Study Area Resources

 NOAA Climate Data Record CDR ... on NOAA OneStop this one could be helpful to analyze some climate data about the study area 

James River (VA) at Richmond-Westham (noaa.gov) this one could be useful to analyze water level and flooding conditions of the river so I will keep this in mind going forward

State of the James | James River Association (thejamesriver.org) state of the James is a good post made by the James River Association which will give me a look into the state of the river that is updated regularly and has a lot of information on the river health which will be helpful going forward

Web Soil Survey

 I used the web soil survey to see if I could collect any data about my study area after searching for the area I saw there was this data set available for download, so I did so. I then read the metadata for this dataset to learn more about what the data contained and how it was collected. After that I uploaded it to arcGIS pro and observed some of the different attributes that the data contained which is outlined in the bottom picture. Overall, it was helpful, and I will most likely continue to study and use this data going forward for the study area.

A map of my study area

 My Study Area (google.com)

I also downloaded QGIS which is the free GIS software and messed around with it a little bit. I am in the process of learning GIS on my own because I really want to be able to have that skill. Although I am still very much a beginner I will keep learning GIS in the next couple weeks and hopefully apply some of those concepts to mapping my study area.

Ecology Slides

Ecology Presentation

Importance of biodiversity

 The variety of life on earth is essential to live an enriching and meaningful life. With more variety, an ecosystem is much more resilient to change and obstacles and can bounce back when something occurs. Without biodiversity there would be no way for life to survive and much less thrive. 

My definition of biodiversity

 

Biodiversity is the amount of unique species in an ecosystem. These species can be autotrophs such as plants or heterotrophs such as animals. Biodiversity also changes over time due to extinction and evolution. (adapted from "What is Biodiversity" by the Smithsonian)

Rationale for choosing the James River

I chose to study the James River for my area of study because it is in my hometown and is one of the most important natural resources in the state of Virginia. I have spent countless hours enjoying this river with friends and family and want to do whatever I can to make a difference in its development.