Science 9 Field study
Up until this point in Science 9 Honors, we have researched about subjects such as the planet’s 4 spheres and its nutrient cycles. These topics that we researched are essential to the topic that we have recently picked up, the study of watersheds and invertebrates. Our goal in this study is to understand the living conditions in bodies of water such as ponds or rivers. In addition, we are also looking at the inhabitants of these bodies of water, invertebrates. Of course, they are not the only things that are found in the water, but they are our main research along with their environment. In this post, I am going to be explaining what we have done in Science 9 Honors up until now.
Water Quality
Comment on the water quality value of the pond; of the river
–> what do these values say about the health of the water in the pond? The river?
Once we got past the introduction of the entire unit, we went out behind the school to research the Pond that is directly behind the school and the River that is behind Gates park beside the school. Our big goal here was to find the quality of the water in these bodies of water to figure what types of organisms can live in them. To complete this goal, we incorporated the use of invertebrates. The students were all determined to find at least some organisms that could really aid us in finding the water quality. The reason why we looked for invertebrates was because with the discovery of different types of invertebrates that are found in the Pond and River can really give us an idea of the water quality and conditions. Of course, invertebrates can only indicate so much. We ended up taking water samples from both bodies of water. This gave us the rest of the numbers that we required for a conclusion.
Comment on the water quality value of the pond; of the river
–> what do these values say about the health of the water in the pond? The river?
You may be asking yourself “What numbers is this guy talking about?”. Well, let me explain.
In total there was 7 aspects that we measured and 7 results that we got for the pond and the river. Dissolved oxygen, which is the amount of oxygen in the water. 
pH, which is the measurement of how acidic or basic the water is with 7 being normal water. Lower than 7 is more acidic and higher than 7 is more basic. Temperature change, as the name suggests, is the amount of degrees that usually changes in the temperature of the water. Nitrates, it’s the amount of nitrogen that is found in the water. Nitrates or Nitrogen comes from things like fertilizer or animal waste. Phosphates are very similar to Nitrates by the fact that they both come from fertilizer and they both have the same effect on the ecosystem. Turbidity which is the clarity of the water. The higher the turbidity means the water is murkier and low turbidity means the water is clearer. This is caused by the suspended particles that are in the water. And Finally, Total Dissolved solids, this is the amount of the salts that come from different minerals and like most things on this list, too much=NOT GOOD and too little= NOT GOOD. We got various numbers from all these aspects for the River and Pond. In the end, after adding up all the values we received from the study, the River has an approximate Water Quality Value of 89.76 out of 100 which is GOOD. Similarly, the Pond received a 74.14 Water Quality Value which is also GOOD. This honestly baffled me based on the turbidity of the water and the smell.
In conclusion, we can safely assume that the health of the water in the pond and river is good and that it is a sustainable environment for most invertebrates that live in these water bodies.
Invertebrates
My group and I found a lot of different invertebrates in the Pond and Coquitlam River. To my understanding the other groups also got very similar results as we did. I will start with the River. In the river, my group and I didn’t find as much interesting ones as we hoped but we managed to still find some invertebrates such as Caddisfly Larvae, Mayfly Larvae and a Watermite.
We also did find 3 snails. I did notice that other groups found other invertebrates such as Stonefly nymphs, Dragonfly nymphs and Cranefly larvae. There were certain ones that were found more than others, but these were the ones that the class found.
Moving onto the Pond, my group and I had a lot more success in finding more interesting invertebrates in the pond than the river.
A couple examples of the most interesting specimens that we found was the Dragonfly Nymph because of its sheer size which I found very intriguing and an Aquatic sow bug. The other groups in the class did find a lot of species also such as Alderflies, Dragonfly suborders and larvae. Every group did also find some small fish in the water and one group had a very bad experience when they found a spider and lost it, thus causing a panic.
Comparing the sampling of the invertebrates from both sites only show some differences in species but overall, they both had a similar diversity of species with the river perhaps having a little more species than the pond.
All together
How do you think water quality is related to the diversity and number of invertebrates found in a water way?
Let’s say that we have a water way with an extremely poor water quality, and a Invertebrate that is looking to live in it. The reason the water quality is very poor is because it could have too much dissolved salt in the water or maybe the phosphate level has caused the oxygen to be depleted. Water ever the cause may be there are some questions to be asked such as: Will this Invertebrate survive in this water? Will its children survive in this water? However, there might be one invertebrate that could live in this water but only that invertebrate, there wouldn’t be as many invertebrates in quantity or diversity in the water if only a couple could survive it. I think that water quality is an essential part of a water way and that it alone can determine the diversity and number of invertebrates found there.
Conclusion
What did you think of these activities?
I personally really enjoyed them, and I would absolutely do them again or something similar. It really gave the class a time to forge new bonds with others while learning about nature and our own backyard.
What did you learn?
I really learned that communication is key when it comes to group projects like this. It also showed me how big of an effect that we could have on our environment whether it be positive or negative.
What would make these activities more meaningful?
I honest opinion I think these activities are perfect as they are. I really found them to be astounding and a great experience at firsthand science experiments for anyone.
