Algae are very extensive, and have proven to be very beneficial to our environment. They are a “diverse group of predominantly aquatic organisms that account for almost 50% of the photosynthesis that takes place on Earth” (Moroney et al. 2009). Due to this prevalence of algae, it is important to know its uses. Firstly, “algae are proposed to play a role in the global carbon cycle by helping remove excess carbon dioxide from the environment” (Moroney et al. 2009). This is important because excess carbon dioxide in the environment causes warming effects, which is harmful to the atmosphere. Furthermore, algae are an accurate indicator of water pollutants and water quality in general. “Because of their nutritional …show more content…
Predictions:
1) If algae are present then the dissolved oxygen percentage in water will increase during daylight due to photosynthesis.
2) If algae are present then pH will go up since the removal of carbon dioxide during photosynthesis lead to a higher pH.
3) If algae are present then the BOD of water will increase since there is more DO in the water, which is going to lead to more oxygen used by microorganisms in the …show more content…
The lotic source we are getting our water from is the Loree Stream. During this lab period we will collect from downstream and upstream because there are different factors on both ends that could determine a difference with an effect of algae. We will put each water source in a few Nalgene bottles and BOD bottles. The BOD bottles will help us with the BOD testing we plan on doing later in the experiment. After we collect our water, we will put the water into all six tanks. In three tanks we will just have water from the stream and in the other three tanks we will have the lotic source of water and add our variable; algae. Because we need to wait time to see a change, the testing that will be done today is testing of our control waters and testing of the water before we add algae to it. We will test the original pH, turbidity, BOD, DO and possibly total solids. We will run these tests according to the lab manual, as cited below. We will record this data and wait until the next lab period to continue to see our algae growth.
Lab 2: After one week we will take notice of our algal growth. We will once again test out BOD, DO, pH change and turbidity. Once we have this data we will have enough to start a graph and start a data analysis. Our group will keep a very detailed report and record of all our statistics that way we will be able to