What is the minimal amount of dissolved oxygen needed for most aquatic plants and animals to survive?
1. Dissolved oxygen can range form 0-18 mg/L, but most natural water systems require 5-6 mg/L to support a diverse aquatic population. 2. A dissolved oxygen level of 9-10 mg/L is considered very good. Generally, a higher dissolved oxygen reading indicates a better water quality. 3. A dissolved oxygen reading of below 3 mg/L is very stressful to most aquatic organisms and may result in death through suffocation. What factors are affected by the amount of dissolved oxygen in your watershed? 1. Increases in water temperature can cause changes in aquatic plants. For example, as the temperature increases, the rate of photosynthesis increases. As photosynthesis increases, the number of aquatic plants increases. This can lead to a number of plants or an algal bloom. The faster plants grow, the faster they die. When they die they are decomposed be aerobic bacteria, which consume oxygen in this process. This event may also decrease the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water, which organisms ne
