Local Plankton Science Fair Projects

Methods/Materials

1. One jar for every location sampled
2. Strong Wire
3. A pair of panty hose
4. One embroidery hoop
5. Three to five strong rubber bands
6. A small jar or vile for the net
7. Snap swivel
8. Stong Microscope
9. Blank slides and covers
10. Tissue to wipe slides
11. Notebook
12. camera

Results

After sampling all of the locations, I went back home to start to observe. I would stir the sample with a spoon and would put a drop of water on a slide. After looking over the slide through the microscope, I gave it a rating. A - very dense, B - Dense, C - medium and D - low density, and E - none or almost none. After doing this five times for each jar of water, I came up with an average rating. The Rhine Channel ended up with a rating of A - very dense. I also learned from research that plankton prefer calm water.

Conclusions/Discussion

It turned out that my hypothesis was correct. I thought that out of all the samples I observed, the Rhine Channel stood out the most. There was plankton everywhere on the slide. The plankton were more dense in this area because the flow of water is not very strong like it is in other more open areas of the bay. This abundancy of phytoplankton attracts zooplankton such as jelly fish. This increases the population of plankton. 3rd party contributor