Chesapeake Salinity Lab

The purpose of this lab is to analyze the conductivity and salinity of water simple from the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Oysters can live with a salinity level range from 10ptt-to 27ppt, but there is a parasite called protozoan that causes a disease known as MSX in oysters, that arise when salinity level of the water reach 15ppt. Therefore, aquaculture facility usually plants oysters in areas where salinity level are between 10ppt-to12ppt to avoid any risk of the protozoan. Oysters deliver nutrients and carbon in the water. They filter algae, sediment, and other pollutants and provide habitat for fish, crabs and another organism. In orders words, this process decreases turbidity and increase of microorganisms like diatoms and cyanobacteria.
This capability is related to the concentration of ions in the water. These conductive ions come from dissolved salts and inorganic materials, and the total concentration of all dissolved salts in water represented is salinity level. In this lab, ions will be measure with a standard NaCl solution at a concentration of 20g/L(ppt). We expect conductivity to increase even with less water, as long as the ions level remains the same.
We use a standard curve to graphically represent the relationship between two quantities, such as salinity and conductivity as we will in our lab to see the relationship between both.
To conduct our experiment, we measure the salinity and conductivity of a 100ml of distilled water with 0 ml of NaCl. We use test tube for the water sample and we use dropper pipet to put the water to exactly 100ml. We, later on, use another dropper pipet to add NaCl to the distilled water while still maintaining 100ml as our total volume for dilution. We use the conductivity meter after the dilution; we put the meter inside the tube and check the level on the
The more ml of NaCl we add in a water sample, the results were increases in conductivity level and salinity level. From results of our experiments, a standard curve was created to graphically show the relation between salinity and conductivity. The 45degree line from our graph proved that there is a positive relation between salinity and conductivity. Conductivity and salinity have a strong relation. As conductivity is relatively easier to calculate, it is used in the calculation of salinity and both affect aquatic and quality life. An increase or decrease in conductivity indicates pollution. Additional dissolved solids will have a negative impact on water quality thus oysters will not growth as expected. Based on the results I don't recommend the rehabilitation of oysters because on a higher scale, it would be extremely difficult to maintain a salinity level of 10ppt to 12ptt with all the risk of pollution, humans activities, and temperature issues. It would be even more difficult to growth oysters in an area where salinity is between 10ppt to 27ppt because of the protozoan. Lucky, MSX is not transmittable from oysters to oysters, which should have increased their rate of death, but it still dangerous for the growth of oysters. A future experiment should focus on if oysters can filtrate particulates from the water. If oysters are able to filtrate, it means they would be