Dissolved Oxygen
Dissolved
Oxygen (DO) is necessary to sustain most forms of aquatic life. Atmospheric oxygen
is introduced into water through the processes of diffusion, aeration and
the photosynthesis of aquatic plants. Some of the factors that decrease DO
are warm temperatures, decaying organic materials, impaired water movement
and over abundant human activity. Excessive organic decay is usually present in swamps, or areas that commonly have low DO content. Times Coffee Shop (Site
2) is a good illustration of such an area and had an extremely low DO reading
of 0.7.