Introduction The Chesapeake Bay that is 200 miles long is considered the largest estuary in the United States. It is home to more than 17 million people (NOAA). Baltimore, one of the most important North Atlantic port is located on the Chesapeake Bay. Oysters are one of the biggest resources of the Chesapeake bay. Ecologically, oysters are important because they filter algae, sediment, and pollutants. They maintain a good water quality and salinity. Oysters can tolerate a wide range of salinity, between 10ppt-27ppt. Humans have had huge positive and negative impacts on oyster population. Things that destroy an oyster population include over harvesting, habitat destruction, water quality and diseases. According to the Department of Natural
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For example, we added into a graduated cylinder 25ml of the 20ppt solution and 75ml of 0ppt distilled water to get a 5ppt of salinity dilution. Then we pour the measured solution into a beaker.
Step 2: We measure the conductivity of each solution using the LabQuest and conductivity probes, by placing the probe into the beaker containing the measured solution. We recorded the results in the table below:
Step 3: We made sure to clean the probe with distilled water and dry it with kimwipes after every test to avoid contamination of the different samples.
Step 4: We measured the conductivity of our Sample B, which is the Tangier Sound water sample, and recorded our result. Tangier Sound estuary water sample had a conductivity of 14,902 us/cm.
Step 5: We created a standard curve graph using excel. The standard curve will show the relationship between salinity and conductivity. The data collected for salinity and conductivity of each test will be use to graph the standard curve. The regression line equation obtains from the graph will allow us to estimate the salinity of our sample water B. The R2 value will indicate how well our data collected fits the curve. …show more content…
A salinity of 16,07ppt is very high; because the salinity of a healthy estuary should be between 10-13ppt. The drought has affected the salinity of Tangier sound estuary. The R2 value of 0.99605 that is closer to 1 indicates that there is a strong correlation between salinity and conductivity. The higher the conductivity, the higher the salinity in the water. There will be ecological implications in the estuary such as a decrease in water quality and fishery. The results also suggest that the MSX disease in oyster which is caused by a parasite when salinity rise above 15ppt will be present in the region of Tangier sound. Considering the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Restoration Project, I do not recommend to rehabilitate the oysters because the Tangier sound is not healthy. The oysters must be planted in another region with lower salinity in the water. Based on our results, we rejected our hypothesis. From the pictures the Tangier sound estuary looked healthy, but the result revealed a high level of salinity in the water.
During our experiment, we had a hard time measuring the conductivities of the solutions in the beaker, because the Vernier LabQuest readings didn’t’t always give us an exact number. The readings of few tests kept running, so we ended up estimate a number for the conductivity. But these errors didn’t’t really affect our experiment that much. A future experiment could test the pH level in the
For example, we added into a graduated cylinder 25ml of the 20ppt solution and 75ml of 0ppt distilled water to get a 5ppt of salinity dilution. Then we pour the measured solution into a beaker.
Step 2: We measure the conductivity of each solution using the LabQuest and conductivity probes, by placing the probe into the beaker containing the measured solution. We recorded the results in the table below:
Step 3: We made sure to clean the probe with distilled water and dry it with kimwipes after every test to avoid contamination of the different samples.
Step 4: We measured the conductivity of our Sample B, which is the Tangier Sound water sample, and recorded our result. Tangier Sound estuary water sample had a conductivity of 14,902 us/cm.
Step 5: We created a standard curve graph using excel. The standard curve will show the relationship between salinity and conductivity. The data collected for salinity and conductivity of each test will be use to graph the standard curve. The regression line equation obtains from the graph will allow us to estimate the salinity of our sample water B. The R2 value will indicate how well our data collected fits the curve. …show more content…
A salinity of 16,07ppt is very high; because the salinity of a healthy estuary should be between 10-13ppt. The drought has affected the salinity of Tangier sound estuary. The R2 value of 0.99605 that is closer to 1 indicates that there is a strong correlation between salinity and conductivity. The higher the conductivity, the higher the salinity in the water. There will be ecological implications in the estuary such as a decrease in water quality and fishery. The results also suggest that the MSX disease in oyster which is caused by a parasite when salinity rise above 15ppt will be present in the region of Tangier sound. Considering the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Restoration Project, I do not recommend to rehabilitate the oysters because the Tangier sound is not healthy. The oysters must be planted in another region with lower salinity in the water. Based on our results, we rejected our hypothesis. From the pictures the Tangier sound estuary looked healthy, but the result revealed a high level of salinity in the water.
During our experiment, we had a hard time measuring the conductivities of the solutions in the beaker, because the Vernier LabQuest readings didn’t’t always give us an exact number. The readings of few tests kept running, so we ended up estimate a number for the conductivity. But these errors didn’t’t really affect our experiment that much. A future experiment could test the pH level in the