Kealia Pond!

Kealia Pond Fun!

Introduction:

Kealia Pond National Wildlife Reserve is home to endangered species. The water in the pond is brackish because it is connected to the ocean. In the summer the water line shrinks and leaves a salt mark. Thus, Kealia Pond means “the salt-encrusted place”. The endangered birds, the Hawaiian Stilt and the Hawaiian Coot, nest in the plants when the water is low. California Bulrush is overtaking and killing those plants. If this goes on, the endangered birds will be extinct. California Bulrush spreads very easily by the seed pods on the top of the plant. The wind carries them all around. This study is significant to science because it helps us to know how to get rid of this plant everywhere. It will also help the birds to thrive which will in turn bring tourism to Kealia Pond.

California Bulrush

Kealia Pond Site

Full Picture of Keaila Pond

Our Study:

Our study was located at Kealia Pond. We were trying to see how we could get rid of the California Bulrush that invaded the area. There were three methods we used to try to do this. The first on was cut. We cut the plant just below the water line. The second method was spray. They sprayed the test area with herbicide. Then the third method was cut and spray. We cut the plants in our area to about our knee height and then sprayed it with the herbicide. We also had a control plot to determine the results of the study. Here are graphs of the results of the height of the plants and the density.

Conclusion:

We went back to Kealia Pond about two weeks later and found out that most all of the methods were successful. The cut method killed about half of the plants in the plot. The spray method killed almost all of the plants and the cut an spray method killed about a quarter of the plot. In my opinion, the spray method worked the best, but you still have to pull those plants out. If you do not want to do that, cut and spray would be best.

Hawaiian Stilt

Cutting

Cailtin With the Clippings

Hawaiian Coot

REEF Survey

REEF's mission is to conserve marine ecosystems by educating divers and letting them do the surveys. This helps REEF to keep good records of the fish abundance and variety in certain areas around the world.
For outdoor science, we went to a fishpond near our school to do an abundance and variety of fish survey there. The area that we swam in was inside the actual fishpond. We used masks and we swam all around in the water and looked for fish. The plan was to record the fish that we saw and then send that form into REEF.
When we got there and in the very cold water, the water was all murky and disgusting. We did not see any fish, partly because the visibility or turbidity was very low. The mud on the fishpond floor was sticky and gross. I think that the reason for all of these bad results was that there had been a big storm a few months ago that brought a lot of sediment into the fishpond and stirred up the water in it. Some say that before the storm that there was a lot of fish that lived in the fishpond. I don't think that it would be a nice place to live anymore. The fact that we saw no fish shows to REEF that this area has had a decrease in the fish population and needs help in restoring it.
For more information about REEF, please visit http://www.reef.org/