1. Coral Bleaching Lab Size Experiment
By: Tom, Meredith, Eric, Lina, & Kristian.

2. Complications Accidental increase in salinity in experiment tanks
Unsuitable for testing
Control tank still has live Aiptasia
Change in experiment

3. The Size Experiment
The data from a 0.5 gram Aiptasia deviated from the data of other groups
Other groups had smaller Aiptasia
Does the weight of the Aiptasia affect the numbers in each category?
Zooxanthellae Density
Chlorophyll
Protein

4. Hypothesis
The Aiptasia which weighs more will have higher zooxanthellae densities, more chlorophyll, and more protein than those Aiptasia which weigh less

5. Procedure Collect data in same ways as previous weeks:
Zooxanthellae count
Chlorophyll extraction
Protein assay
Collect data from other groups
Set up tables to analyze data
Plot data to see if there is any reliable correlation between the weight and the other factor

6. Table of Results We essentially had 8 blocks of data Weight (g)
Zoox Density
(zoox/g wt.)
Chlorophyll
(ch/10^6cells)
Protein (mg/g)
0.062
60.887
11.94
0.0884
152.71
0.5719
0.1113
233.6
7.99
1.6
0.1596
191
11.6
3.72
0.2032
126
21.38
0.95
0.2742
0.496
49.7
2.82
0.5
19.433
37.7
0.742 92
60.9
1.7

7. Zooxanthellae Density Graph

8. Chlorophyll Graph

9. Protein Graph

10. Discussion
No graphs have any reliable correlation between weight and any of the other factors.
Chlorophyll was slightly correlated, but not close enough to accept as true
I still believe there must be some type of correlation; therefore, what went wrong?

11. Possible Explanations for Data
No correlation exists
More data is needed
Human error*
Data collected from my group
Problems?
Collecting data from other groups
Eliminate extremes?

12. Adjusted Table of Data weight (g) Zoox Density (zoox/g wt.)
Chlorophyll (ch/10^6 cells)
Protein (mg/g)
0.062
60.887
11.94 **
0.0884
152.71
0.5719** **
0.1113
233.6
7.99
1.6
0.1596
191
11.6
3.72
0.2032
126
21.38
0.95
0.2742
0.496**
49.7
2.82
0.5
19.433**
37.7 **
0.742 92
60.9
1.7

13. Adjusted Zooxanthellae Density Graph

14. Adjusted Chlorophyll Graph

15. Adjusted Protein Graph

16. Further Discussion
Even the adjusted graphs don’t display any promising results
Some patterns do slightly arise
More weight = less zoox density
More weight = more chlorophyll
No reliable correlations with protein
Much more data needed
Data HAS to be as accurate as possible

17. Why?
A correlation will help other groups determine what size Aiptasia to test for more results
A correlation will also help groups predict the outcome of a lighter or heavier Aiptasia
No correlation warns groups that nothing can be assumed