Environmental Diversity Lab

Through our research we aimed to determine if there were any differences in water quality of both the north and south forks of Strawberry Creek. As time progresses and the environment changes it is important to keep track of how certain species are being impacted by these features, and how they cope with change. We hypothesized that due to the lack of pollution, the south fork will promote a greater diversity of macroinvertebrates. This was due to the fact that there was less runoff and trash that could be introduced to the water in the south fork, than there was in the north fork. We gathered data by analyzing the different organisms living in both forks. We collected a total of fifty vials composed of five organisms from each fork, and inspected them under microscopic view. After gathering data and identifying the different kinds of organisms living in the different forks we assessed whether the organisms from the samples could live in high or low resolution water. We also took a t-test to assess the probability of these differences being due to relevant factors or by chance. Our major findings suggest that organisms in the south fork showed a higher demand to living in cleaner water indicating that our hypothesis was correct.

Alages seemed to be more prominent at the bottom of the pond water sample. “Blue-green algae can grow without nitrogen and will soon dominate the pond. (3)” While looking at blue-green algae when looking under the microscope, it was surprising at how little quantity there was. Expecting to find more algae at the other levels, samples of all three layers of the pond water; top, middle, and bottom were taken. Each layer contained nearly the same amount of algae. Expecting to find many protists near the bottom, numerous samples at that layer were taken, only to find them dominated by blue-green algae. This find was not expected. The lack of Protist activity could be due to the temperature of the water and season when the pond water sample was collected. The colder temperatures in winter, along with reduced light, can lead to less and slower Protist activity. Looking at the hypothesis, it was unclear to the number of algae seen as the pH changed. Algae numbers seemed to be consistent regardless of the pH, or the layer of water which the sample was taken. For future experiments, it would be helpful if there was alage measurements as far as quantity of algae. Since the pH remained consistent and did not fluctuate, there was no way of determining the alages numbers. Proper measurements are crucial when trying to determine the legitimacy of a hypothesis.

The acidification that is happening within the ocean is affecting numerous animals and plants that have calcium carbonate skeletons and shells. IUCN states “These become very sensitive when the acidic level changes even the slightest bit and there is even evidence that some species are already being affected and we can see that the loss is already starting”.

The first organisms that ocean acidification affects are calcifying creatures. These include creatures like oysters, calcareous plankton, clams, sea urchins, and coral. The ocean normally has enough carbonate ions dissolved for calcifying creatures to use to create their shells. Ocean acidification negatively affects the ability for these organisms to build their shells. As carbon dioxide dissolves into the ocean it reacts with the water to form carbonic acid (What is Ocean, 2015). Also, as more carbon dioxide dissolves into the ocean, it reacts with seawater to make H+ ions. These H+ ions compete with calcifying creatures for the carbonate ions. The H+ ions often win making it much more difficult for these shelled creatures to make their shells (Cripps et al., 2014). Creatures like conch shells, oysters, and clams are the most negatively affected. But not all creatures are immediately affected. Some organisms such as crabs and lobsters and crabs actually grow heavier shells to combat the effects of changing pH. This adaptation

The overall effect of ocean acidification on mollusks leads scientists to believe their population is in jeopardy of decreasing. Scientists found that mollusks are capable of adapting to the ocean acidification by reducing their size to accommodate for the lack of available calcium for shell formation (1). But much like the other issues faced by mollusks, such as thinning shells and defensive behaviors leading to less feeding time, their adaptation of decreasing their size also leads to their death as they are more vulnerable to predation (1). Mollusks are an important food source for many higher organisms, if the mollusk population decreases the populations of the predators who rely on them as a food source will also see a decline. While a decline in the mollusk population may not seem like a particularly impactful result of the ocean acidification, in the larger picture of the food chain these affects could be quite

The goal of this project was to determine whether there is more microbial diversity and abundance in Gimmia rhizoids sampled on the top of rock ledges versus those sampled on the bottom of the ledge. Our hypothesis was that there will be more microbial diversity in Grimmia rhizoid grown beneath ledges than Grimmia rhizoid grown on top. If our hypothesis is true, then there will be more diverse colonies in Grimmia rhizoid beneath the ledge with respect to the number of different colonies present and their abundance.

