Freshwater Perspectives

Government Agencies look for ways to access the health of streams and rivers, but how do they do it? Today we will talk about water quality indicators.

Today will be talking about sinkholes so lets find what sinkholes are. Sinkholes is the development of a depression in the ground caused by collapsing earth below the hole.Sinkholes can happen in many different ways but a major causes sinkholes is caused by karst processes which is the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks that slowly erode them away leading to the development of a depression in the ground.

Clean water, and the lack of it, is a major issue for many populations throughout the world. So how to people get clean water? Today we will see how the illegal actions of some help service populations in need.

Of all the fish in freshwater ecosystems, there are few as important as bluegills. Yes, this is a bold statement, but I say this because bluegills (other sunfish species) are the engines of many North American aquatic food webs. Think of how many zooplankton a bass would need to eat to get the energy found in one sunfish. You may have fished a bass pond without many forge fish (aka bluegills or some other small fish species) within it, and you’d likely caught larger bass that are stunted, skinny, and jaunty. Bluegill and sunfish serve as the much-needed bridge between zooplankton and larger fish in the aquatic food web.

Pablo Escobar left some large animals in Columbia, his Hippos. Once released they have caused tremendous issues to columbian ecosystems. This episode will cover just how many issues they have caused.

There is no denying that people love shrimp. The National Marine Fisheries service’s estimates that 9 billon lbs. of shrimp is consumed yearly worldwide. The United States average consumer eats 4 lbs. of shrimp annually. Shrimp is both wild caught and farmed. Shrimp farming is a method to intensively produce shrimp for food and dates back centuries, and Shrimp farming is 55% of the global shrimp production. Today, we will cover moderns indoor shrimp farming, that is springing up in in places like Indiana and Iowa.

The freshwater Loch Ness is a place of legend. This 23 mile long and 755 feet deep lake contains a greater water volume than all the lakes in England combined. The surrounding land contains nine picturesque villages as well as the Urquhart Castle. And of course, some believe that deep within the lake lies the Loch Ness monster. This podcast will cover the folklore surrounding the Loch Ness monster.

The China floods referrers to major flooding that occurred in the Yangze River in June to August 1931. In total, an estimated 2 million people died during the flood. 140,000 to 150,000 people drowned others died due to lack of food and diseases like colera. Some even estimate that 3.7 to 4 million fatalities leading this to be called one of the worlds deadliest disasters.

Bowfishing is a growing pastime in the US, but is it sustainable? Check it out here.