Field Freshwater Ecology Laboratory
Biology
(write-up = 10 points; 3-5 pages)
Your first assignment is to write a brief lab report describing the pond you studied. Your lab write-up should be a maximum of 3-5 written pages, along with an appropriate table and figure (see Results, below). Lists, outlines or bulleted points are NOT appropriate. You do NOT need to do any statistical analyses; this is an ‘observational/qualitative’ analysis paper.
Your lab report must contain and state each of the following sections.
Abstract: A one paragraph summary of Introduction, Methods, Results and Conclusions.
Introduction: 1-3 paragraphs introducing the aspects of pond ecology that were investigated
Method: 2-4 paragraphs detailing how you collected the data
Results: 2-4 paragraphs detailing the results that you obtained. Here is where you reference your table and figure. Table 1 will be your abiotic data collected from the pond (i.e., dissolved O2, conductivity, temperature, nitrate, etc.). Figure 1 will be approximate sketches of your pond; it can be hand-drawn or made using appropriate computer software, with both being equally acceptable.
Conclusions: 2-4 paragraphs that descriptively highlight the significant elements of your pond.
References or Literature Cited: Your three (or more) references should be correctly presented (see previous emails and guidelines) and lectures may be cited as well. All references must be cited (referred to) in the narrative of the paper.
- Be sure to follow the guidelines and be sure to cite 3 primary references (and you have to actually refer to them – cite them – in the narrative)
- You only need to describe and discuss 1 pond (hopefully, the one at which you took measurements – if you can’t remember at which pond you worked, pick one)
- You do need to have a simple sketch (I sent you pictures of all of the sample sites) as a Figure in the report
- The standard pattern one might anticipate is that there would be more DO, more % saturation with DO and a higher Temperature than at the bottom. If there isn’t a significant difference, the pond was probably too shallow, and was essentially just a shallow water column
- One would expect the second measurement to be higher (in DO) than the initial one. If not there may not have been enough plankton or contributing vascular plants to make a difference.
- This should be an easy write up, and now you have till the 13th to turn it in
- Here are a few more publications based upon research in the Marsh in case you are looking for more references
Pond 5 is approximately the same size and design as Pond 8, but Pond 5 does not have an island in it. The interior of the pond is lined with cattails and bulrushes. The Transition Zone (between the road and the emergent zone had patchy Frankenia, some alkali mallow, and a few alkali weed plants in it. The shallow shelf (from the water to the edge of the road) was dry, with old alkali bulrush that had been mowed still evident and there was one tamarisk (a non-native shrub) near the boat and sample site itself. This is a site a site at which dragonflies are almost always seen. The salinity was 5.9 parts per thousand and 1457 uS (microsiemens – conductivity). There were a few black willow and mulefat shrubs at the site where water enters Pond 5 (across the pond from where we sampled). The Pond 5 data sheet form for the sampling session on June 27 is appended below.
Salinity in Parts Per Thousand (ppt) and Conductivity in Microsiemens (uS)
Pond 11 (both sites) 0.8 ppt 2086 uS
Pond 8 (both sites) 2.7 ppt 2766 uS
Pond 5 5.9 ppt 1457 uS
Pond 2 0.9 ppt 1015 uS
Pond 3 1.5 ppt 1604 uS
Middle Marsh 1.6 ppt 1632 uS
Pond 8
Pond 8 is the largest of the Experimental Ponds, and it has an island. The shallow shelf along the pond’s edge, where the two groups of valiant students sampled is covered with western sea purslane (you don’t have to know it), and some alkali bulrush. In the plant transition zone between the road (which would be riparian habitat were the road not present) and the emergent zone (cattails and bulrushes) – from the road between Ponds 8 and 9 (next to where the sampling was conducted) there was a large growth of western sea purslane (not on your to-know list) and scattered along the transition zone were scattered patches of alkali weed, alkali mallow, alkali bulrush and Frankenia (all native species on the to know list). The island and the other end of the pond (which is deeper) are ring with California bulrush and cattails. American coots, black-necked stilts, killdeer, ruddy ducks and other duck species were present.
