City officials planned the placement of the playground, hiking trail, and parking lot
around the pond. In response to concerns that polluted water would run off of the
parking lot and into the pond when it rains, they decided to place the parking area
as far from the pond as possible. A mulched playground was built on the other side
of the pond, and a new hiking trail winds all the way around the pond. Many trees
were removed to make room for the parking lot, playground, and hiking trail.
Your job as an environmental scientist is to study the impact the park has on the
pond ecosystem. The pond contains trout and catfish. Catfish are very tolerant of
pollution, but trout are much more sensitive and die off easily when exposed to
excessive pollutants. Before the land and pond were disturbed by the construction
of the playground, hiking trail, and parking lot, you counted the number of fish in
the pond. At that time, Cypress Pond contained 100 trout and 100 catfish. Now you
need to design an experiment to monitor the park’s impact on the populations of
trout and catfish over the next 12 months
Develop a hypothesis for the experiment