regarded as one of the reason for salinisation of fresh water. Due to high salinisation there would be it would lead to biodiversity loses. It is followed by huge environmental and economical loses as well.

Salinisation can be prevented by considering the following measures:

1) Monitoring ground waters and managing levels of salt in it.

2) Stoppping loss of deep rooted vegetation.

3) Encouraging preventive actions for movement of salt towards water.

4) Retain and regenerate native vegetation.

5) Avoid building dams at sites where water table is high.

6) Maintain good pasture cover.

Soil and water testing on numerous occasions would be useful for the determination of salanity and controlling its level.