PHYTOPLANKTON LAB

Lesly Quezada

Hypothesis:
If phytoplankton is mixed with just phytoplankton, nutrients, and then nutrients plus iron, then the Flask with nutrients plus iron will produce much more phytoplankton because phytoplankton need both nitrogen and iron to grow faster.

Brief Protocol:
1. Each lab pair would have on flask; each group should have three flasks between the three groups. 2. We should contain the flask and label the flask either -Control, +Nutrients (Nitrogen plus phosphate), +Nutrients and Iron 3. Added 100mL of pure filtered saltwater in each flask 4. Cover the top of each container with a cotton ball 5. Add the equal amount of control, nutrients, nutrients plus iron in each flask. 6. Add about 5 ml of algae to each flask 7. Placed all flasks under light for multiple days and temperature 9. Took observations of each flask

10. Each day we gathered a small amount of the water and put it under the microscope and counted the amount of phytoplankton over the course of 8 days. 11. Made sure the wavelength on the spectrometer read 540 and on the green filter 12. Pipette 1 mL of the pure filtered seawater into the cuvette. 13. Placed the cuvette in the spectrometer and turn the dial on the right until it read 100 14. Took that cuvette and took it aside Data Table Day 1 Day 2 %T Count 82% 2 75% 2 80% 9 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6

PHYTOPLANKTON %T TREATMENT Count CONTROL NUTRIENTS NUTRIENTS & IRON 93% 0 101% 0 101% 2

%T %T Count Count 79% 1 94% 4 90% 24 52% 38 59% 10 70% 10

%T %T Count Count 101% 55% 50+ 60+ 148% 57% 10 33 148% 67% 12 50+

Conclusion:
My hypothesis was correct, if we add nutrients to the solution there will be more phytoplankton. I believe the solution that grew the fastest was the nutrients and iron. Phytoplankton needs a boost in nutrients to help them grow mainly nitrogen and phosphorous. I learned that nutrients are an essential factor to the ecosystem but in this experiment mainly to phytoplankton. In the data I noticed the difference between adding nutrients

and not adding nutrients. If people were to stop adding nutrients to phytoplankton then their population will decrease and if one species is decreasing it will eventually destroy the entire ecosystem. Some pro's of iron fertilization would be that if it eradicates the atmospheric carbon cycle, phytoplankton will grow and algae will receive iron nutrition and absorb carbon dioxide, and Some cons of iron fertilization is that algae species that give species a rise to red tides will disturb the marine ecosystem.