Elodea Research Paper
Abstract
Elodea, also known as Elodea Canadensis, or waterweeds, lives favorably underwater. You can find Elodea mainly in natural waters in North America such as ponds, rivers, or lakes. Elodea has expanded all over the world as well, particularly in Europe. This aquatic plant multiplies rapidly and grows in a variety of conditions and environments, which is why it’s considered a weed. Elodea is often used in aquariums to stabilize the oxygen balance. It’s a fierce photosynthetic which makes it easy to measure the changes in carbon dioxide. In this experiment, the effects of photosynthesis and respiration of Elodea caused by different temperatures were studied. We used three different temperatures, room temp, cold, and warm in three …show more content…
containers with elodea submerged in water saturated with CO2 in order to see the increase or decrease in photosynthesis and respiration over a period of sixty minutes. We also had one beaker with water saturated with CO2 with no elodea as our control. Weight of Elodea and amount of water saturated with CO2 were measured in the experiment as well to ensure accuracy. After the period of sixty minutes we added drops of NaOH to equal the amount of carbonic acid with CO2. The results demonstrated there was a great decrease in CO2 produced rather than the elodea submerged in warm and room temperature water.
Introduction
Elodea often gets confused with many plants. Algae often get confused with elodea because of the similarities of their appearances. Elodea is an aquatic macrophyte; they are essential to the balance of these habitats like ponds or rivers because they produce oxygen that is released to the water (Siena, 2011). Many things like fish or decaying vegetation produce carbon dioxide in these streams or rivers. Other plants can cause the growth to decrease because of the competition for CO2 (Asta, 2011). Elodea can survive in many different temperatures which is the purpose of this experiment to determine if the elodea submerged in cold water would decrease the amount of CO2 produced rather than in warm and room temperature water.
Materials and Methods
We had four beakers that contained 50 ml of water saturated with CO2.
Before distributing the water into each beaker, we had 150 ml of water in a testing tube and blew bubbles into the water with a straw timed for one minute to ensure they had the same amount of CO2 produced. We then distributed 150 ml of the water equally into the four beakers and weighed 1.5g of elodea to make sure an even amount was going into the three beakers. One beaker contained no elodea that was used as our control. Three of the four beakers contained three different temperatures, cold, warm, and room temperature. The cold water temperature was approximately 0 degrees Celsius and sat in a bucket of cold water. The warm temperature was approximately 34 degrees Celsius and sat in a bucket of warm water. The room temperature was approximately 22 degrees Celsius and sat on the lab table. We monitored the containers for a period of sixty minutes. After the hour passed we gathered our containers and added drops of sodium hydroxide necessary to equal the carbonic acid produced by CO2. We counted the amount of drops used of NaOH and stirred it till the colorless solution turned into a light pink solution for each container and recorded our …show more content…
results.
Results
The data we collected was that the control water with no elodea took fourteen drops of NaOH to neutralize, the room temperature (22 degrees Celsius) beaker took 15 drops to neutralize, the warm temperature (34 degrees Celsius) beaker took 11 drops to neutralize, and the cold temperature (0 degrees Celsius) took 7 drops to neutralize. We then subtracted the difference of NaOH added compared to the control. The elodea with room temp. water had a net increase of .05 ml of CO2 produced, the elodea with warm temp. water had a net decrease of .14 ml of CO2 produced, and the elodea with cold temp. water had a net decrease of .32 ml of CO2 produced.
Control
Room Temp (22°c)
Warm Temp (34°c)
Cold Temp (0°)
# Of NaOH drops added
14
15
11
7
Difference # of drops compared to control
0
1
3
7
Amount of Co2 taken up or given off
0
.05 mL
.14 mL
.32mL
Conclusion
Our results demonstrated that the elodea with warm temperature water (22 degrees Celsius) was the only one to have a net increase in CO2 produced and the elodea with cold-water temperature (0 degrees Celsius) had a greater net decrease with .32 ml of CO2 produced.
Our results supported our hypothesis stating that the elodea submerged in cold water would have a greater decrease in the amount of CO2 produced rather than in room temperature water or warm water. In the article,“ Growth, reproduction, and photosynthesis of ragweed parthenium”, supported our hypothesis showing that their “carrot grass” had a suppressed photosynthetic rate in the winter with colder temperatures compared to the photosynthetic rate in the summer with warmer temperatures (Pandey,
2003).
