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Dissolved oxygen kit photo
Work and observations gathered by myself and my team
 For this study, our job was to go out and find a location in fish creek along a transect line. Once we picked a spot, we set up a quadrant of 1m by 1m and marked it with small sticks to not disturb the environment. Our job from that point on was to measure different abiotic factors that could be affecting the health of the area in a negative way. We were also responsible to list different biotic factors for the surrounding area.
The goal of this study was to determine the health of the ecosystem between a man constructed wetland and the Fish Creek river. My team was responsible for the transect closest to the constructed wet land.
All the teams were given specific tests to perform on the water and my team was given the task of testing the dissolved oxygen levels in the wetland pond.
When conducting these different tests, we had a lot of time to look around to see what area we were in. We noticed that our quadrant area was very popular with multiple species of birds and of many mammals. Geese had left their mark so we knew that they came here to rest and find food within the pond. With this we knew that the pond was doing very well in supporting the life that Fish Creek park.
Biology Field Study by Done Well OES Biology 20, Mr. Cox Centennial High School, Calgary, AB
Introduction
Methods
Overview
Results
References
Figure 1. This photo was of our quadrant and of the pond so we used this angle to help us judge what would be happening here when no people are around.
Figure 2.This is the photo of our quadrant.
Figure 3. This is a photo that we used to document the water quality.
Figure 4. This photo was to help us convey the surroundings of our quadrant and the life it supported.
Figure 5. A photo of a dissolved oxygen test.
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the following for their help in making this research possible:
The Biology 20 class, students and teachers
The methods we used to collect the temperature measures of the soil below the surface, ground level and a meter up was a probe connected to a small device that allowed us to determine the temperatures instantly.
We took a soil sample back to the lab at school and separated them into four different samples so we could mix some different chemicals to test for nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and pH.
We were also given different test boxes to test for dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide, phosphates and Nitrates in the water. My group dealt with the dissolved oxygen and multiple chemicals to come up with the result.
Conclusion
Soil Results:
Temp 10cm below surface– 13.5°
Temp ground level– 24.1°
pH– 7.5 (alkaline)
Nitrogen– No depleted
Phosphorous– P2 (adequate)
Potassium– No depleted
Composition (clay, sand, organic)– clay and organic
Colour– grayish black
Texture– squishy and fibrous, a bit gooey
Air Results:
Temperature 1m above soil– 20.4°
Cloud cover– partially cloudy
% exposure to sunlight– 100%
Water Results:
Turbidity– cloudy
Dissolved oxygen– 9ppm
Phosphates– 0
Carbon dioxide– 100mgh
Nitrates– 0
We found that our quadrant was pretty healthy in that the health of the wet land is pretty good compared to the soil around the fish creek river. Even though its pretty healthy that doesn’t mean we just ignore the ecosystem and let it be destroyed before we do anything.
The data that we collected allowed us to make sure that the constructed wetland wasn’t causing any harm to the balance of the original ecosystem. The data helped us to look at the health of the wetland so that if something was wrong with it we could get the help it needs before it ecosystem is destroyed then spreading that chaos to other parts of Fish Creek.
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Figure 5