The Effects Of Salinity On Crops By Denielle Walters

Aim The aim of this experiment is to investigate the effects of different concentrations of sugar solutions on the rate of osmosis in plant cells.

2. What do you think would happen if you watered your houseplants with salt water?

In class, we did the carrot lab to demonstrate the movement of water going into and out of cells. Before we did this experiment, we made hypotheses. I hypothesized that the carrot soaked in fresh water would lose mass and shrink because just like your finger-tips after a bath, they become shriveled. I also thought the carrot soaked in salt water would gain mass because I thought the salt water would move into the carrot, creating the mass to be greater. After all, my hypotheses were wrong. After soaking the carrot in fresh water and salt water for 24 hours, we found that the mass of the carrot soaked in fresh water increased by 6.3% and the mass of the carrot soaked in salt water decreased by 0.5%. This is because of osmosis. Osmosis is when

If saltwater is applied to a plant, the plant would shrivel up and die. This is a result of the water moving out of the cells in order to try to balance the concentration of solute compared to inside the cell. The water movement out of the cell would cause the cell to shrink and the lack of water would eventually cause the plant to die.

Salinity is serious as it effects many things in the Murray-Darling Basin. If it continues to rise the consequences could be grave and quite long lasting, some

(Salton Sea Symposium, 1998) However , the condition of the Sea has drastically changed and so has the amount of healthy living organisms in the Sea. By the 1980�s the water level rose greatly and gave way to abandoned businesses, deteriorating structures and empty beaches. The above was due to the fact that evaporation is the only outlet to the Salton Sea , in fact 1.35 million acre feet of water is lost each year , thus increasing its salinity even more. The salinity of the Salton Sea has increased to 45,000 parts per thousand or 45 PPT; the Pacific Ocean is currently 35 PPT.

Although natural salinity contributions are somewhat unavoidable, manmade contributions can be fixed. Just being more mindful with the runoff we release could help a lot and maybe even also taking the step to use water treatments to improve the river’s water (Patrick 216).

The aim of this experiment was to test the effect of surface area on osmosis and the effect of solute concentration on osmosis. To test this aim to hypotheses were devised. 1) If potato pieces are immersed in various salt solutions, then the pieces with the greatest surface area to volume ratio will experience the greatest weight change, because more water can move by osmosis across the potato cell’s semi permeable membrane. 2) If potato pieces are immersed in various salt solutions, then the pieces immersed in the most concentrated solution will experience he greatest weight change,

The lack of freshwater is something that drastically affects the world every single day. People use water everyday for a multitude of things, whether it's washing their clothes, watering their plants, making soup, swimming in a pool, or even just hydrating themselves after a long run or a fun sport outside in the hot, beating sun. Water is very important to human beings, seeing as 70% of the human body is just water molecules vibrating at a very high frequency. That's why when there are natural disasters that prevent people from having access to that water it is highly damaging to everyone, and to the environment. Recently there has been a drought in California that has disrupted not only the lives of the people who live in California, but

Osmosis is defined as the tendency of water to flow through a semipermeable membrane to the side with a lower solute concentration. Water potential can be explained by solutes in a solution. The more positive a number is more likely it will lose water. Therefore should water potential be negative the cell the less likely it will lose water. In using potatoes the effects of the molarity of sucrose on the turgidity of plant cells. According to Clemson University, the average molarity of a White potato is between .24 M and .31 M when submerged in a sorbitol solution. This experiment was conducted with the purpose of explaining the relationship found between the mass in plants when put into varying concentrations of sucrose solutions. Should the potatoes be placed in a solution that contains 0.2M or .4M of sucrose solution it will be hypotonic and gain mass or if placed in .6M< it will be hypertonic and lose mass instead. Controlled Variables in this lab were: Composition of plastic cups, Brand of Russet Potatoes, Brand of Sweet Potatoes and the Temperature of the room. For independent variable that caused the results recorded it was the different Sucrose concentrations (0.0M, 0.2M, 0.4M, 0.6M, 0.8M, 1M). The dependent variable was the percentage change from the initial weighs to the final. The cup with .4 molarity was the closest to an isotonic solution and was used as the control group for the lab. Water potential is the free energy per mole of water. It is

Pollution of our environment is a big issue in today's world. I thought I would focus on one aspect of this by looking at the effects of salt pollution on duckwed. Hopefully by finding out more about our effects on the environment we can discover ways to preserve it.

Dryland salinity has become a large problem in Australia. As salt start to accumulate near the soil surface, plants find it harder to absorb water and then start to slowly die, as they become dehydrated. 30% loss of field crops can occur, even before the effect of soil salinity is visible.

The Water Education Foundation published an article on excess salinity that is in the water here in the valley. Our bodies need some salt to absorb water to be able to survive. Too much intake of salt can be a problem, and that is what is happening here in the Central Valley. “Excess salinity – that which is greater than the standard set to protect beneficial uses – poses a growing threat to food production and drinking water quality.” If there is no solution to the problem, it means that California will lose significant portions of prime agricultural land which provides food for the state, the nation and throughout the world. In a March 2009 study, The Economic Impacts of Central Valley Salinity, the University of California, Davis reported that if salinity increases at the current rate until 2030, the direct annual costs will range from $1 billion to $1.5 billion, with income impacts to the Central Valley between $1.2 billion and $2.2 billion.

Deforestation in Australia What is the issue? Australia is among one of the wealthiest nations. It has a small population of almost 24million but has a high rate of extensive deforestation and degradation since the later 18th century during European settlement. Most of Australia, around 7.6million

The plants that grow in saline soils have diverse ionic compositions and a range in concentrations of dissolved salts (Volkmar et al., 1998). These concentrations fluctuate because of changes in water source, drainage, evapo-transpiration, and solute availability (Volkmar et al., 1998). Due to these varying conditions, plant growth depends on a supply of inorganic nutrients, and this level of nutrients varies in time and space (Maathius and Amtmann, 1999). Either extreme condition concerning nutrients results in deficiency or toxicity in plants, and this is demonstrated by salt tolerance (Maathius and Amtmann, 1999). These conditions vary according to the plant species and growth conditions. Little is known about the genetic basis for diversity of salt tolerance in plants, and this could be partly explained through the definitions given for salinity.