Introduction

The ecological communities of Clermont College have been studied for many years by past biology and ecology students. Over the past few years, the college has gone through many changes with the destruction of habitat in the construction of new buildings or parking lots, along with the introduction of new species of plants in some areas. Now that all of the construction is finished, there is much to do in the way of mapping and cataloging the newly developing habitats along with evaluating the changes of the old ones.

Over the course of this quarter a few of these habitats have been studied, in particular, the pond area. For example the grassy area around the future wetlands was mapped off and added to the mapping data of the ponds themselves. Flora and Fauna sampling was done, and water samples of the area have been evaluated. By comparing these results with the well-documented results of previous years, conclusions can be drawn on how the populations of plants and animals have changed over the years. It is important that the communities of Clermont College, such as the future wetlands, be studied. Testing methods include soil analysis, flora and fauna sampling, tree surveys, water analysis, and studying environmental factors such as succession, and mark and recapture. The data will provide the ability to determine if a species is declining or taking over, or if the ponds need more shade to increase the levels of dissolved oxygen. The data provides the ability to recognize changes that can in turn prevent the destruction of this habitat along with encouraging new growth. Since this is one of the first few years of documentation of the future wetlands the information gathered is a vitally important basis for future studies.