Project Title: Effect of turbidity on the reaction distance of Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus) & Bluegill Sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) in Columbus, Ohio
Project Mentor: Suzanne Gray – School of Environment and Natural Resources
2021 Autumn Undergraduate Research Festival Presentation_Katherine Oriyo
2021 Autumn Undergraduate Research Festival Presentation Slides
Hi Katherine! I thought your presentation was really interesting and informative on different factors that people don’t think about such as reaction distance and how that’s impacted by turbidity. Great job! I also had a question: Do you think that the level of turbidity has an impact on the results? Is it important to make sure that the level of transparency of the water was constant when using this treatment type for both of the species or would that not impact the results?
Hi Samira! Thank you for watching my presentation glad you enjoyed it. In regards to water clarity between the two treatment types and individual turbidity levels it is very important to keep things as consistent as possible for both the species and individual fish as it could have an impact on results. With the clear treatments having it below 5 NTU and turbid treatments being ~20NTU (+/- 2 NTU) allows for some wiggle room during trial runs as there is little variation in water clarity. Let me know if I answered your question and once again thanks!
Katherine! I’m from Cleveland and I remember reading about the algal bloom every year wiping out the fish populations. Its super interesting that you took the research more into the realm of how fish populations are affected by turbidity. Although you didn’t make any conclusions about the turbidity connection, I think you did some really great research that should pave the way for further research into turbidity.