The scientific method is defined as, “The principles and empirical processes of
discovery and demonstration considered characteristic
of or necessary for scientific
investigation, generally involving the
observation of phenomena, the formulation of a hypothesis concerning the phenomena, experimentation
to demonstrate the truth or falseness of the hypothesis,
and a conclusion
that validates or modifies the hypothesis.”
We have already formulated our hypothesis and have submitted
it to GSA. We have read several articles
that have proven our hypothesis. We are
curious to see if we will get the same results dealing with a much smaller area
that we can then apply to a larger scale.
Currently we are in the process of experimenting in order to demonstrate
the truth or falseness of our hypothesis about the Municipal Stadium Wetland.
Each pin in this photo represents a place that we have
taken a water sample.
Our question about this wetland is whether or not it will act as a filter to Buck Creek by removing some nutrients that are
overloaded by agricultural inputs. We chose this question by reading other
scientific articles about this topic. In
the articles we read we found out that the nitrogen to silica ratio is very
important to sustaining aquatic life. We
believe that this ratio will become more balanced once it has had time to
filter through the wetland before flowing back into Buck Creek. In order to test whether or not our
hypothesis is true we have taken many water samples in different places
throughout the wetland. By spacing the
samples out we hope to get a better idea about how the ratio of nitrogen to
silica, as well as other nutrients, react as it passes through different areas
of the wetland. We took many samples at
the inlet, outlet, and middle areas of the wetland to see if there was a change
relative to location. We hope that our
local data will be able to contribute to the big picture. Then we may be able to see how smaller
tributaries can affect larger rivers, and ultimately the Mississippi River,
which flows into the Gulf of Mexico.
By, Lexi Crisp and TJ Mobley
It isn't clear what the hypothesis is here that we have formulated. This does a good job of detailing a guiding question that helped us to formulate our hypothesis. We hypothesized that DSi:DIN ratios are altered as water travels from Buck Creek into the wetland and that both DSi & DIN would be reduced (based on literature). However, the scale of our study is smaller than previous studies. We helped show that this hypothesis is true on distinct scales.
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