References
D. K. Pandey, L. M. S. Palni, S. C. Joshi. 2003. Weed Science Vol. 51, Issue 2.P. 191-201.
Siena, A 2011. Elodea: Algae? No! Aquatic plant! Elodea: Algae? No! Aquatic Plant! Retrieved September 28, 2013, from http://www.ead.hemocentro.fmrp.usp.br/english/index.php/publication/science-in-focus/210-elodea-algae-no-aquatic-plant-
Asta, J. 2011, August 13. Rate of Growth of Elodea | eHow. EHow. Retrieved September 28, 2013, from http://www.ehow.com/info_10061234_rate-growth-elodea.html
Elodea, also known as Elodea Canadensis, or waterweeds, lives favorably underwater. You can find Elodea mainly in natural waters in North America such as ponds, rivers, or lakes. Elodea has expanded all over the world as well, particularly in Europe. This aquatic plant multiplies rapidly and grows in a variety of conditions and environments, which is why it’s considered a weed. Elodea is often used in aquariums to stabilize the oxygen balance. It’s a fierce photosynthetic which makes it easy to measure the changes in carbon dioxide. In this experiment, the effects of photosynthesis and respiration of Elodea caused by different temperatures were studied. We used three different temperatures, room temp, cold, and warm in three …show more content…
containers with elodea submerged in water saturated with CO2 in order to see the increase or decrease in photosynthesis and respiration over a period of sixty minutes. We also had one beaker with water saturated with CO2 with no elodea as our control. Weight of Elodea and amount of water saturated with CO2 were measured in the experiment as well to ensure accuracy. After the period of sixty minutes we added drops of NaOH to equal the amount of carbonic acid with CO2. The results demonstrated there was a great decrease in CO2 produced rather than the elodea submerged in warm and room temperature water.
Introduction
Elodea often gets confused with many plants. Algae often get confused with elodea because of the similarities of their appearances. Elodea is an aquatic macrophyte; they are essential to the balance of these habitats like ponds or rivers because they produce oxygen that is released to the water (Siena, 2011). Many things like fish or decaying vegetation produce carbon dioxide in these streams or rivers. Other plants can cause the growth to decrease because of the competition for CO2 (Asta, 2011). Elodea can survive in many different temperatures which is the purpose of this experiment to determine if the elodea submerged in cold water would decrease the amount of CO2 produced rather than in warm and room temperature water.
Materials and Methods
We had four beakers that contained 50 ml of water saturated with CO2.
Before distributing the water into each beaker, we had 150 ml of water in a testing tube and blew bubbles into the water with a straw timed for one minute to ensure they had the same amount of CO2 produced. We then distributed 150 ml of the water equally into the four beakers and weighed 1.5g of elodea to make sure an even amount was going into the three beakers. One beaker contained no elodea that was used as our control. Three of the four beakers contained three different temperatures, cold, warm, and room temperature. The cold water temperature was approximately 0 degrees Celsius and sat in a bucket of cold water. The warm temperature was approximately 34 degrees Celsius and sat in a bucket of warm water. The room temperature was approximately 22 degrees Celsius and sat on the lab table. We monitored the containers for a period of sixty minutes. After the hour passed we gathered our containers and added drops of sodium hydroxide necessary to equal the carbonic acid produced by CO2. We counted the amount of drops used of NaOH and stirred it till the colorless solution turned into a light pink solution for each container and recorded our …show more content…
results.
Results
The data we collected was that the control water with no elodea took fourteen drops of NaOH to neutralize, the room temperature (22 degrees Celsius) beaker took 15 drops to neutralize, the warm temperature (34 degrees Celsius) beaker took 11 drops to neutralize, and the cold temperature (0 degrees Celsius) took 7 drops to neutralize. We then subtracted the difference of NaOH added compared to the control. The elodea with room temp. water had a net increase of .05 ml of CO2 produced, the elodea with warm temp. water had a net decrease of .14 ml of CO2 produced, and the elodea with cold temp. water had a net decrease of .32 ml of CO2 produced.
Control
Room Temp (22°c)
Warm Temp (34°c)
Cold Temp (0°)
# Of NaOH drops added
14
15
11
7
Difference # of drops compared to control
0
1
3
7
Amount of Co2 taken up or given off
0
.05 mL
.14 mL
.32mL
Conclusion
Our results demonstrated that the elodea with warm temperature water (22 degrees Celsius) was the only one to have a net increase in CO2 produced and the elodea with cold-water temperature (0 degrees Celsius) had a greater net decrease with .32 ml of CO2 produced.
Our results supported our hypothesis stating that the elodea submerged in cold water would have a greater decrease in the amount of CO2 produced rather than in room temperature water or warm water. In the article,“ Growth, reproduction, and photosynthesis of ragweed parthenium”, supported our hypothesis showing that their “carrot grass” had a suppressed photosynthetic rate in the winter with colder temperatures compared to the photosynthetic rate in the summer with warmer temperatures (Pandey,
2003).
References
D. K. Pandey, L. M. S. Palni, S. C. Joshi. 2003. Weed Science Vol. 51, Issue 2.P. 191-201.
Siena, A 2011. Elodea: Algae? No! Aquatic plant! Elodea: Algae? No! Aquatic Plant! Retrieved September 28, 2013, from http://www.ead.hemocentro.fmrp.usp.br/english/index.php/publication/science-in-focus/210-elodea-algae-no-aquatic-plant-
Asta, J. 2011, August 13. Rate of Growth of Elodea | eHow. EHow. Retrieved September 28, 2013, from http://www.ehow.com/info_10061234_rate-growth-elodea.html