Pollution's Effect on the Diversity of Aquatic Invertebrate Species
Aim: To investigate whether pollution affects the diversity of aquatic
invertebrate species.
Equipment: Wash tub,
Smaller Margerine Tub
Plastic Spoon,
Milk Container,
Net,
Species Analysis Chart.
The wash tub has the perfect surface area to count the animals without
imprisoning them, the smaller margerine tub allows for the animals to
be more carefully analysed so that their species can be more easily
determined, the spoons are the perfect size to remove the animals
individually, using the milk container is much easier than filling up
the wash tub with water because if we had to fill the tub itself up,
we could fall in, and the net is designed with a tight enough mesh to
capture the very miniature creatures, wihout having to bend down and
scoop them out ourselves
Method: Fill the milk container with water from the first, unpolluted
dyke, and tip the contents into the wash tub. Repeat this two or three
times, in order to provide sufficient depth to support the creatures
from the dyke. Stand on secure ground near to the dyke so as to not
slip in, and sweep the net in the dyke and empty the net into the wash
tub with the dyke water in it. Tip the net upside down to do this, but
make sure you dip the botton of the net into the water aswell, because
some very small creatures could be caught in the net's mesh.
Use the plastic spoons to remove the specimens from the tub and count
them. Once counted, place them in the margerine tub which should have
a small body of water to house the creatures. This prevents cou...
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...once at the beginning of every other
month and record how the number of different species and the number of
these species changes throughout the year. I imagine that the polluted
dyke would have an even lower number of different species in the
summer months, because at this time, the algae would become almost
like a sheet across the top of the water, and this would block out the
sunlight, leading to the death of the plants along the bed of the
dyke, and consequentially, the loss of much habitat and reproduction
grounds. This would cause those species that could survive to thrive
even more than the figure we have recovered today. I believe the
adverse effect would occur in the clean dyke, in that there will be
more different types of species residing, but a fewer number of them
would be able to be sustained by the dyke.