Effects of the Environment on Microscopic Organisms Abstract

Grade Level at Time of Presentation

Secondary School

Major

-

Minor

-

Institution

Project Lead The Way - Kentucky

KY House District #

78

KY Senate District #

17

Abstract

The motive for conducting this experiment was to observe the effects of the environment at a microscopic level to see whether the organisms would thrive or decline in health. The hypothesis of the organisms’ outcome in the different environments was that when they were kept in different conditions, things about their group would change compared to each other, such as amount, pH, and movement. The problem that is being focused on is what would happen to smaller level organisms when put in real life environmental scenarios. The different species of amoebas and protozoa were mixed together in a large container and then were separated equally into smaller containers or "environments" to imitate real world situations. They were left there for 7 days to resemble just a small amount of time in the outside world. The results of the experiment showed that when microscopic organisms were placed in different environments, their amount (quantity), speed, and pH level were affected. The four different environments that were imitated in this experiment were Global Warming (hot), Global Cooling (cold), Oil Spill (oil), and a Disease Outbreak (E. Coli) with a control that was always at room temperature. These different environments are used to model real world events that could all happen in the possible future. To record the results, a 1 to 10 scale was created to track movement (1 being least active and 10 being most active), and pH level was checked daily in all of the environments. In the hot environment, there was a large decrease in water, which lead to death of the amoebas and a movement level of 0, while their average pH level was recorded as an 8. The cold environment showed a significant decrease in the movement of the amoebas, putting them as a number 2 on the movement scale, but still having a pH of 7.5. In the oil filled environment, the algae became attached to the organisms, inhibiting their movement resulting in a 6 on the scale and changing their average pH level to the basic number 8. In the bacteria filled environment, the average pH level did not change, but staying constant with the control at 7 and had a normal movement of 8 on the movement scale. It was concluded that different habitats do have a large effect on the movement, number, and different chemical changes.

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Effects of the Environment on Microscopic Organisms Abstract

The motive for conducting this experiment was to observe the effects of the environment at a microscopic level to see whether the organisms would thrive or decline in health. The hypothesis of the organisms’ outcome in the different environments was that when they were kept in different conditions, things about their group would change compared to each other, such as amount, pH, and movement. The problem that is being focused on is what would happen to smaller level organisms when put in real life environmental scenarios. The different species of amoebas and protozoa were mixed together in a large container and then were separated equally into smaller containers or "environments" to imitate real world situations. They were left there for 7 days to resemble just a small amount of time in the outside world. The results of the experiment showed that when microscopic organisms were placed in different environments, their amount (quantity), speed, and pH level were affected. The four different environments that were imitated in this experiment were Global Warming (hot), Global Cooling (cold), Oil Spill (oil), and a Disease Outbreak (E. Coli) with a control that was always at room temperature. These different environments are used to model real world events that could all happen in the possible future. To record the results, a 1 to 10 scale was created to track movement (1 being least active and 10 being most active), and pH level was checked daily in all of the environments. In the hot environment, there was a large decrease in water, which lead to death of the amoebas and a movement level of 0, while their average pH level was recorded as an 8. The cold environment showed a significant decrease in the movement of the amoebas, putting them as a number 2 on the movement scale, but still having a pH of 7.5. In the oil filled environment, the algae became attached to the organisms, inhibiting their movement resulting in a 6 on the scale and changing their average pH level to the basic number 8. In the bacteria filled environment, the average pH level did not change, but staying constant with the control at 7 and had a normal movement of 8 on the movement scale. It was concluded that different habitats do have a large effect on the movement, number, and different chemical changes.