Duckweed Temperature Lab

The purpose of this experiment was to test if duckweed fronds would grow faster in

hotter temperatures. We hypothesized duckweed plants grown in higher temperatures will have a

larger population size than duckweed plants grown in lower temperatures.

Duckweed, (or lemna minor), is an aquatic plant that reproduces rapidly and asexually.

Duckweed possess many useful traits that make it an excellent model organism to study

population growth. For example, it reproduces quickly, requires minimal space to grow, and

requires no maintenance.

First, we put 100mL of water each into 3 different test tubes to make sure everything was

the same exact temperature. Second, we put 5 fronds into all the test tubes, again maintaining

similarity. Third, once the saran wrap was over top, we put them in three different temperature

settings, to check how it would affect their growth.

To obtain data for population growth, we counted the number of duckweed fronds twice a

week and made observations about each frond’s growth and health by counting the fronds and

checking the color.

Results

Duckweed population in the 115F died almost immediately, turning white by the time we

checked. Alternatively, duckweed population in 95F increased slowly from 5 fronds to 13.

Furthermore, duckweed population in room temperature grew the fastest from 5 fronds to 14.

Table 1.

Day Number Date Population Count

0 8/29 5 5 5
 5 9/3 6 8 5
8 9/6 7 9 5
11 9/9 11 9 5
15 9/13 13 14 5

Discussion

We found that hotter temperatures kill or slow down growth. Based on the results, the

data reject our hypothesis that duckweed plants grown in higher temperatures will have a larger

population size than duckweed plants grown in lower temperatures.

We should have expected the heat to fry the duckweed to death, as Mr. Vang needed and

incubator for it to reach the right level.

We lost one test tube, but that wasn’t our fault. We didn’t poke holes in the saran wrap,

so the duckweed might not have gotten an appropriate amount of air. Their quick death might

have been partially due to a lack of air.

Some limitations would be the lack of a larger test space. Not as many could have grown,

due to the crowded nature. The water was also bottled, which means it didn’t have the same

quality and nutrients in lake water.

For future reference, you could use beakers instead. They are larger, lay flat without

stands, and still clear. Lake water might be harder to come by, but you could supply non-filtered

water to use for tests.