2017 Salish Science Final Report May 1-5, 2017 1

Introduction For 5 days our group of 27 students from Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette, Colorado boarded the Carlyn ready to sail in the San Juan Islands. Our group designed a science experiment to catch zooplankton and test for the levels of phosphates in the Puget Sound. We cooperated with the sailing group, making sure we followed the three rules of science on the boat. 1) Attach all equipment to the boat 2) Respect the equipment, and most importantly 3) Respect the Carlyn. While following these rules we recorded and analyzed our data while simultaneously having an amazing time on board. 2

Background Information The Puget Sound is an estuary where both freshwater and saltwater mix. This creates a mixed environment where a variety of organisms can flourish. In addition, the currents in the area are strong. Because of all of the varying depths in the sound (due to past glacial presence) a lot of nutrients are stirred up and moved around the sound by the currents. This leads to even more prosperous life. 3

Zooplankton Example of zooplankton Example of Zooplankton Plankton are organisms in the ocean that can’t swim against the current. In our experiment, we collected zooplankton (animal plankton) using a net and measured the amount of plankton by letting it settle in the bottom of a graduated cylinder. Example of zooplankton Example of Zooplankton

Hypothesis IF there are more phosphates THEN there will be a higher amount of zooplankton BECAUSE Phosphates are nutrients that Phytoplankton need, and Zooplankton eat Phytoplankton. 5

Variables IV: Amount of phosphate DV: Amount of zooplankton Control: Depth, amount of water filtered, speed of boat, size of net, length of time of deployment (6 mins) 6

Materials Plankton Net Bucket Colorimeter Test tubes A team of sailors 7

Materials II Graduated Cylinders Microscopes Stop Watch Sample bottle Recording sheet Writing materials (the grease pencil)

Methods 1)Ask permission to deploy from the Captain 2)Deploy the bucket and the plankton net on the same side of the boat, port or starboard 3)Bring the bucket up as soon as water levels are satisfactory and begin testing the water samples for phosphates using the colorimeter 4)For the colorimeter, gather two different samples one being blank, then test the blank and the actual sample for phosphates. Do this by adding the chemicals that react with phosphates, programing the colorimeter to the correct phosphate test, and testing the blank sample first than the actual sample 5)After a 6 minutes bring the plankton net backup and using a squirt bottle spray the sides of the net, to ensure all plankton gets into the cylinder 9

Methods Part 2 6)Extract the plankton out of the cod-end jar and transfer to a cylinder 7)Use the cylinder to find the amount of plankton and conclude Side steps 1) a. Salinity was measured using the refractometer b. Using the DO/temp probe we measured the dissolved oxygen and temperature of the water c. Using the Secchi Disk we measured the clarity of the water by putting it into the water until not visible then count the meter marks to see how deep it went

Results 1 Our data tells us that our prediction is unsupported. This is shown due to the lack of any significant correlation in the graph. Station Plankton (mL) Phosphates (ppm) DO (mg/L) 1 10 0.2 6.5 2 5 0.17 N/A 3 15 0.16 7.93 4 25 0.12 6.53 6.44 6 0.20 6.35 7 7.70 8 20 0.26 6.25

Results 2

Conclusion In this experiment, we learned that a change in Phosphates from 0.12 to 0.26 does not affect the amount of Zooplankton in the water. However, the results may have been affected by the amount of dissolved oxygen and the temperature in the water. There were some problems we had that made data collection harder or less accurate. One of those problems was that it was hard for everyone to do a job because there were a lot of people on the boat. One way to solve this problem is for less people to be on the boat at one time. Another one of theses problems was that there was not enough data. A way to solve this problem would be to make sure none of the samples were spilled, as well as to have more data and more time to do the experiment. 13

Ideas for the Future Controlled environment Longer time period More data points More samples -------------------------------------- Experiments Built Off How does the depth of water affect the amount of phosphates? How does the amount of phytoplankton effect amount of phosphates? How does amount of phytoplankton affect zooplankton? 14

Other Research Questions that can be answered with this data? How does the location of the testing area affect the amount of phosphates? How does the time of day affect the amount of zooplankton? How do the currents affect the amount of phosphates and zooplankton? How does the weather during the day affect the amount of phosphates?