1. © File copyright Colin Purrington. You may use for making your poster, of course, but please do not plagiarize, adapt, or put on your own site. Also, do not upload this file, even if modified, to third-party file-sharing sites such as doctoc.com. If you have insatiable need to post a template onto your own site, search the internet for a different template to steal. File downloaded from http://colinpurrington.com/tips/academic/pos terdesign. Research Question(s) Does ocean depth affect the abundance of plankton? Technology, Materials, and Methods Technology Used: Computer, data from Zooniverse, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word Materials: Computer, internet, Zooniverse Methods: The In Situ Ichthyoplankton Imaging System (ISIIS) captures the images of organisms and the immediate surroundings. A collection of digital images record the exact location of the various plankton, and the images are recorded onto a simple hard drive, which also measure the depth, salinity and temperature of the water with a small camera. Together, the camera and sensors provide detailed profiles and tracks of what plankton are where and what the ocean environment around them is like. As a citizen scientist, I hit the button “start classifying” and proceeded to identify how many and what type of plankton were in each captured image. For this particular research question, I simply recorded the total number of plankton and to which 5 main categories it would fit. I recorded the depth of the ocean in meters for each image and identified plankton in a total of 50 images. Once I collected the data, I categorized it first based off of the shallowest to deepest images. The first ten shallowest images were recorded with the range of depth, then the next ten shallowest images, and so on. This is shown in Figure 2. I then found the total number of plankton found from 0-30 meters, 30- 60 meters, and so on until I reached 120-150 meters, shown in Figure 1. Using this information, I found the total number of plankton at each depth and the average number of plankton at each depth. Background: Plankton originates from the Greek word planktos, which means “wanderer” or “drifter”. The classification of an organism as ‘plankton’ is due to its inability to swim actively against oceanic currents. Plankton are a critically important food source and play an important role in the carbon cycle. Without plankton, life in the ocean wouldn’t be possible. Understanding where plankton occur at different depths in the ocean helps scientists understand of the health of the ocean up to a global scale. Acknowledgments and/or Pictures: Zooniverse deserves a big thank you for providing us images, information, field guides, and a project in which citizen scientists can participate. Conclusions and Implications My data has shown more total plankton and more average plankton at a depth of 0-30 meters in both figures 1 and 2. However, in figure 2, the average number of plankton in each picture was at it lowest at 60-90 meters, with a higher average of plankton at depths 90-120 and 120-150 meters. By only having 50 image samples, and having an unequal amount of images per depth, we cannot conclude that ocean depth increases or decreases the abundance of plankton. Improving this research study could be done if we recorded more than data samples (preferably at least 200) and had an equal amount of images for each ocean depth range. This tactic could help us better conclude if ocean depth affects the abundance of plankton. Some of these images were very blurry or plankton were too far off in the distance to be able to identify accurately, which could have easily affected the image data collection. By: Rachael Esh Date: 10/29/15 Scientific Research Poster Presentation Data analysis and Literature Cited NGSS Connections: Title: Plankton Depth Preference Findings: More total number of plankton were found 0-30 meters in the ocean depth. The average number of plankton found at each depth was highest 0-30 meters of ocean depth, but varied in greater depths. Figure 1. Total Number of Plankton Figure 2. Average Number of Plankton Data Analysis: Figure 1 shows the number of total plankton found every 30 meters from 0 to 120 meters. Figure two shows the average number of plankton in each image found. Figure 2 is a more accurate representation of the plankton found because some depths had more images than others. In this case, an average number of plankton is highest 0-30 meters, lowest 60-90 meters and varies in the others. With these results, we cannot conclude if ocean depth affects the abundance of plankton. Literature Cited: http://www.nextgenscience.org http://zooniverse.org NGSS Standards: HS-LS2-2.Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems of different scales. [Clarification Statement: Examples of mathematical representations include finding the average, determining trends, and using graphical comparisons of multiple sets of data.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to provided data.] This is the main standard addressed, as ocean depth was the factor studied and it’s effect on plankton populations in the ocean ecosystem. (HS-ESS2-6.Develop a quantitative model to describe the cycling of carbon among the hydrosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on modeling biogeochemical cycles that include the cycling of carbon through the ocean, atmosphere, soil, and biosphere (including humans), providing the foundation for living organisms.] We did not address the carbon cycle directly in the study, but I thought this standard applies to plankton’s role in the carbon cycle. If plankton are not present in the ocean, the carbon cycle in the ocean will be be affected.) CCC: Stability and Change Much of science deals with constructing explanations of how things change and how they remain stable. (HS- LS2-6),(HS-LS2-7) Plankton abundance changed with ocean depth. Cause and Effect Empirical evidence is required to differentiate between cause and correlation and make claims about specific causes and effects. (HS-LS2-8),(HS-LS4-6) We could not confirm that plankton abundance was affected by ocean depth. Further evidence is needed to make a claim. Science and Engineering Practices: Use mathematical and/or computational representations of phenomena or design solutions to support explanations. (HS-LS2-1) Graphing the data supported my conclusions on plankton abundance.