Skip to Main Content

The Maryland Envirothon Aquatic Ecology Resource Site

Maryland Envirothon logo Aquatics logo

Updated March 2018

This is the study guide for advisors and students participating in the Maryland State Envirothon competition. The four topic areas and listed objectives are similar to the Envirothon curriculum guidelines but note that changes have been made to reflect Maryland’s main topics for 2018. Fifth topic questions are sprinkled throughout the test; due to the transient nature of the 5th topic, specific objectives have not been defined. Questions for the test were generated from each resource. At the least, students will be responsible for the information related to the specific objectives listed below. In the case of web page links, only the opening page of the link was used for question generation unless marked otherwise. With PDF documents, students should study the complete document, unless specific pages are listed. Please feel free to contact Cindy Etgen at cindy.etgen@maryland.gov​ if you have any questions.

2018 Aquatic Ecology Training

2018 Aquatic Ecology Training Power Point


I. Abiotic Factors

  1. Know the processes and phases for each part of the water cycle and understand the water cycle’s role in soil nutrient erosion, and climatic influences.
  2. Understand the concept and components of a watershed and be able to identify stream orders and watershed boundaries. Know the feature of a healthy watershed and an unhealthy watershed. Understand why aquatic organisms and water quality is affected by the physical, chemical, and biological conditions of the water; this includes changes caused by climate change.

II. Biotic Factors

  1. Understand the dependence of all organisms on one another (food web) and how energy and matter flow within an aquatic ecosystem. This includes oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon.
  2. Identify common, rare, threatened, and endangered aquatic species as well as Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) through the use of a key.
  3. Know how to use a dichotomous key to identify animals.
  4. Be familiar with aquatic plants and animals visually and descriptively.

III. Aquatic Environments

  1. Identify aquatic and wetland environments based on their physical, chemical, and biological characteristics.
  2. Know characteristics of different types of aquifers, and understand historical trends and threats to groundwater quantity and quality.
  3. Know Maryland’s physiological provinces.
  4. Be able to describe the difference between native, non-native, and invasive species


IV. Water Protection and Conservation

  1. Interpret major provincial and/or federal laws and methods used to protect water quality (surface and ground water)
  2. Be familiar with the federal, state, and county agencies that provide oversight of water resources.


V. Western Rangeland Management and Pasture Management

VI. Resources:

Basic Information about Watersheds (home page only)
https://www.epa.gov/hwp/basic-information-and-answers-frequent-questions

Conservation Choices for Maryland Farmers (Know the appropriate names for the BMPs described, and special attention to pages 3 & 6.)
http://mda.maryland.gov/resource_conservation/counties/ConservationChoices_2012_FINAL%20(1).pdf

EPA Chesapeake Bay TMDL
https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-07/documents/bay_tmdl_fact_sheet.pdf

Georgia Adopt a Stream Manual Chemical Stream Monitoring, (Chapter 2 Chemical tests) https://adoptastream.georgia.gov/sites/adoptastream.georgia.gov/files/related_files/document/MC_Ch2.pdf

Intro to an Ecosystem
http://www.Chesapeakebay.net/content/publications/cbp_13039.pdf

Invasive Description
http://dnr.maryland.gov/Invasives/Pages/Invasive-Description.aspx

Learn About Watersheds (home page only)
https://www.epa.gov/hwp/benefits-healthy-watersheds

*Macroinvertebrate Dichotomous Key (section 7).
http://vaswcd.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Key-to-Stream-Macroinverts.pdf

Maryland Department of Natural Resources Invasives (review fact sheets) http://dnr.maryland.gov/invasives/Pages/default.aspx

*Maryland Freshwater Fish Dichotomous Key
http://dnr.maryland.gov/streams/Documents/fishkey_2003_09edits.pdf

Maryland Streams: Take a Closer Look (pages 7, 9, 12, 16)
http://dnr.maryland.gov/ccs/Publication/00012830.pdf

Summary of Estimated Water Use in the United States in 2010 (front page only)
https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2014/3109/pdf/fs2014-3109.pdf

USGS, Water Science School - Water-Cycle Summary (Scroll to freshwater storage)
https://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercyclesummary.html

USGS Water Science School-Hydroelectric Power
https://water.usgs.gov/edu/wuhy.html

* Provided at State Test


VII. Other Resources (good for background or general knowledge)

In addition to the resources listed above, you can find useful information below about various aquatic topics. Keep in mind that test questions do not come directly from these sources.

Chesapeake Bay - Official Chesapeake Bay Program Website

http://www.chesapeakebay.net

EPA Water Conservation Plan Guidelines
http://www.epa.gov/watersense/pubs/guide.html

Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health
http://www.invasive.org/


VIII. Teacher Resources

Project WET/Healthy Water, Healthy People/Discover a Watershed
For information on these materials, please contact Cindy Etgen at cindy.etgen@maryland.gov or visit The Aquatics Resource Education website

Eyes on the Bay
http://www.eyesonthebay.net

WOW! The Wonders of Wetlands
Environmental Concern visit: http://www.wetland.org/