Phytoplankton Lab
Title: Types of Nutrients that Affect Phytoplankton
Background: Fertilizing nutrients can have different results. For example phytoplankton, phytoplankton are the plants in the ocean that can go through photosynthesis and require sunlight and nutrients. They are very important because they release oxygen to the other species in the ocean. To grow phytoplankton they need phosphate, and nitrate. Scientists have learned that with iron, phytoplankton grow better because it helps carry electrons and is a catalyst in photosynthesis.
Hypothesis: If I test a flask that has nutrients and iron, then that flask will have a higher growth rate than the flasks with just nutrients and water
Protocol:
Materials: 100 ml of filtered seawater, Microscopes and slides, Spectrometer, Nitrate, Phosphate and Iron nutrient solutions, Cotton ball, 3-300 µl pipettes, light source, 50-250 ml Erlenmeyer flask, 5 ml phytoplankton
Procedure: Pour 100 mL of seawater into 3 flasks and then add 5 mL of phytoplankton. One group will have a flask with 600 microliters of nitrate, phosphate, and iron. The second group will have a flask with 600 microliters of nitrate and phosphate. The third group will have a flask with 600 microliters of nitrate (control). Then take the 3 flasks and put it under a light source with a cotton ball on top of each. Then for 5-10 days you write down the observations of each flask using the spectrometer, and microscope.
Data Table:
Background: Fertilizing nutrients can have different results. For example phytoplankton, phytoplankton are the plants in the ocean that can go through photosynthesis and require sunlight and nutrients. They are very important because they release oxygen to the other species in the ocean. To grow phytoplankton they need phosphate, and nitrate. Scientists have learned that with iron, phytoplankton grow better because it helps carry electrons and is a catalyst in photosynthesis.
Hypothesis: If I test a flask that has nutrients and iron, then that flask will have a higher growth rate than the flasks with just nutrients and water
Protocol:
Materials: 100 ml of filtered seawater, Microscopes and slides, Spectrometer, Nitrate, Phosphate and Iron nutrient solutions, Cotton ball, 3-300 µl pipettes, light source, 50-250 ml Erlenmeyer flask, 5 ml phytoplankton
Procedure: Pour 100 mL of seawater into 3 flasks and then add 5 mL of phytoplankton. One group will have a flask with 600 microliters of nitrate, phosphate, and iron. The second group will have a flask with 600 microliters of nitrate and phosphate. The third group will have a flask with 600 microliters of nitrate (control). Then take the 3 flasks and put it under a light source with a cotton ball on top of each. Then for 5-10 days you write down the observations of each flask using the spectrometer, and microscope.
Data Table:
Conclusion: In conclusion, it turned out that my hypothesis wasn't correct after all. I predicted that the flask with nutrients and iron would have the higher growth rate of phytoplankton, but the flask that just had nutrients ended having the most phytoplankton. The flask with the nutrients and iron didn't have any phytoplankton seen for the past 8 days, but the flask with nutrients had up to 57 phytoplankton seen.Although there could have been some errors that we could have made during the experiment, but doing this lab made me learn that nutrients are the reason why phytoplankton grow. The reason why we had a large set of data was to make sure out data was accurate. If we all did the same experiment, then we all would have ended up with the same type of data. With each group having different type of data, it was easier to compare our results. Although each table with a group of 3 had different result then everyone else. A pro to iron fertilization is that it can help phytoplankton growth, and a con to iron fertilization is that carbon dioxide can get released into the atmosphere.