1. Chesapeake Bay Research BY: Mica Jardine

2. It Is Important To Have A Variety of living Things In The Bay The Soft Shell Clams help to keep the bay clean by filtering their food from the water. The Wild Celery helps to keep the bay by being a food source. The Red Beard Sponge helps to keep the bay clean by being filter feeders. My research will show that Soft Shell Clams, Wild Celery, and Red Beard Sponge are important to the bay.

3. Soft Shell Clams The soft shell clams help to keep the bay clean by filtering their food from the water. They eat very tiny bits of Phytoplankton, small Zooplankton and bacteria. The water clams draw in, also contains dissolved oxygen. They can bury themselves in sand and still draw in water. Blue Crabs are the main predator if the Soft Shell Clams. They live in areas where there is no desolved oxygen. They can not draw their necks into their shells because it won’t fit. Next we will see why the Wild Ceelry is important.

4. Wild Celery Wild Celery is extremely important as a food source for waterfowl in the bay. They survive by producing their own food through a process called photosynthesis. In this process, plants use sunlight, absorbed by a green sediment. That energy is used to convert Carbon Dioxide and water into sugars which the plats can use for energy. They Provide shelter, and oxygen for animals in the bay waters. Wild celery grows in the fresh to slightly brackish water of the upper Chesapeake Bay and the bay’s tributaries. Wild Celery and other plants are called primary resources. Next we will see why the Red Beard is important.

5. Red Beard Sponge The Red Bread Sponge help to keep the bay clean by being filter feeders. They live in the Aquatic reefs. They eat dead or decaying plants of animals. Sea Slugs, Sea Stars, and Turtles eat these sponges. Red Red Sponges are the most common sponges found in the Chesapeake Bay. My conclusion will show my results that the aquatic creatures I chose are helpful to the bay.

6. Conclusion  All of these creatures are important some way to the bay. Soft Shell clams are important to the bay because they filter the food from the water. The Wild Celery helps to keep the bay by being a food source. The Red Beard Sponge help to keep the bay clean by being filter feeders.

7. Bibliography http://5thchesapeakebay.weebly.com/ http://bayville.thinkport.org/default_flash.aspx http://www.kidrex.org/