Wednesday, May 18, 2011

"Introduction to Marine Plankton"

Introduction:
 The word plankton comes from the Greek word Planktos which is the means "wander." The meaning of the the word "wander" is that it can't swim against the current or wind. There are four ways that you can classify the plankton by food, color, size. Plankton can come in different colors. The blue green plankton creats 90% of the oz in the air. Holoplankton can spend it whole life as a plankton. Meroplankton only spends part of its life as plankton. The plankton can vary is size from 2mm-<.005mm in length.




Research Question:
What is the diversity of Plankton in South Maui?




Hypothesis:
I think that I will find 500 species of Plankton in the water at the kihei boat ramp.




 Materials:
  • Plankton net
  • Vial
  • jar
  • Journal
  • Pipette
  • Microscope
  • Slide/cover slip
  • Id Book
 Procedure
  1. Drive to the beach
  2. Walk down to the ramp
  3. Pull net around in water for 3 min
  4. Remove vial from net
  5. Put all samples in the a jar
  6. At school put plankton on to a microscope slide
  7. Gently place the cover slide on top but starting from a side so no air bubbles get in
  8. Look at plankton through the scope
  9. Use the ID book to identify the plankton
Dissolved Oxygen
  1. fill the test tube with water from the ocean to the top
  2. put 2 tablets in the test tube and shake for 3 mins
  3. let it set for 5 mins
Phosphates:  
 
1. Fill test vial to 10ml.
2. Add test tablet and shake for one minute.
3. Wait five minutes.
4. Compare sample color to color on card.
5. Record results in journal.






Nitrates
1. Fill test vial to 10ml.
2. Add test tablet and shake for one minute.
3. Wait five minutes.
4. Compare sample color to color on card.
5. Record results in journal.
For turbidity:


1. Fill test vial to 25ml.
2. Place test vial over the secchi disk on the card.
3. Compare it to the the pictures of the other disks.
4. Record results in journal.
 pH:
1. Remove cap from pH/temperature pen.
2. Place pen in water to be sampled.
3. Wait for numbers to stabilize.
4. Record results in journal.
 Water Temperature




  1. Take the cap of the botoom of the prob
  2. Stick it in the water for a few seconds
  3. pull it out and read the temp
  4. Record data in your journal

Compund scope
  1. Find a scope holding the scope by the arm and take the cover off
  2. plug the scope in and turn the light on
  3. Put a drop of water on the slide and taking a cover slip and place on top but starting from one side to put it on.
  4. Then place the cover slde on the black tray over the light
  5. Then look through the eye peice and count how many plankton you see and record in your journal
Digtal Proscope
  1. Find a black box that has all of the different insturments in it.
  2. Open the box
  3. take out the scope and the  data
Data
  1. Temp 20.4c
  2. Salinity 26%
  3. Dissolved oz 0
  4. phosphates 4
  5. nitrates 2
  6. current/tide/wind high tide
  7. wind slight brezz
  8. time
  9. pH 8.09
Conclusion
 I was only able to find  different species of plankton.What is the diversity of Plankton in South Maui? I think that I will find 500 species of Plankton in the water at the kihei boat ramp.


 Sorces of erro
Having the water sit for a long period of time and not having fresh water every day because the plankton could die.
 


Thursday, April 14, 2011

Sand Pre Lab

Introudction:
There are two different tpyes of sand that could be found on Maui one is biogenic comes from parrot and fish they eat polyps and poop. The other one is dentntal which is made of rocks and dead coral.

Question:
Which beaches on the south side of  Maui would be biogenic?

Hypothesis:
I hypothesis that Kam 3 beache will be biogenic because there is a lot birds and fishes in the water and on the beach.

Predictions
I predict that kam 3 will be biogenic because of the rocks that surround it.

Materials:
Cup,Tape,Maker,Van

Procedure:
  1. Gather the suplies that you need
  2. Get in to the van
  3. Drive to a beach
  4. Collect the sand in the cup
  5. Observe the surrounding of the beach
  6. Take pictuers of the beach
  7. Repeat steps 2-6 for a total of three more times
  8. Once back in the class test the sand by useing vingar to see if it is biogenci or dentntal
















Data:
 The beaches that are goup tested where Keawakapu, Kam3, Charlie Young, The Cove, Waipuilani were all biogenic.

Conclousion
In conclusion my hyopthies was correct becuase of the sourrounding. Which beaches on the south side of Maui would be biogenic? I hypothesis that Kam 3 beache will be biogenic because there is a lot birds and fishes in the water and on the beach.


Sourrces of erro:
Not puting the same amount of sand in the beacker every time to test the sand. Not the same amount of vingar in every time




Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Sand Origins Lab 4/12/11

The beaches that we went to were Keawakapu, Kam 3, Carlie Young, The Cove, Waipuilani.
My observations from the beaches that we went to were that some of the beaches were biogentic because the beaches were made from the rocks that srround the island.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Whale observation / clinometer blog 1/25/11

Whale Observation
On our whale observation the class went looking for whales at the point. So we can watch there movments now and then when we go on the whale watch later in the season we can look and there movments. We also look at there behaviors also to see what the whales are doing.

Question:
Will we see more whales jump early in the season than later in the season?
Hypothesis:
I hypothesis that there will be more breaches early in the season because the whale will be more active during this part of the season.

It was ok for me because I have done this lab before last year. But this time when we went to the look out it was a little different for me because I have never used a climonter before so it was something new for me. My faviort part was that was the first time of the season that I got to see a whale this season. There was one challenge that I had was that are weight fell off more than once. I saw one whale that was just showing its back.
Clinometer Blog
  1. Spot a whale
  2. Hold your clinometer to your eye looking through your eye peice.
  3. Have your partner take the reading on the protracter on the outside line.
  4. Then you convert it in to feet using the floumal of (ft*dgr*tan=?)




•The graph you created for your data analysis section of your lab write up.

The graph that you see is the number of different breach from the two different observations that the science class did one in March and the other in Januaray.

.
Conclusion

Will we see more whales jump early in the season than later in the season? I hypothesis that there will be more breaches early in the season, because the whale will be more active during this part of the season. There for my hypotheses was sported because I saw more whales breaching early in the season then later in the season.


Some sources of error where the position of the boat, miscounting the whales, difference in the data collection on land vs. off land. Another reason is that the class went observing at different times so the whales where less active.

My experience on the whale watch boat was good because I knew the captian of the boat. I love going on whale watches because you only get to see them for a few months out of the year.