Link to our photos

The following link is to our Picasa Photo Album for the Afara project.

https://picasaweb.google.com/116418346338557099159/Afara2011NorthGrand?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNjGv46Vn86mWQ&feat=directlink

Data from Lab 3 - Bioassay of Salinity, Collected Soil and Collected Water Samples

Data Table  #1: Soil Sample Bioassay (Groups 1-6)

Each of 6 groups conducted the Collected Soil Bioassay simultaneously, the mean growth of 4 seeds per sample is recorded below. 

Soil sample #	Location (planted on 11/29)	Group 1 Average	Group 2 Average	Group 3 Average	Group 4 Average	Group 5 Average	Group 6 Average
1	Burlington	0	74mm	0	0	0	38mm
2	Prairie	35mm	14mm	70mm	65mm	30mm	38mm
3	Nancy’s House	95mm	16mm	70mm	50mm	43mm	40mm
4	Raised Beds	0	0	60mm	46mm	0	4mm
5	Edgardo’s House	60mm	0	0	0	83mm	45mm
6	Lincoln Park	0	82mm	80mm	0	30mm	10mm
7	Commercial Soil	70mm	55mm	85mm	25mm	90mm	46mm

Data Table 2: Bioassay of Water Salinity

Water sample #	Salinity Level (Percent Salt Water  %SW)	12/5/11 Number of beet seeds sprouted	12/5/11 Lengths of sprouts in mm	12/7/11 Number of beet seeds sprouted	12/7/11 Lengths of sprouts in mm	12/9/11 Number of beet seeds sprouted	12/9/11 Lengths of sprouts in mm	Mean
1	0%	4	10 mm 90 mm 20 mm 90 mm	4	60 mm 45 mm 100 mm 9 mm	4	100mm 91mm 105mm 58mm	88mm
2	20%	0		0		2	4mm 2mm	3mm
3	40%	1	25mm	1	40mm	1	55 mm	55mm
4	60%	0		0		0		0
5	80%	0		0		0		0
5	100%	0		0		0		0

Data Table 3: Bioassay of Collected Water Samples 

Water sample #	Location of water sample collection	12/5/11 Number of beet seeds sprouted	12/5/11 Lengths of sprouts in mm	12/7/11 Number of beet seeds sprouted	12/7/11 Lengths of sprouts in mm	12/9/11 Number of beet seeds sprouted	12/9/11 Lengths of sprouts in mm
1	Pond	0		0		0	0
2	Tap Water	3	15mm 25mm 9mm	3	35mm 55mm 15mm	3	Dried out -- could not measure
3	Lake Water	0		1	10mm	2	27mm 12mm also dry
4	Puddle Water	0		0		1	8mm
5	Evian Water	4	60mm 65mm 45mm 50mm	4	85mm 50mm 34mm 40mm	4	Dried out – could not measure

Data from Lab 2 - Baseline and Soil Salinity

These experiments explore baseline salinity and salinity in in collected soil samples.

Data Table 2A Baseline Salinity

Sample	Initial Salinity (ppt-S)	# of Salt Solution Drops Added	Final Salinity w/ Salt Solution Added (ppt-S)	Difference (Final Salinity  - Initial Salinity) (ppm-S)
Baseline	1.63	0	1.88	+0.25
1x	No data	1	2.11	- not available-
2X	1.62	2	1.99	+0.37
4X	1.90	4	2.25	+0.35
8X	1.48	8	1.85	+0.37

Lab 2A – Review Questions

1. What is electrical conductivity?

2. Why do people measure salinity of soil?

3. When the amount of salt solution double (went from 1X to 2X or from 4X to 8X) what happened to the salinity measurement in ppm-S? 

Table 2B – Collected Soil Sample Salinity

Sample Number	Location around school	Salinity (ppm-S)
1	Burlington	248
2	Prairie	246
3	Nancy’s House	227
4	Raised Bed	236
5	Edgardo’s House	201
6	Lincoln PK	291
7	Commercial	1.24 (ppt-S)

Lab 2B Review Questions

1.  For the collected soil samples what is the range measured salinity values?

2.  Is it possible to tell the salinity of a sample just by observing the physical characteristics of the soil?

3. Explain why you believe some samples had higher salinity levels than other samples. You may do some online research to help you answer this question.

4.  If salinity levels were very similar from sample to sample, why do you think that is the case?

Table 2C – Collected Water Sample Salinity

Sample Number	Location around school	Salinity (ppm-S)
1	Pond	134
2	Tap	151
3	Lake	150
4	Puddle	118
5	Evian	189

Lab 2C Review Questions

1. For the collected water samples what is the range measured salinity values?

2. Is it possible to tell the salinity of a sample just by observing the physical characteristics of the water?

3. Explain why you believe some samples had higher salinity levels than other samples. You may do some online research to help you answer this question.

4. If salinity levels were very similar from sample to sample, why do you think that is the case?