BIOL 241

Phytoplankton

BIOL 241

Derived from "phyto" meaning plant and "plankton" meaning to wander, phytoplankton broad classification for photoautotrophic microscopic organisms that live in aquatic environments and are also known as microalgae. There are two classifications for phytoplankton:

-Dinoflagellates

-Diatoms

.

Growth Limitations

Effects of Fertilizers

Effect of Eutrophication on Phytoplankton

Roles In Ecosystem

-Remove limitations

-Especially nitrogen, iron

and manganese (Zimmerman)

-Temperature (Boyd) et al 2013)

-Salinity

-Water depth

-Wind

-Predators

-Nutrient availability

-Producers

*Food

*Oxygen (Bird, 1999)

Algal Bloom

Sam, Jayde, Sophie, Jason

Algal bloom is a situation in which limiting factors are not present in an ecosystem and conditions become more than ideal for phytoplankton reproduction and growth. This results in large growths of phytoplankton that form films on the surface of water and are often characterized by green or red colour.

Causes For Concern

fig 1.1)Pediastrum

fig 1.2)Oscillatoria

-Potentially toxic

-Dead zones (Lindsay, 2010)

-Shading of aquatic plants

-Raise prices for clean water

-Impair industries reliant on safe water

Images obtained from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pediastrum_duplex#mediaviewer/File:Pediastrum_duplex_wagner.jpg

and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscillatoria#mediaviewer/File:Oscillatoria_princeps.jpeg respectively.

Hypothesis

Conclusions

Hypothesis correct or incorrect why?

Questions that arise?

Experiments to contribute to understanding? (Farreed A. Khan and Abid Ali Ansari 205), (Boyd et al 2013), (Lindsay, Rebecca, and Michon Scott 2010)

Hypothesis: Increasing eutrophication will result in increased growth of phytoplankton.

Alternate hypothesis: phytoplankton growth will be inhibited with increasing eutrophication.

Null hypothesis: Increasing eutrophication will have no effect on phytoplankton.

Reliability

Unreliability with the collected data can be seen with the ammonium and ammonia concentrations though because they are pooled together. One is unable to asses if the ammonium concentration is high enough to inhibit the algae growth.

The data from microcosms one through six had no discrepancies. They exhibited results that are consistent with journals. The concentrations of chlorophyl a directly correlated with the phosphate concentrations.

Chlorophyll a content after 3 weeks for 6 different treatments

Comparison to Previously Published Work

Figure 2) The effect of fertilizer on chlorophyll a (Phytoplankton) content. Six separate microcosms were watered with varying volumes and concentrations of fertilizer at varying times. Chlorophyll a content was measured after three weeks of treatment. Data are mean of 43 replicates. Bars= +-SEM.

The results displayed by the previous graph can be compared to the literature easily with microcosm one through six, the phytoplankton increased as it was expected to.

According to the journal Khan and Ansari (2005) the phytoplankton will increase with the increase of macro nutrients like phosphorous, nitrogen, and potassium.

0

Chlorophyll a content in pond water after three weeks(ug/mL)

Although ammonium concentrations above .4 umol/L act as inhibitor of the algae growth. according to Dugdale et al., 2013.

2.808

0

0.936

0.312

0.624

0.156

fertilizer added over 3 weeks (g)