Effect of Agricultural Pollutants on Daphnia magna; An Experimental Study on Reproductive Rates When Exposed to Pollutants from Nitrogenous Fertilizer by Aziz Bajouri, Alanna Bennett, Robert Barker, Melanie Nguyen
Effect of Agricultural Pollutants on Daphnia magna
An Experimental Study on Reproductive Rates When Exposed to Pollutants from Nitrogenous Fertilizer
By: Aziz Bajouri, Alanna Bennett, Robert Barker, Melanie Nguyen
(This Image was found using google images and searching: Daphnia Magna)
The purpose of the proposed research project is to identify the effect of domestic and
industrial agriculture pollutants on aquatic invertebrates. It is well known that industrial
agriculture runoff has a negative impact on surrounding ecosystems (Sources and Solutions, EPA),
and by exposing a model organism to varying concentrations of a pollutant in a controlled environment,
it will be possible to observe the direct impact of the given pollutant on the organism’s rate of reproduction.
The hypothesis for this study is that pollutants (In this case, heavily nitrogenous fertilizer) will have an effect
on the reproduction rate of Daphnia magna. The group’s prediction is that Daphnia magna populations exposed to high
levels of nitrogenous fertilizer will have lower reproduction rates than those not exposed (in the control).
industrial agriculture pollutants on aquatic invertebrates. It is well known that industrial
agriculture runoff has a negative impact on surrounding ecosystems (Sources and Solutions, EPA),
and by exposing a model organism to varying concentrations of a pollutant in a controlled environment,
it will be possible to observe the direct impact of the given pollutant on the organism’s rate of reproduction.
The hypothesis for this study is that pollutants (In this case, heavily nitrogenous fertilizer) will have an effect
on the reproduction rate of Daphnia magna. The group’s prediction is that Daphnia magna populations exposed to high
levels of nitrogenous fertilizer will have lower reproduction rates than those not exposed (in the control).
There are many reasons the group chose this research topic. The first reason is that the group wanted to research the behavior
of species in different environmental settings. One of the most well-known examples of a modern environmental problem is industrial
runoff from agricultural fertilizers used in farms. Therefore, using nitrogenous fertilizer as a pollutant to research the effects of industrial
waste on living organisms would be a reasonable choice. The group also decided to study reproduction rates because it is considered a good,
and non-subjective measurement of whether some factor has a positive or negative effect on a species. Daphnia magna was chosen because of its
fast reproduction rate and because it is an aquatic organism that is directly affected by runoffs of industrial fertilizers in bodies of water. Also, Daphnia magna
was chosen to be used instead of the smaller Daphnia species normally provided in the laboratory because of the size. Daphnia magna is larger and easier to collect as well as observe.
Finally, Daphnia magna was chosen because populations of it have been used before as an indicator of level toxicity in previous and reliable studies. So far the biggest challenge for this research
experiment is time constraint. Daphnia magna produce offspring every 3-4 days, but this research is to be completed in only a week. Multiple measurements must be made for the data in this research to be
valid and accurate. Another concern is whether or not certain materials are even readily available, such as the Daphnia magna and industrial fertilizer. Some of these
materials may not be readily available in our area, or at least not for the time limit presented for this research.
of species in different environmental settings. One of the most well-known examples of a modern environmental problem is industrial
runoff from agricultural fertilizers used in farms. Therefore, using nitrogenous fertilizer as a pollutant to research the effects of industrial
waste on living organisms would be a reasonable choice. The group also decided to study reproduction rates because it is considered a good,
and non-subjective measurement of whether some factor has a positive or negative effect on a species. Daphnia magna was chosen because of its
fast reproduction rate and because it is an aquatic organism that is directly affected by runoffs of industrial fertilizers in bodies of water. Also, Daphnia magna
was chosen to be used instead of the smaller Daphnia species normally provided in the laboratory because of the size. Daphnia magna is larger and easier to collect as well as observe.
