mykm-tem1

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Title
Effect of crowding on //Spirodela// growth.

Problem Scenario
I chose this experiment because I wanted to know if crowding would effect the growth of //Spirodela// in a positive way or a negative way.

Broad Question
Would crowding effect a plants growth?

Specific Question
What is the effect of crowding on the growth of //Spirodela//?

Hypothesis
I think the non-crowded //Spirodela// will grow faster than the crowded //Spirodela//.

Independent Variable:
Plant spacing.

Dependent Variable:
Number of //Spirodela// plants in the end.

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:
Size of cup Size of screen Enviroment Amount of water Number of cups

General Plan
1. Set up the containers of crowded and non-crowded //Spirodela.// 2. Count the number if individual plants in each cup. 3. Record data in science notebook each day.

Potential Problems And Solutions
If the //Spirodela// dies i will have to just somehow add that into my data.

Number Of Trials:
I did one trial.

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:
I had two subjects in each trial.

When data will be collected
My data will be collected everyday for fifteen days.

Number of Observations:
I have tree observations.

Where will data be collected?:
My data will be collected in my science notebook.

Resources and Budget Table

 * Screen || Mr.Biche || $0.00 ||
 * Straws || Home || $0.00 ||
 * Poster Board || __Staples__ || $5.00 ||

Background Research
Two free-floating aquatic plants Eichhornia crassipes and Pistia stratiotes were investigated using a __replacement__ series for the intermixed combinations. The carrying capacity for each plant was investigated in monoculture. The Eichhornia crassipes plant showed dominance over the Pistia stratiotes plant when the two plants were grown together. within the first month the interaction between the two plants became noticeable. Three species of small, free-floating, aquatic plants in a beaver swamp were monitored for a year. In the summer Salvinia Minima grew rapidly and negatively affected the cover of both Azolla Caroliniana and Spirodela Punctata. Minima would increase when it grew with Punctata. In Autumn Minima had a negative effect on Caroliniana’s increase of cover. However this effect was not competitive. It was caused by herbivore of Minima that switched to Caroliniana as’s growth slowed in Autumn. Minima is a better competitor in the Summer. Hydrilla an exotic submersed aquatic plant was introduced to Florida in the late 1950’s and is now a gigantic weed problem. Once Hydrilla produced as much dry plant weight during a sixteen week period as sixteen tips planted under the same conditions. The dry weight of the plants after sixteen weeks were as high as 1,561 times that of the shoot tips that were planted.

Detailed Procedure
1: I made the raft that the //Spirodela// would be placed in. 2: I filled the containers almost to the top with water and placed the raft in them. 3: Then I placed six individual //Spirodela// in each container. Two containers with crowded //Spirodela// and two containers with non-crowded //Spirodela//. 4: Counted the number of each individual plants in each container.

Photo List
Non-crowded cup 1 Non-crowded cup 2 Crowded cup 1 Crowded cup 2

All Raw Data

 * non-crowded cup 1 || non-crowded cup 2 || crowded cup 1 || crowded cup 2 ||
 * 17 //Spirodela// || 19 //Spirodela// || 9 //Spirodela// || 17 //Spirodela// ||

Data Analysis
When I started my experiment I had six //Spirodela// plants set up in each container. After a few days the plants increased by e few individuals. Sometimes the plants did not increase for a few days at a time. In the middle of the experiment I could not tell if crowding would affect the growth of the plants. In the end of the experiment I still could not tell if crowding had an affect on plant growth until I put the data into a graph.

Conclusion
My hypothesis that the non-crowded //Spirodela// will grow faster than the crowded //Spirodela// came true. The non-crowded //Spirodela// plants did grow better then the crowded Plants.

Discussion
My data showed that both containers for the most part had around the same number of //Spirodela// in them. I was able to answer my experimental question by the end of my experiment. My answer was that crowding does have a small effect on the growth of the //Spirodela.// My experiment did not have any errors throughout the whole thing. My data also did not have any errors in it. I could have added more containers to make my experiment better. I also could have done another container with a different common aquatic plant to see if that would effect the growth of the plants.

Benefit to Community and/or Science
This experiment could help the community because their are some people who will place things in ponds or lakes that shouldn't be their and if its something like //Spirodela// it's important to know how the condition the plants in will effect it's growth. This experiment could help science because if something happens to a lake or a pond it would be nice to know how it will grow in certain situations. This could also help scientist's figure out how to get rid of an invasive aquatic plant.

Abstract
I chose this experiment because I know someone who has a job extracting mill foil from lakes and I know that that plant is very invasive., but I do not know if crowding had any effect on the plant So I wanted to see if other aquatic plants like //Spirodela// could grow better in crowded areas or non-crowded areas. When I first started my experiment I was sure that //Spirodela// would grow better in non-crowded areas. And after a week or so it looked like i was going to be right, but after two weeks it was getting harder to tell because the number of individual plant in each container were really close. By the end of my experiment I found out that I was right and that crowding did have an effect on //Spirodela// growth, but just a small effect.