Arthropodic Crayfish

INTRODUCTION Agricultural land and water use is a very important topic in today’s world. In the western states, agriculture accounts for 90% of the water consumption (USDA “Irrigation and Land Use” 2015). 51% of the entire United States (including Alaska,) is dedicated to agriculture(USDA “Irrigation and Land Use” 2015). The water that is used for irrigating crops is lost as runoff, or seeps into the ground, and cannot be recycled or used again. Vast expanses of land are used in the United States for growing the amount of crops needed to feed its population.
Recent innovation has developed a method called aquaponics. It is a closed system in which water from a fish tank is used to water crops in a hydroponic growth medium. Soil or land is
According to this data my hypothesis is supported due to the significant difference between the two systems plant yield. One reason these results may have occurred is because the digestive systems of the Arthropodic crayfish is more efficient at converting nutrients from its food to a suitable form for the plants to uptake and utilise. Also the microfauna that encompass the crayfish (because of their high tolerance for pollution) assist in the breakdown of nutrients. One reason the goldfish may not have produced as high of a yield as the crayfish is because they are known to produce high levels of ammonia, which can be a beneficial fertilizer, but in high doses could possibly have a negative effect. When measuring the nutrients of nitrates and phosphates it was found that the goldfish typically had higher levels of nitrates, and crayfish had higher phosphate levels. Because of the indication of plant growth, it can be inferred that phosphates were a limiting reagent in the plants nutrient
Also different varieties of plants would be used to see the different effects from each system. The extended time would allow for the analysis of the plant’s growth in later stages, and to see if a longer exposure to the effluents could have an alternate effect in the systems. With more plant varieties it could be determined which ones benefit the most from each effluent, and to explore the possibilities growing certain crops using this farming method. Also different ratios of animals could be tested to see if a particular ratio of animal biomass to water volume could affect the results. Other nutrients such as nitrites, and ammonia could be tested to see if those factors might also be affecting the results. The specimens could also be fed a different type of food to find out the impact, and also feeding could be more closely monitored to make sure each system receives a more precise