Data Analysis and Conclusions

Part A
In general, the warmer the water, no matter if it is beach or canal, the more dissolved oxygen present and the higher the percent saturation, too.
Even though this is the case the beach water still seemed to be colder than the canal water, whether it was iced or not. This can be seen through the average temperatures for the different samples. The average temperature of the beach water was 16.08 degrees Celsius, substantially colder than the average temperature of the canal water, which was 17.53 degrees Celsius.
Part B
In both the beach water samples and the canal water samples, the majority of data showed that as the percentage of light allowed into the sample decreased, so did the amount of dissolved oxygen available in the sample. For the beach water as the availability of light decreased, so did the gross productivity, net productivity and carbon gross productivity. However, for the canal water, as the light availability decreased, the gross productivity, net productivity and carbon gross productivity increased for the most part.

    The reason for some of the variation in the data could have been the difference in water samples and timing. Each group was using a different water sample and moving along at their own pace. This could contribute to differences in data because not all individual samples are exactly the same. For instance, in Part B the difference between the 5 screens canal water and the 8 screens canal water was one full mg/L, which is a huge difference, especially when the dissolved oxygen content should decrease, not increase. However, this could have happened because the 8 screen sample had low biodiversity. Normally, the more organisms present the more oxygen and the fewer organisms present the less oxygen is produced. However, because the sunlight was limited, in this case low biodiversity would contribute to higher dissolved oxygen levels because there is not enough sunlight for photosynthesis to be performed. Therefore, the lower the biodiversity of the water sample, the less competition for carbon to perform photosynthesis, and the less the death rate of the organisms will be, so the ones present can actually survive to produce oxygen. This means that organism count plays a huge role in dissolved oxygen levels and the outcome of these levels depends on factors such as sunlight levels.
     Our collected data can help determine whether an ecosystem is doing well ot has the potential to do well. From our data we discovered that sunlight, temperature, salinity and biodiversity play a huge role in determining the dissolved oxygen levels of certain waters. Based on Part B, the more readily available sunlight is to the ecosystem, the more photosynthesis can occur and the more oxygen is produced. As seen in Part A, the groups with higher temperatures generally has a lower dissolved oxygen content. In both experiments, the beach water seemed to have a lower dissolved oxygen content then the canal water. This is because the higher the salt content of the water, the lower the dissolved oxygen levels will be. Discussed previously, higher biodiversity normally causes higher photosynthesis production, which makes dissolved oxygen levels rise. Therefore, an ecosystem with high sunlight levels, high temperatures, low salinity and high biodiversity will be the most productive ecosystem and will ultimately survive the best.
     These factors can assist scientists in determining whether an ecosystem is doing well or can potentially do well in the future. This is extremely important in real life because the survival of one ecosystem has many implications for various groups and people. For example, government agencies would not want to invest any money into an ecosystem that does not possess the potential to thrive. They can use our data to test the ecosystem waters to determine whether or not they should either invest in its protection or not. Land developers can also find our data helpful because they would not want to build on top of a perfectly productive ecosystem. By testing the water for average temperature, sunlight levels, salt content and biodiversity, they can learn whether or not they would be destroying an important ecosystem or not by building on top of it. Hopefully, they will decide not to build on top of a healthy and productive ecosystem.