Seneca Lake Lab Report

ESS Seneca Lake Lab Report

 

 

 

 

Research Question: How does water depth and water temperature affect the amount and diversity of zooplankton (or macro invertebrate) in the water?

 

Variables:

Independent Variables	Dependent Variable
Spots of sampling	Macro invertebrate levels
Relative depth of water	Temperature of water

 

Introduction:      Seneca Lake is approximately 3.7 miles at the widest point and 630 feet at the deepest point. According to the packet the lake can get as warm as 72 degrees F and as cold as 38 degrees F. The lake contains several types of macro invertebrate that live all over the lake such as

stonefly larva, crayfish, amphipod, and mayfly larva. On a website it is shown that areas with lower depths result in higher amounts of macro invertebrate variations and levels. Seneca Lake is one of the eleven finger lakes and is the largest lake when it comes to total area and it is also the deepest of the eleven finger lakes.

Hypothesis: I believe that the deeper the portion of the lake is the more diverse and the higher of a quantity there will be in that section, and as the temperature increases so does the amount and variety of macro invertebrate will increase as well. This is supported by the website I mentioned earlier, it states that as the site gets deeper the variety of macro invertebrate and the quantity of them increase as well.

Method: In order to keep these sample locations constant I will use the same boat and use the same procedure for each location in order to keep my findings constant. To limit variability I will use the same net to collect the macro invertebrate and the same thermometer to collect data from each of the three location.

Procedures:
1. First go to a very shallow depth location on Seneca Lake.
2. Measure for temperature at this location.
3. In order to collect macro invertebrate information you will first need to make sure you have a firm grip on the nets rope.
4. You must next MUST make sure the clasp at the bottom of the net is closed.
5. Next lower the net over the side of the boat and walk from stern to bow, back and forth, slowly.
6. Bring the net back up and wash the remaining plankton into a cup at the end of the net.
7. Take plankton back to lab for analysis.
8. Next go to a medium depth in the lake and repeat steps 2-7.
9. Next go to deeper portion of the lake and repeat steps 2-7.

Question: What types of animals will we pick up with the net in Seneca Lake?

Citations: "Lake County Water Atlas." Seneca, Lake: Ecology. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.
  
"Does Water Level Affect Benthic Macro-invertebrates of a Marginal Lake in a Tropical River-reservoir Transition Zone?" Does Water Level Affect Benthic Macro-invertebrates of a Marginal Lake in a Tropical River-reservoir Transition Zone? N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

 "Seneca Lake." - A Guide to Hotels, Bed and Breakfasts in the Finger Lakes. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

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Displaying Science on Seneca Manual.pdf.

      





How I impact the carbon cycle

List of all the ways I impact the carbon cycle

 

• Breathing
• Bowel movement
• Flatulence
• Digesting food
• Making/sustaining gardens
• Burning fossil fuels
• Driving a car
• Being on a boat
• Cutting down trees
• Bon fires

Tiger Biome Description

 

Temperate Forests

 



 

 

              Temperate forests temperatures vary from 30 degrees Celsius all the way down to -30 degrees Celsius. precipitation is constant throughout the year, the soil is fertile, and has moderately dense canopies in which let some light in. You can find these type of temperate forests all over the world but mainly near the coast, if you wanted to visit a temperate forest expect about the same weather that Syracuse would present you. Flaura and animals that are present in temperate forests include;  trees, shrubs, flowers, squirrels, deer, wild boar, and obviously tigers. Animals in these biomes, especially predators, are hunted to the point of extinction and their homes are deforested to the point that they have no home. Tigers serve as the top predator in these environments as well as the top kill for poachers in the area. When plants are eaten by squirrels then the squirrels are eaten by fox and then the tiger eat the fox and the squirrel. Snow leopards are the tigers top competition, they are not as big as the tiger but they at the same things the tiger does so they are competitors.                 



