Organic and Inorganic Additives and their Effects on Dissolved Oxygen Concentrations In Simulated Pond Water

Abstract

In the environment, the amount of DO varies between bodies of water. It is possible for two bodies of water to have the same level of DO, but it is much more likely for two unsaturated bodies of water containing DO to have different levels of DO. In this experiment, we are trying to figure out what causes changes in DO. From our background information, the researchers have used the amount of DO to determine water quality and have compared the varying amounts of DO in different bodies of water to find that the amount of DO is higher in some cases and lower in others, however they have failed to explain why there are different amounts of DO in each body of water (French, 2014). In order to answer the question of why, we used model ecosystems that were provided to us and these model ecosystems of water have a single strain of algae. We then added different pollutants to these model ecosystems and compared the amount of DO of the control model to the amount of DO after being exposed to the pollutant for a week. We measured the amount of DO by using a DO sensor and graphed our data over time to compare the rate and change in DO of the varying samples. With this experiment, we will be able to answer why there is less oxygen in some streams of water than in others. We will also will have a better understanding of which pollutant will affect the amount of DO, by changing how well algae survives and reproduces in the model ecosystems.