SENECA FIELD TRIP LABREPORT

QUESTION: Why is the water quality effecting the different population species of plants and animals in these waters?

DEPENDENT VARIABLE:

• Study of different species already there
• Amount of each in the same better or worst conditions
• Different locations
• Day difference

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE:

• Depth at all 3 locations

OTHER VARIABLES:

• PH
• Amount of dissolved Oxygen
• Temperature
• Turbidity

There are many factors that are bad to the success of aquatic ecosystems such as the levels of dissolved oxygen and PH. A deficiency of D.O. is a sign of an unhealthy body of water.  As mentioned in the Science on Seneca Manual, Seneca Lake is a primary source of drinking water and is useful to nearby towns and municipalities. The temperature of the lake varies. The lake can get as warm as 72 degrees fahrenheit  and it can as cold as 38 degrees fahrenheit. However all of the Finger Lakes are subjected to environmental harms such as; "agricultural pollutants, shoreline development, increasing recreational use,and the introduction of exotic species like the spiny water flea, zebra and quagga mussel and Eurasian watermilfoil". Theses environmental threats are factors that impact the water quality of Seneca Lake. As done in the Furnace Brook lab, water quality was tested by sampling macro-invertebrates present in the water, along with testing pH, Dissolved Oxygen, and Turbidity. By testing for the things mentioned above in the three soil samples taken from the lake, along with taking into account the environmental threats that impact Seneca Lake, the water quality can be determined. By seeing organisms that live or do not live in Seneca Lake, you can determine the water quality based on the organisms' pollution tolerance.

HYPOTHESIS: 
   Different organisms require different conditions. Such as salt water fish and those that live in fresh water. The salt water fish filter the salt and use it for different parts in their bodies. Verses fresh water fish. That's like putting a gold fish in salt water, they would die. They can't survive. Or like plankton different areas and plants and animals require many conditions to survive.

METHOD: 
    Find three different shallow water locations.

              2. Take the temperature of the 3 different locations.

              3.Find the pH values of all three locations

              4. Take a net and see what kind of MacroInvertebrates you get.

              5. Record your data.

              6. Find three different deep water locations.

              7.Repeat steps 1-5 for the deep water locations.

PROCEDURE:

• Collect an equal water sample from 3 of our locations 
• test for DO by adding 8 drops of the manganese(II) sulfrate solution (bottle 4167) followed by 8 drops of the alkaline potassium iodize azide solution (bottle 7166) to the LaMotte sample bottle
• mix it all up and wait 3-4 minutes to allow the orange/brown precipitate to settle
• add one level of sulfamic acid (bottle 6286) to the solution you made above 
• shake until all crystals have dissolved 
• pour this new solution from the LaMotte bottle into the titration tube up to 20ml
• fill the Direct Reading Titrator (0337) up to the 0 mark with the sodium thiosulfate solution
• put the titrator through the hole in the cap of the titration tube and stir in one drop of titrant until the bluish color is gone. 
• dump everything left over into a labeled waste container and clean with distilled water. 

Carbon Cycle

1.)breathing
2.)driving
3.)using products made in factories

Tropical Rainforests Biome

Tropical Rain Forests

Jaguars prefer wet lowland habitats, swampy savannas or  tropical rain forests. There favorite habitat is in the tropical and subtropical forests. Jaguars also live in forests and grasslands, living near rivers and lakes, in small caves, marshland, and under rock ledges; they live in shrubby areas as well. Jaguars are known to eat more than 85 species of prey, including armadillos, peccaries, capybara, tapir, deer, squirrels, birds and even snails. They don't just hunt on land, jaguars are acute at snatching fish, turtles and young caiman from the water. There are so many different plants in the rain forest. Some of the plants that include but aren't limited to vines, bromeliads, the passion fruit plant and the Victorian water lily. Vines in the rainforest can be as thick as the average human average human body and some can grow to be 3,000 ft long. A tropical rainforest
is the type of biome that occurs roughly within the latitudes 28 degrees north or south of the equator (in the equatorial zone between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn). This ecosystem gets high average temperatures and an astounding amount of rainfall.  About 1/4 of natural medicines have been discovered in rainforests.  Rainforests only cover around 2 percent the total surface area of the Earth, but really about 50 percent of the plants and animals on the earth live in the rainforest. You can find rainforests in many countries, not just in South America. They can be found in Alaska and Canada, as well as Asia, Africa and Latin America. There are two different kind of rain forest, and they include both temperate and tropical. The tropical rainforests are the ones that are most commonly found around the world. Rainforests help to regulate the temperatures around the world and the weather patterns as well. Rainforests are threatened each and every day, especially by practices such as agriculture, ranching, logging and mining. There were around 6 million square miles of rainforest in the beginning, but now because of deforestation, there are really only less than half of that still found in the world. Every second there is part of the rainforest that is cut down. In fact, you probably lose over 80,000 football fields worth of rainforest each and every day. There are a lot of different types of animals that can be found in the rainforest, and most of them cannot live anywhere else because they depend on the environment of the rainforest for their most basic needs. Did you know how many tropical rainforest plants have been identified as having anti-cancer properties?!

