Tittle: A comparison of Bay Grasses (Vallisneria Americana) between a sand bed and a mix of sand and

soil.

Author: Logan Freed, Honors Science research 1, Mod 1, December 12 2018

Abstract:

The students at SCHS are conducting a research project to learn which bed grows Vallisneria

Americanas more efficiently due to the amount of Bay grasses decreasing in bodies of water across

Maryland. This experiment is aimed to assist in the reconstruction of Bay Grasses in the Bay. We are

trying to test the difference in productivity in the different soil beds, one sand one sand and soil. To keep

the temperature and exposure to light the same, we put both beds in the same tank. The students evenly

divided 80 sprouts between the two beds and collected 6 sets of data over a two week period. The data

was collected through taking pictures of the sprouts next to a ruler and later measured and analyzed by

using the computer software Image J. The end goal was to figure out between the two beds, which was

more efficient and productive in growing the Vallisneria Americanas. The students found that best

environment for these to grow is in the sand bed, showing that when replanting these plants, the best place

for them to grow is in the sand.

Introduction:

Bay grasses (Vallisneria Americana) are a major part of any natural ecosystem. Bay Grasses or

submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) are vascular plants that live underwater and are found through-out

Maryland’s bodies of water. Unlike terrestrial plants, Vallisneria Americana serve many important

ecological roles such as improving water quality and stabilizing sediment at the bottom of the water

column. Underwater grasses filter polluted runoff, provide food, and provide habitats for many aquatic

species. Recent declines in water quality and changes in temperatures in the Bay has caused significant

losses of Vallisneria Americana populations. These changes occur because of the excess nutrients and

sediment. Due to their importance, the students at SCHS conducted an experiment to better the
understanding on which envirornments the Vallisneria Americana grow to benefit the growth of bay

grasses. The desired outcome of the experiment is to find the most productive environment for Vallisneria

Americana, by comparing a soil and sand mixture to just sand The students predicted that one of the beds

would grow at a faster rate than the other bed.

Materials, Methods and Procedure:

The materials we used include,

 Image J

 Ruler

 Popsicle Sticks

 Phone

 SAV Roots

 24 Hour UV lights

 Net

 Sand

 Soil

 Bins (to hold the sand and soil beds)

 Tank

When beginning this experiment, we started out with a bed of sand, and a bed of both sand and soil mixed

together in bins. We put even amounts of bay grasses roots into each of the beds and slowly lowered them

into the water. After that we turned the 24 hour UV lights on and put them over the roots. After a few

days of letting them grow with the UV lights, we started to label each of the sprouts using popsicle sticks.

Before doing this, we had to clean the bacteria off of the top of the water using the net. When we finished

labeling, we started measuring using centimeters on the ruler. We collected data by taking pictures for 6
days. They were not all in a row, and you can see that by looking at the data. After collecting the data, we

used image J to measure each sprout. To use image J we used these steps.

1) Must download your picture onto the computer with Image j (once downloaded you should find

the picture in images).

2) Open Image j (to measure picture, you must open the picture through Image j).

3) Press file

4) Press open

5) Find picture and click on it

6) Click on analyze

7) Click on set measurements

8) Only have a check in perimeter box. To get rid of other checks just click on them.

9) Click on Decimal places (0-9) and change number to desired amount of decimal places.

10) Exit out of set measurements

11) Click line segment box under the Image icon (line segment box will have a straight line on it)

12) Click and drag from one end of window to the other

13) Click analyze

14) Click measure

15) (make sure you measure and know the length of window) Put exact length of window in the

Known distance box.

16) Change unit of length box to desired unit of measurement (use m for meters, cm for centimeters,

ft for feet, etc.) then press ok

17) Press line segment button

18) Click on one end of the fish in the picture and hold then drag to other end of fish

19) For table of measurements to appear, click analyze then click measure or click Ctrl-m
 20) You can save measurements by clicking on the “x” like you’re exiting out of measurements table.

It will come up with something saying “save (x) measurements?” click yes and save to desired

folder.

After using image J we compared the growth of the two beds using the data we collected.

Results:

The students found that the sand bed had more growth and a higher growth rate than the sand

and soil bed. Overtime the sand bed sprouted 19 in less time than the soil and sand bed which only

sprouted 9 at the end of the experiment. The average length of the original sprouts in the sand bed was

1.54 cm and at the end of the experiment the average length of the plants was 2.77 cm. The average

length of the original sprouts in the sand and soil mixture was 1.44 cms and at the end of the

experiment the average length of the plants were 2.55 cm. the sand bed sprouts grew bigger and

multiplied faster than the sand and soil bed sprouts.

Data Tables:

