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June
Reflection
Over all, I'm happy with how my project went. I was able to answer my research question and identify factors related to algae growth. I did not expect some of the results I saw in my research. Although I had an idea of what the factors may be, I did not expect human activities to have such a large effect on the pond.
What success looks like for my project:
My ultimate goal is to find connections between algae growth and the factors that contributed towards it. So far, I have found that seasonal changes, air temperature, bacteria in the water, and human activities are the greatest factors associated with algae growth.
If possible, I would like to look more deeply into how human activities affects the pond ecosystem, but since I have spent the majority of my project focusing on bacteria growth and independent factors, I'm not sure how realistic that goal is. Looking at human factors could show more substantial results.
March Update
50% through project, New Plan
I would say I am halfway through my project and have finished most of the experiments I've wanted to do. I am working on gathering all my findings and coming up with a conclusion. My plan is to have a conclusion and work on creating graphs. If I have enough time, I may conduct additional experiments on human factors of the pond.
Update
Currently writing paper and registered for NYSSEF. Planning to use my experimental results to write a paper and submit to the contest.
My plan is to keep working on my research paper and presentation to submit to the NYSSEF competition. I'm also working on creating graphs to support my findings.
February Update
January Update
Pond report
On January 4, I took two pond sample tests: one in the morning at 7:55am and the other at 4:05pm in the afternoon. There was coliform present in both samples, and the total bacteria count exceeded 160000 cfu/100mL in both as well. The pH in the morning was 7.60 and 7.28 in the afternoon. This report does not follow the trend of the other reports, as the bacteria count is abnormally high. The bacteria count was only >160000 cfu/100mL during the month of June/July which are the hottest months of the year. After thinking of reasons why this number could be so high, I realized that a source of error for this report could have been while I was taking the sample. Since the pond was frozen over, I had to puncture the ice to get the sample, but since I was in shallow water, the sediments from the soil most likely got mixed into the water sample.
Jan 4
Jan 11
Pond report
I took two pond sample tests on December 23: one in the morning at 9:30am and another in the afternoon at 4:45pm. There was coliform present in both samples, and the bacteria count in the morning was 13200 cfu/100mL compared to 4200 cfu/100mL. The pH was 6.91 in the morning and 6.76 in the afternoon. I found that each month, the bacteria count decreases which makes sense due to the temperature drops. However, these results contradicts my results from November since the bacteria count was higher in the afternoon than in the morning, which is what I expected. In the December test, the bacteria count is higher in the morning than in the afternoon. As of now, I'm not sure what the cause of the discrepancies are.
December Update
pH Test:
To better understand the types of bacteria present in the pond, I observed the water sample I collected under the microscope. The bacteria growth in different pH levels were studied at a pH of 3 through 12. The results showed that the samples with pH above 4.5 did not contain any living organisms while the samples below around 3.5 did contain living organisms.
I also conducted my routine pond sample test(s) on 11/23, comparing the results from the morning and afternoon from the same day. The total bacteria count in the morning was 5800 compared to 20300 cfu/100mL in the afternoon. Both numbers are under the EPA limit. The pH of the water in the morning was 7.00 compared to 6.85 in the afternoon.
pH 3.0
pH 4.5
November Update
October Update
1st report
On October 12, 2021, at 7:50am, I took a pond sample test from the ETR Laboratories and analyzed the results. My plan is to routinely test the pond around once per month to monitor the results. The results from the October test showed that there was coliform bacteria present which should not be present and the total bacteria count was 67300 cfu/100mL which is above the EPA limit of 50000 cfu/100mL. The pH of the water was 6.74.
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