APES Livin’ Healthy

Keep Calm and Sample On

Greetings fellow environmental enthusiasts! The next few blogs will be about the current health state of our campus pond at Proctor Academy in Andover, New Hampshire. We will be using several different techniques to accomplish our goal of deciding just how pond life is here at PA. In order to determine the health of the pond, we will have to run specific tests and collect data that has to do with different parts of the ecosystem. These sections include the chemicals found in the water, pH levels, the state of the wildlife that inhabits the pond, wind speed, air temperature, landscape, etc.

Based on my prior knowledge of our campus pond, and of bodies of water in general in New Hampshire, I do believe that the pond is a healthy living system and a sustainable environment for small animals and critters in need of a place to locate themselves. Another contributing factor to this theory is the youth of the Proctor pond. The pond was completely redone, giving the water body a new and improved depth and its floors contents. If the renovation of the pond was a success and my observations/prior knowledge is correct, then our campus pond is its own healthy, sustainable ecosystem.




With all things considered, I do have several concerns regarding the flow of water around the inlets and outlet of the pond. With a mainly stagnant water body, it is easy for bacteria to build up. Murky water is actually just a build up of bacteria. The murkiness, for lack of a better word, in the water makes it very difficult for sunlight to travel through. Without sunlight, photosynthesis is not possible, and can potentially demote species growth (plants, small critters, etc.).







*All photos were taken by Hailey Towne*