Day 1 Length Day2 Length Day3 length day 4 length

1s 2.31 1s 2.45 1s 2.36 1s 2.86

2s 1.2 2s 1.33 2s 1.7 2s 1.83

3s 1.66 3s 2.27 3s 2.31 3s 2.54

4s 0.95 4s 1.14 4s 2.36 4s 2.38

5s 1.69 5s 1.8 5s 1.8 5s 1.89

6s 1.31 6s 1.73 6s 1.93 6s 1.94

7s 1.82 7s 2.1 7s 3.1 7s 3.4

8s 1.69 8s 1.72 8s 2.19 8s 2.6

9s 1.57 9s 1.64 9s 2.1 9s 2.43

10s 1.46 10s 1.58 10s 1.87 10s 2.15

11s 1.49 11s 1.9 11s 1.99 11s 1.99

12s 1.47 12s 1.54 12s 2.22 12s 2.7

13s 1.41 13s 1.41 13s 1.53 13s 1.76

14s 0.92 14s 1.59

stdev 0.326457 stdev 0.371584 stdev 0.495261 15s 1.7

count 13 count 13 count 14 16s 6.13

variance 0.106574 variance 0.138074 variance 0.245284 stdev 1.086878

count 16

variance 1.181303

Day 5 length Day 6 Length

1s 2.86 1s 2.87

2s 1.84 2s 1.93

3s 2.51 3s 2.67

4s 2.35 4s 2.35

5s 1.96 5s 2.55

6s 2.27 6s 2.3

7s 3.73 7s 4.18

8s 2.51 8s 2.62

9s 2.49 9s 3.07

10s 2.94 10s 2.95

11s 2.01 11s 2.05

12s 3.15 12s 4.12

13s 1.9 13s 2.02

14s 2.02 14s 2.11

15s 1.72 15s 1.84 sand both

16s 6.41 16s 6.52 #1 avg 1.540769 1.444
17s 1.93 17s 2.4 #2avg 1.739231 1.578
18s 2.36 18s 2.39 #3avg 2.027143 2.072
19s 1.47 19s 1.66 #4avg 2.493125 2.168333
Stdev 1.083933 stdev 1.132452 #5avg 2.548947 2.302222
Count 19 count 19 #6avg 2.768421 2.554444
Variance 1.17491 variance 1.282447 Ttest 0.5456

Day 1 Length Day2 length Day3 length Day4 length

1b 2.38 1b 2.58 1b 3.83 1b 3.4

2b 1.52 2b 1.58 2b 2.1 2b 2.6

3b 1.01 3b 1.06 3b 1.34 3b 1.68

4b 1.22 4b 1.41 4b 1.78 4b 1.84

5b 1.09 5b 1.26 5b 1.31 5b 1.4

stdev 0.558059 stdev 0.591963 stdev 1.035987 6b 2.09

count 5 count 5 count 5 stdev 0.727473

variance 0.31143 variance 0.35042 variance 1.07327 count 6

variance 0.529217

Day5 length Day6 length

1b 3.45 1b 3.82

2b 2.7 2b 2.72

3b 1.74 3b 1.74

4b 1.87 4b 2.18
5b 1.47 5b 2.6

6b 3.8 6b 3.91

7b 2.12 7b 2.34 sand both

8b 2.04 8b 2.14 #1count 13 5

9b 1.53 9b 1.54 #2count 13 5

stdev 0.837612 stdev 0.830589 #3count 14 5

count 9 count 9 #4count 16 6

variance 0.701594 variance 0.689878 #5count 19 9

#6count 19 9

Calculation:

The students found the standard deviation, the variance, the average or mean and the amount

of data analyzed. The standard deviation is used to show the spread of the data and To find the standard

deviation, subtract each of the values of the data by the average or the mean of the data points. Then

divide that by the amount of data selected minus one (degrees of freedom which in this case is 5). Then

take the square root of the whole equation. `After you have found the Standard Deviation find the

variance of the data sets by squaring both Standard Deviations. The variance measures the outlier of the

data. Next you have to perform the student T Test (difference between the 2 means) and that result you

compare to the chart below you. Find the degrees of freedom of the 2 samples which in this case is 5.

Then you find the .0005 column or the 99% chance column and the Ttest 0.5456 < 4.032 Which confirms

the null hypothesis. Which means there is a significance statistical difference.

Graphs:

Average growth over time in centimeters

#6avg

#5avg

#4avg

#3avg

#2avg

#1 avg

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

both sand
 The Number of new Sprouts over time sand both
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
#1count #2count #3count #4count #5count #6count

Discussion:

At the beginning of this lab, the students predicted one bed would grow the Vallisneria

Americana faster than the other bed. The sand bed did grow the Vallisneria Americanas faster than the

mix of sand and soil bed did. The average length for the grasses in the sand bed was 2.76 cm growing 19

sprouts while the average length for the sand and soil bed was 2.55 cm and only grew 9 sprouts. Overall

this shows that the sand bed grew the bay grasses faster and produced more sprouts than the mix of sand

and soil did. This research helps because when people are replanting the Bay Grasses into the Bay, they

know the best environment for the Vallisneria Americanas to grow is in sand. There were many sources

of errors throughout this experiment. The data collections did not occur on set intervals and data was not

collected on a regular schedule. Also the software that we used could have been a little off. When the

pictures were taken, they could have been taken at a different angle each time which affects the accuracy

of the scale, and with that many pictures to collect data from, there could have been recording errors. To

fix these mistakes, the people doing this experiment could take pictures at the same time every day, take

pictures from the same angle, and make sure that they are clear enough to scale and measure. Another

good way to rid of mistakes is if you keep your data organized and accurate.
Conclusion:

Throughout this lab, we collected measurements of growing Vallisneria Americana trying to see

which bed grew more efficiently. The two beds we compared include sand and a mixture of sand and soil.

Both beds were not completely successful for as long as we have been measuring the grasses because we

started with 40 roots in each bed. As of now, we can see that 19 sprouts have started growing in the sand

bed while in the mixed bed, we only have 9 sprouts. This shows the sand bed is a better environment for

the sprouts to grow than the mixed bed was. This research helps because in the future, when people are

replanting the Bay Grasses into the Bay, they know the best environment for them to grow in is sand.

Further research can be done on how substrate affects this particular species of Bay Grasses

(Vallisneria Americana).

References:

Bay Grasses (Submerged Aquatic Vegetation). (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://dnr.maryland.gov/waters/bay/Pages/sav/Coverage-of-Bay-Grasses.aspx

Plaskowitz, Ms. (n.d.). Retrieved from Bay Grasses in Classes[PPT].

Plaskowitz, Ms. (n.d.). Retrieved from Image J Procedure.