Intern column: Pollinator trends can be indicators for water quality if we are paying attention

The following column was written by Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association summer intern Theadora Duane. You can contact her directly via email by clicking here. 

​We’ve heard it all before. One domino can cause the rest to topple. One beat of a butterfly’s wings can alter life as we know it. One drop of water causes wide ripples. One move can change everything.

While these cliches are a bit dramatic, they do hold some truth.

Taken literally, the ripples caused by a drop of water are simply a result of energy transfer and surface tension. Depending on what’s in those drops, though, the impacts exceed that which we can directly see.

​Water pollution is an ever-present threat. Commercial, industrial, agricultural, and our everyday practices contribute to water pollution. As rain water rushes towards our river, so do pesticides, fertilizers, waste, sludge and other harmful substances. Once these pollutants find their way to our Susquehanna River, the Chesapeake Bay and our health, suffer the consequences.

But we are not the only organisms impacted by water pollution.

When we consider the food chain, it all starts with plants. We may eat them directly or get our nutrients from the animals that eat them. But what helps the plants grow? The obvious answer: water. But when that water is contaminated, the growth process of plants is disturbed.

Plant populations are weakened by pollution, leaving them susceptible to heartier invasive populations. Those native plants that do survive carry the chemicals from the water alongside the nutrients.

Water is not the only thing keeping these plants alive, though. They thrive due to a symbiotic relationship with pollinators, like bees, who rely on their nectar as a food source. When this nectar is impacted, or native plants decrease in numbers, this food source is taken away. As a result, the pollinator populations can decrease rapidly.

“What’s happening to them is what’s going to happen to us," said Cornell University-certified Master Beekeeper Tiffany Ayers. "Their life cycle is weeks, our life cycle is decades. We can foresee what’s coming by simply looking at a life cycle that is much faster moving than our own.”

She urges us to pay attention to the number and health of pollinators around us to know the full extent of the damage we have done to our waterways. These small insects serve a major role in indicating the health of our environment.

“We just need to be sure we’re paying attention,” she suggests.

We encourage people to monitor their local waterways for pollution, to get involved with watershed groups and be active in helping out. You can get started by taking our online Susquehanna Survey and we can help connect you with the right resources in your part of the watershed.