 

Bibliography


"Temperate Forest." - Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.

"The Forest Biome." The Forest Biome. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.

GRAPHS

 

 



Parts left out I.E. graph and picture

ESS LAB WRITE-UP

Furnace Brook Stream Testing

Introduction: In this report my group and I will try to show how water velocity affects the PH, O2, and macroinvertebrate levels and diversity in a section of Furnace Brook.  My group and I conducted this experiment by using tablets in water to measure the approximate values of the PH and O2, as for the the macroinvertebrate my group and my group used a net to determine the number and diversity of macroinvertebrate in that part of the stream, as for the velocity of the water we measured a certain stretch of our sites and dropped a ball to time how long it took the ball to get from one end to the next of the measured area. This experiment was recently done by a group of scientists on Onondaga Lake and they posted their findings on www.doc.ny.gov where the scientists say “Because of pollution control efforts (which began in the 1970s) and more recent cleanup work, the lake is now the cleanest it has been in over 100 years.” This supports the reliability of the experiment we will be doing. I also found the site www.psu.edu/natural-resources helpful because it includes which species of macroinvertibrate indicate clean and which ones represent polluted water. Enjoy all the hard work I've put into this report.         

Research Question:  How does water velocity in a measured stretch of the brook affect the PH, O2, and macroinvertebrate levels of that portion of the brook?   

Hypothesis:  I believe that as the water velocity increases  the levels of  O2, PH, and macroinvertebrates will decrease based on the findings of  www.psu.edu/natural-resources which said that some macroinvertibrates are not able to be too close to fast moving water because their not strong enough swimmers.  

Variable Identification:  

Controlled Variables	Method to Control the Variable
Location of sites	My group and I took pictures of the two sites so we could just go back to the same place the next time we went out.
Length of the velocity trial	We kept the tape measurer the same place as steady as can be in order for us to get a constant time reading.
Time of shaking the beakers for PH and O2	As we shook the beakers full of water and O2 and PH tablets we timed it the first time so we could shake the next sites beakers for the same amount of time.

Experimental Setup :  Our experiment took place in two locations both of which were in Furnace Brook. Location ones coordinates are (43 degrees 1’ .1’’ north and 76 degrees 10’ 15.5’’ west) location one was the closer of the two sites to the school and it was right next to a bridge and net to the bottom of a steep drop off. Location one was also the more shallow of the two sites as well as being the longer velocity distance. Location twos coordinates are (43 degrees 01' 0.12'' north and 76 degrees 10' 10.6'' west) location two was clos to a nearby road and was close to a mini-waterfall.     

Procedure:  1. Get to location 1 and record the coordinates as well as the temperature in Celsius and write them down.

2. Fill up small beaker with water and add 1 tablet of the dissolved oxygen in to get your O2 level while shaking tim it to use for your next site. While you do this you can also fill up the larger beaker with water and add 2 PH tablets and shake that one as well and record the time it takes for the tablets to dissolve and write down those two.

3. Once the tablets are dissolved look in your reference for what color determines the levels of your PH and O2. (PH have no units and O2’s units are ppm)

4. Next set up your net at an angle facing away from the flow and kick rocks in front of the net.

5. Record the number and type of organisms you find in the net.

6. Measure the width of the stream as well as 5 evenly measured points where you measure and record depths at each of those points. (Measure in meters)

7. Measure a stretch of the stream one person at each end holding the measuring tape.(meters)

8. Drop a ball and record the time it takes for it to go from end to end.(record in seconds)

9. Calculate the velocity at which the stream is moving.(record in meters per second MPS)

10. Repeat step 8 five times at current site.

11. Find new site. call this site 2.

12. Repeat steps 2-9 for new site.     

Data:     During this investigation our group found that even though the velocity increased the PH levels and the O2 levels did not get change in the least bit. But where the PH and O2 levels remained constant the macroinvertebrate numbers seemed to have been significantly impacted due to the variation in velocity. The diversity of the macroinvertebrates also seemed to have been impacted by the streams fluctuations in velocity. Now none of this would be reliable if the velocity did not change, but thankfully it did in the different locations this chart shows how velocity affected the dependent variables.