 

Before 1500 A.D., there were about 6 million indigenous people living in the Brazilian Amazon. But as the forests disappeared, so too did the people. In the early 1900s, there were less than 250,000 indigenous people living in the Amazon.

LAB REPORT

Furnace Brook Lab Report

Introduction: Testing the PH of water at Furnace Brook Creek. What’s a healthy PH for the micro-invertebrates. Dissolved oxygen and nitrogen compound where to be determined. Sampling this water told us the population of each species present in the water with these conditions.

Research Question:  which location would have a healthier environment; rocky and fast speed waters or non-rocky and low water speed?

Hypothesis: In fast moving waters there isn’t enough time for any species alive to absorb or catch the nutrients or daily necessities also the fact there is rocks or rough patches makes it even harder to catch them. Verses slow moving waters and non-rocky.

Variable Identification:  

Controlled variable	Method of controlled variable
Location 1	Location 2
Shady area	Shady area
Below drain	Above drain
Rocky area	Non-rocky area
Slow velocity	Fast velocity

Experimental Setup:  This experiment was done in shady areas near Corcoran High School. Two different vials were used to measure the D.O. and PH. The groups used Dissolve Oxygen tablets and potential hydrogen tablets also. The students within these groups should have found out or known that a healthy PH of 7 is reasonable to sustain life.

Procedure:

1. Get into groups

2. Using a LaMotte kit filled with the following

Ph tablets

DO tablets

Secchi disc

Thermometer

Chart with turbidity, ph and do readings

2 vials

Find a location and keep track of the coordinates

A huge net

 Water boots

 Data: 

	Total biomass in sample (g)
	Stream A	Stream B
stone fly	11	2
midge larve	8	20
caddisfly	1	1
scuds	4	4

Results:

The blue represents the second data collection. And the red represents the first time of data collection.

Discussion:  TURBIDITY OF 0.

D.O. OF 4PPM

Ph OF 7

Temperature OF 10 Degrees

Evaluation: Some things that could have affected the experiment would have been location (how high or low down the stream/creek) and time of day that the data was taken. Or maybe even the season. Speed of the water. What the environment around the water is already. What the acidity in the water already is. What human disturbances affected the water before testing. Or if we didn’t kick around the organisms in the water.

References – Macroinvertebrates - Environment." Environment. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2015.

Work citations page "bio magnification case study"

"Biomagnification." - Wikipedia, the Encyclopedia. Bishop Lotto Numbers, Summer 2015. Web. 04 Oct. 2015.

"The DDT Story." The DDT Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2015.

Biomagnification Case Study

 
Biomagnification is the concentration of toxins in an organism as a result of its ingesting other plants or animals in which the toxins are more widely disbursed. Also known as bioamplification or biological magnification, occurs when the concentration of a substance, such as DDT or mercury, in an organism exceeds the background concentration of the substance in its diet.
 
 DDT is synthetic organic compound used as an insecticide. Like other chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons, also persist in the environment and become concentrated in animals at the head of the food chain. Its use is now banned in many countries. DDT is a colorless, crystalline, tasteless and almost odorless organochloride known for its insecticidal properties. DDT was used to kill insects. To help maintain a population. But as they died depending on the bug or insect different animals ate them, and accumulated the toxin in their body also. After a while the toxin would build u and move onto the next animal that ate the second consumer from those that started this. ( for example cricket>frog>snake>owl or hawk>fox or bear) So it started with the contact with the cricket touching the source of it which got eaten by the frog then next the snake so on and so forth. its travels by eating those already infected with it. it can kill just about all animals if they have enough in their system. DDT isn't one of those pesticides that breaks down on its own or at all. But is being band. It has recently been said to cause cancer.