The effect of light intensity and temperature on the primary productivity of natural water. Conducted By: Price, E.

Assisted By: Powell, R. Date(s) of Experiment: 5/10/2011-5/12/2011 AP Bio 1st Block Ms. Umscheid

I. Introduction The purpose of this lab is...to analyze the effect of temperature and light intensity on the primary productivity of pond water samples. Background Information In an ecosystem carbon and oxygen are important in every ecosystem. As oxygen and carbon cycle throughout the system, the organisms use the mineral to create necessary molecules throughout the body. Carbon is taken from the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide by plants, the plants then use the carbon to make their sugars and release oxygen. The oxygen in the atmosphere is breathed in by living organisms or captured in between the water molecules of aquatic environments. Primary productivity is the rate at which organic materials are stored, carbon is necessary to make organic compounds within cells. Primary productivity relates the the metabolism of organisms in an ecosystem because as the metabolism increases so does the primary productivity because as metabolism uses energy and creates molecules more energy is needed so more organic molecules are made so the primary productivity increases. The amount of oxygen stored in between water molecules can be affected by several factors. The temperature of the affects the amount of oxygen because as the temperature rises the ability of water to hold oxygen decreases due to the more frequently breaking hydrogen bonds between molecules. The amount of photosynthesis occurring in the water, due to sun exposure and presence of plants will increase the amount of oxygen in the water. The amount of decomposers and dead organisms will decrease the amount of oxygen because decomposers consume oxygen as organic material is broken down. The amount of turbulence through the water will also decrease the amount of oxygen since the hydrogen bonds break more easily with the movement and oxygen cannot be stored between the bonds. Lastly the amount of salt within the water causes it to be unable to hold oxygen decreasing oxygen in a body of water. Dissolved oxygen in the water can be affected by photosynthesis and cellular respiration. The amount of photosynthesis throughout the body of water increases oxygen because oxygen is released s a bi product during photosynthesis. Cellular respiration decreases the amount of oxygen because it is taken during the process while carbon dioxide is released. Photosynthesis will increase the amount of primary productivity because organic materials are made in the form of glucose. Respiration decreases primary productivity because it break down the organic molecules having the opposite effect of photosynthesis and therefore, primary productivity.

The independent variable(s) are temperature as defined by 10*C, 25*C, and 50*C and light intensity as defined by 100%, 65%, 25%, 10%, and 2%.

The dependent variable is the primary productivity of the pond water samples as defined by the percent saturation of dissolved oxygen and mean productivity between the gross productivity and net productivity. The control is the primary productivity of the pond water sample at standard temperature and light intensity as defined by 100% light and room temperature.

The hypothesis is as temperature increases the amount of dissolved oxygen will decrease; As light intensity increases the gross and net productivity will increase

II. Procedure Materials 1 Flask 1 spoonful- sulfamic acid 8 drops- Manganous Sulfate 8 drops- Alkaline Solution 5 BODs with caps 10 mL Thiosulfate 15 screens 3 Lamps 1 Titrater 6 rubber bands Square of foil

Experimental Design Refer to procedure on page 137-138, 140-141 of lab packet with the following modifications: 1. Use the WINKLER Method for determining Dissolved Oxygen a. Fill the sampling bottle fully with the pond water sample -make sure no air bubbles are trapped inside b. Add 8 drops of Manganous Sulfate to the sampling bottle c. Add 8 drops of Alkaline (potassium-iodide-azide) to the sampling bottle d. Cap and mix thoroughly by inverting the bottle several times -a precipitate will form e. Allow the precipitate to settle below the shoulder of the bottle ~ way f. Add 1 spoonful of Sulfamic Acid (or 8 drops of sulfuric acid) g. Cap and mix thoroughly by inverting the bottle several times -the solution will be yellow to orange h. Transfer 20mL to the BOD and cap -if sample is pale yellow skip to step J

i. Titrate the BOD from yellow-orange to pale yellow with Thiosulfate j. Add 8 drops of Starch Indicator to the BOD sample -the pale yellow solution should turn blue k. Titrate the BOD from blue to colorless with Thiosulfate -record as ppm where each drop is equivalent to 1mg O2/L Other procedural modifications include: a) Amount of drops were recorded instead of mg or ppm b) The sample started in the BOD and was not moved Constants The following three variables must be held constant: The amount of sample in each BOD should stay the same The amount of chemicals used in each sample; sulfamic acid, manganous sulfate and alkaline solution The dark bottle DO should stay the same for each gross productivity population III. Results - Exercise 12A Dissolved Oxygen and Temperature Data Table 1: Temperature Cold 7 Cold 9 Warm 22.3 Hot 35 Hot 35 Lab Group DO 40 30 29 15 6 29 10.5 Class Mean DO 35 Lab Group %DO Saturation 150% 143% 141% 120% 65% 141% 92.5% Class Mean %DO Saturation 146.5%