Site #	Average Velocity (MPS)	O2  (ppm)	PH levels	Number of macroinvertebrates	Number of different species of macroinvertebrates
1	1.21mps	4ppm	7	15 macroinvertebrates	3 different species of macroinvertebrates
2	0.422mps	4ppm	7	20 macroinvertebrates	5 different species of macroinvertebrates

  

Results :    

Discussion:  My findings during this investigation were that the velocity of the stream flow did not affect the PHor the O2 levels in the water, but it does affect the amount and the variation of macroinvertebrates in the water. This is supported when the website www.water.epa.gov says that physical features such as water temperature, rate of flow, and depth directly affect the number of mcroinvertebrate in the water.     

Evaluation:  During this experiment I realized that no matter how different the locations were, you cannot base a strong claim on two sources, because you never know if it is a fluke or not. Another limitation that this experiment had was that that times and measurements are never 100% correct due to human error. If we used more than 2 locations the end conclusion could have been more precise. Human error is just human error and it is not fixable without using machines to do the time and calculations.    

Conclusion:      My hypothesis said that I thought PH, O2, and the macroinvertebrate levels would all decrease when velocity is increased. My data states that PH and O2 levels were unchanged when velocity was increased. The data also shows that macroinvertebrate numbers as I said decreased as stream velocity increased. This means that my data supported ⅓ of my hypothesis, so as much as I want to be right my hypothesis was more wrong than it was right.   

References – "Chapter 4 Macroinvertebrates and Habitat." Chapter 4 Macroinvertebrates and Habitat. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2015.

             "Variables in Your Science Fair Project." Variables in Your Science Fair Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2015.

"Disclaimer." Onondaga Lake. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2015.

Biomagnification Case Study

Bio-magnification is the process in which the concentration of toxins increases in each successive link in the food chain. This has been prevalent in the ecosystem of Onondaga Lake since the human interaction has caused an immense spike in the amount of mercury in the environment. Mercury was a bi-product of the manufactured goods at Solvay Process. This mercury was introduced into the lake by (at the time) the legal dumping of it into the lake beds by Solvay Process as well as other factories. This is supported when the cite http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/8668.html says " Use of the lake changed dramatically when the water and lake bottom sediments became polluted with municipal sewage waste and industrial pollution which resulted in low oxygen levels and elevated levels of nutrients, harmful microorganisms such as disease causing bacteria, and toxic contaminants. For over 125 years industrial and chemical operations disposed a variety of pollutants to the lake. At one time industry discharged approximately 20 pounds of mercury to the lake each day. As a result of this, surface water was contaminated with mercury" ("Disclaimer." Onondaga Lake Superfund Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.) As a result of our polluting, the food chain in the ecosystem was thrown out of balance as well, this is evident when the algae absorbs the mercury, then the algae is eaten by the mosquito larvae which absorb more mercury than one algae could have, then the larvae are eaten by lycosid spiders when they are grown, and then the lycocid spiders absorb more mercury than one larvae could have, and finally bats eat the spiders which again absorb more mercury than the one spider could have. All of this is due to the process of bio-magnification which I explained earlier in this post. Clean up efforts have so far shown to be working based on the levels of mercury in the water based on numbers from (Syracuse.com, Special To. "The Science Is Correct: Mercury Levels of Onondaga Lake Fish Are Dropping (Commentary)." N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.) this source states that "The water quality of Onondaga Lake is the best it has been in many decades, and the current mercury status of the lake is far better than at any time since measurements were initiated in the 1970s." This shows that efforts to clean up the lake have been effective. This a lesson for all society's that industry can have negative far reaching and long term consequences on entire ecosystem.