The beaches at a nearby lake have been closed because of high E. coli counts. The lake is surrounded by agricultural areas and summer cottages. We know that different species of vertebrates have different E. coli strains in their digestive tracts. What represents a hypothesis for the source of the high E. coli counts?

Question

Biology

Abram Coffey

28 January, 20:07

The beaches at a nearby lake have been closed because of high E. coli counts. The lake is surrounded by agricultural areas and summer cottages. We know that different species of vertebrates have different E. coli strains in their digestive tracts. What represents a hypothesis for the source of the high E. coli counts?

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Answers (1)

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Laura · Answer 1

Runoff from dairy farms causes high E. coli counts

Explanation:

Based on the scenario being described within the question it can be said that one hypothesis for this would be that the runoff from dairy farms causes high E. coli counts. This is because this runoff caries vasts amounts of organisms across the land and brings various animals which drink from the excess water and spread and increase the e. coli count.