Data Graph 1:

III. Results - Exercise 12B: Model of Productivity as Function of Depth of Lake in 24 Hours Data Table 2: Individual Data Initial DO Dark Bottle DO Respiration Rate (Initial - Dark) 25 0 25 Class Mean 32.4 0 32.4

Data Table 3: Mean Productivity

# of screens 0 5 10

% Light 100% 10% 2%

Gross Productivity (Light - Dark) 10.5 0 0

Net Productivity (Light - Initial) -21.9 -32.4 -32.4

Data Graph 2:

IV: Conclusions The hypothesis was supported because the data shows that as temperature increases the ability to hold oxygen in the water decreases, when the water was hot the oxygen percentage was 120% and when it was cold the oxygen was at 150%. As light intensity increased so did the gross and net productivity, the data shows that at 100% light intensity the gross productivity was 10.5 and at 1% the gross productivity was 0.

The results may be inconclusive because of the following errors. The data in the third data table is inconsistent and skewed when compared to the constants given by LabBench.

At 10% light with with 5 screens the gross productivity, during trial one, was not measured drop by drop so the measurements were off. Trial two at 1% with 10 screens there was air bubbles in the titration so the specimen could have had oxygen added to it skewing the results.

The results indicated that (what I learned)... Primary productivity can be measured several different ways, the amount of carbon dioxide consumed, the amount of sugar formed, and the amount of oxygen released. The carbon dioxide and oxygen production are related in that as carbon is consumed by organisms, during photosynthesis, to make sugars oxygen is released. The temperature of a water sample effects the amount of water it a hold because as the water heats up the weak hydrogen bonds break more quickly due to the more rapid motion of the molecules, with the bonds breaking more quickly less oxygen is stored between the bonds. It would be expected, at 0% light intensity, that there would be no gross productivity because there would be no light energy powering the production of organic molecules and therefore there is no gross productivity. At 0% light intensity there would also be no net productivity because net productivity is the amount of energy stored between bonds of organic materials but if no organic materials are being made there is no energy stored in the bonds. Mammals obtain the oxygen needed to allow for respiration from the atmosphere they live in. They only have to use 1-2% of its energy because the oxygen is readily available in gaseous, breathable form in the atmosphere. Fish, on the other hand, have to use 15% of there energy underwater to breathe through its gills. The process by which fish breathe takes much longer; fish take in water by their mouths, by opening and closing their mouths they pump water through their gills, oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged across the gill structure called the lamellae, thin disk shaped membranes filled with capillaries, allowing for the gas exchange. This takes much more energy than mammal because the fish must constantly be pumping water and its blood while mammals only have to pump their blood. If there were two containers of fish, one with a volume of water at 90% and another with a volume of water at 50% the fish in the 90% full tank would have more oxygen available. There would be more oxygen because there is more water, with more water comes more hydrogen bonds and more chances to catch water between in them, so a fish with more water have more oxygen. The dissolved oxygen of stream entering a lake would be much lower than that of the lake because a lake has much less movement than a stream does. More movement means more breaking of he hydrogen bonds and less ability to store water, when a stream is constantly moving, flowing into a lake it is breaking those bonds. The concentration of dissolved oxygen in water samples would be greater at 7am because the water would have had less exposure to the sun. The sun gives the molecules energy and the energy causes more motion of the molecules breaking the hydrogen bonds like movement does. At 5pm the water would have been exposed to sunlight all day and the water molecules would be excited and moving more rapidly frequently breaking the bonds allowing for less holding of oxygen. Eutrophication is the excessive accumulation of nutrients that cause dense growth of organisms, the decay of the organisms cause a decrease in oxygen concentration of shallow waters. Excessive runoff from fertilizers can cause eutrophication, the chemicals given by

fertilizes help plants grow but when they make it into ponds they cause an excessive amount of algae growth. Algae can absorb large amount of oxygen and when it dies it decreases the amount of oxygen in the water then suffocating the organisms living within the water.