Victoria Rackley ENG102-007 Feb. 3rd 2017 Diversity in Ecotopia Ernest Callenbach pushes racial congruency in “Ecotopia” as a way to put more back into society. But, Ernest frequently writes about the succeeded country, Ecotopia, as a one race county and it is a distinct white vision that breaks the races into several cultures. We can relate the overlooked topic of race in the book to popular new reports or things on social media, we can see the book arguing the factors of technology and culture than discussing the relationships between the race and cultures in the country. Race is an overshadowed in the book and it plays the situation out. Since Ecotopia was written after the segregation period we wouldn’t really believe this would be such

There must be an inseparable relationship between acidification and ecosystem health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of various acidification levels on ciliate population sizes and diversity.In the experiment, four Ciliophora species: Blepharisma americana, Paramecium caudatum, Euplotes and Vorticella were cultivated in acidified environment with different pH values of 3.5, 4.5, 5.5 and 7.0 (the control), and the number of individuals of each species in each culture was collected and analyzed.Shannon diversity index was calculated based on the data in order to find out the change in diversity of the community while varying pH levels. All ciliate population showed a remarkable decline or retardation of growth in

Kingdom Protista is one of the most diverse group of eukaryotes on the the planet. Protists have different characteristics than plants, animals, and fungi so they are placed in their own group. The DNA of protists is found inside their membrane-bound nucleus. Each protist is a self supporting unit. There are about 30,000 known species of protists. They are so diverse, protists are classified by their methods of obtaining nutrition. They can act a parasite and feed on a living organism, live symbiotically with other organisms, hunt small bacteria or algae for food, or make their own food. Protists thrive in damp or aquatic environments like decaying leaves, damp soil, ponds, and oceans. Protists are relatively helpful

The era of microbiology dates back to seventeenth century when Antonie van Leeuwenhoek for the first time provided the evidence for the existence of prokaryotes. The prokaryotes constitute the domains Archaea and Bacteria and consists of million of species. Being the first one to inhabit the Earth about 3.8 billion years ago, prokaryotes represent a large unnoticed portion of the Earth’s biota. The earlier evolution of prokaryotes in contrast to eukaryotes had led to their extraordinary diversity and survival in different habitats. Microbial diversity, in its simpler form, can be represented as the sum of all different microbial species in an environment. It denotes the presence of ‘microbially living forms’ in a defined area. This diversity

Four different pH levels were used by Gonzalez-Bernat, et al. (2013) and included a control pH of 8.09 matching the ambient conditions, pH 7.8 and pH 7.6 which are expected near future levels, and pH 7.0 illustrating an extreme situation. At each of these pH levels, tests were done on fertilization success, larval survival and larval growth. Larval growth took into account body length, body width, stomach width, stomach length and mouth width when assessing if morphological variations took place due to differences in

Ciliates are a group of protists characterized by the presence of hair-like projections called cilia that help in locomotion, attachment, feeding, and sensation. Till date around 3,500 ciliates species have been described globally. Ciliates need extra attention as their extant species number is estimated to be around 30,000, making it one of the most diverse groups. They range in size from 10 µm - 4 mm in length and inhabit wide variety of ecological niches; free living forms to parasitic and symbiotic forms. Free living forms are found in both aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Aquatic ciliates are reported from oceans, rivers, lakes, glaciers, ponds and even from hot springs suggesting their ability to survive in diversified environments.

Research tells that anthropogenic acidification may change the mortality rates for pteropod larvae and a decrease in size of the creatures over time (Gazeau 2207).

All organisms need energy in order to grow, reproduce, and perform the activities necessary for survival. Where does this energy come from ultimately?

Nigeria is placed between latitudes 4 0 16IN and 130 52IN and between Longitudes 20 49IE and 14037IE. The land covers a add soil area of 923, 768 km2 with a population of 140,431,790 in 2006 (NPC, 2009). Due to its gigantic geographical extent, the country covers diverse climatic and ecological zones. The diversity of the natural ecosystem ranges from semi-arid port in the northern, to rain forest and vast freshwater swamp forest with another different coastal vegetation in the southwesterly. The land 's heavy capableness of biodiversity let around 20,000 species of insects, near 1000 species of birds, 247 species of mammals, 123 species of reptiles and most 1000 species of fish. The land is also fortunate with near 7,895 species of plants (Federal Government of Nigeria, 2001).