Causes of Eutrophication and its Effects of on Aquatic Ecosystems

Throughout the experiment we watered the corn on top <strong>of</strong> our experimental tank with watermixed with fertilizer, <strong>and</strong> watered the control corn with plain reverse osmosis water, allowing thewater to drain out <strong>of</strong> the pots <strong>and</strong> through holes in the tops <strong>of</strong> the aquariums. After twenty-eightdays we repeated our initial measurements with the addition <strong>of</strong> a phosphate measurement, <strong>and</strong>also measured the corn height <strong>and</strong> Elodea mass. On day forty-nine <strong>of</strong> our experiment we tookfinal measurements <strong>of</strong> the chemical <strong>and</strong> physical aspects <strong>of</strong> the water <strong>and</strong> weighed the Elodeaalong with the aboveground portion <strong>of</strong> the corn. We also estimated the amount <strong>of</strong> algal growth ineach tank.We completed our three sets <strong>of</strong> measurements using a variety <strong>of</strong> materials. Throughcolorimetric tests using a spectrophotometer we measured phosphate <strong>and</strong> ammonia/ammonium.The reagents included a Nutrafin Phosphate Test <strong>and</strong> a Nutrafin Ammonia Test Kit made byHagen from Montreal, Canada. We also used Quick Dip Nitrate/Nitrite Test Strips made byJungle Laboratories Corp. from Cibolo, Texas, USA. In order to measure optical density we ransamples <strong>of</strong> water from each tank through a spectrophotometer. We measured dissolved oxygen,pH, <strong>and</strong> temperature using specialized digital meters specific to each variable.ResultsControl FertilizedMean 1.44 14.18417Variance 0.142618 30.30072Observations 12 12Pooled Variance 15.22167Hypothesized Mean Difference 0df 22t Stat -8.00122P(T