Finally, Daphnia magna was chosen because populations of it have been used before as an indicator of level toxicity in previous and reliable studies. So far the biggest challenge for this research
experiment is time constraint. Daphnia magna produce offspring every 3-4 days, but this research is to be completed in only a week. Multiple measurements must be made for the data in this research to be
valid and accurate. Another concern is whether or not certain materials are even readily available, such as the Daphnia magna and industrial fertilizer. Some of these
materials may not be readily available in our area, or at least not for the time limit presented for this research.
References
Ebert D. Ecology, Epidemiology, and Evolution of Parasitism in Daphnia [Internet]. Bethesda
(MD): National Center for Biotechnology Information (US); 2005. Chapter 2,
Introduction to Daphnia Biology. Retrieved February 6, 2018, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2042/
Environmental Effects of Industrial Run-off on Daphnia magna. [Internet]. [2005]. AMNH.;
[Retrieved: February 9, 2018]
Analyzing Daphnia Data [Internet]. (2009). Retrieved February 8, 2018, from
This project looks very interesting. It will be interesting to see if the exposure to a nitrogen type compound has an affect on their reproduction rate, or if the nature of them would be too susceptible by the excess of this chemical in water. If you are still looking for a fertilizer, maybe a small bottle of miracle grow would suffice.
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas in this project! Just make sure you pick adult Daphnias and give them enough food (put them in pond water) so they are ready to reproduce both sexually or asexually. I'm not sure how you would track the reproduction rate. I'm assuming you would count the number of individuals, but that's a tough job to do, especially when Daphnia magna is a large species that can produce a ton of eggs. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteYour research project is really intriguing. One thing that pops into my mind is will you guys be observing the Daphnia under microscope to see if eggs are present and to know that reproduction is possible in a harsh environment. My group and I were looking into how toxins create by humans affect organisms around us. I hope you are/were able to get a hold of the industrial fertilizer to test it on the Daphnia. Best wishes for you experiment.
ReplyDeleteHello, great post! I like how you guys came up with this experiment and I would also be challenging considering Daphnia babies are so small even the Daphnia magna that is larger than the other Daphnia type we use in class. There is also the issue of knowing whether or not you have a female or male Daphnia paired up. I'm really looking forward to your presentation because the results can be beneficial to how we clean up our environment and would overall be intriguing to see how you guys go about measuring and testing your data.
ReplyDeleteHi group, I enjoy reading the post. The research topic is very interesting and attention-catching to me. You guys provided good reasons why you guys chose Daphnia Magna instead of Daphnia. I think this project will help us understand more how fertilizer would affect aquatic invertebrates and then affect other bigger aquatic organism and the then the aquatic environment as a whole. Since Daphnia Magna is very similar to the Daphnia that we used in class, I think that if you guys choose Daphnia, the result is going to be similar to the result of the Daphnia Magna. I am looking forward to see the result of your experiment and good luck ! I would also have a similar hypothesis about how the fertilizer would affect the production of the Daphnia Magna, the fertilizer will affect the food of the Daphnia Magna and potentially, affect the body and the reproductive system of the Daphnia Magna and lead to the decreasing in reproduction.
ReplyDeleteThis project looks fascinating. I know that the effect of pollutants on individual health and size is well researched, but I hadn’t considered its impact on reproduction rates. I have a couple questions, though: 1) will your lab also note data like the size, coloring, or deformations of baby daphnia in polluted environments? 2) will you calculate the rate based on how many daphnia are initially born, how many survive to adult, or how many survive to an intermediary developmental stage? One of my friends breeds goldfish, and I’ve picked up that small marine organisms tend to produce hundreds of offspring and ~10% or fewer survive. Although it’d better reflect reproduction rates if you calculated initial offspring born, you might get more precise and reproducible results based on the number of offspring that reach a certain developmental stage since they’d be bigger and easier to see. It almost might better reflect the actual effect of pollution of populations of vertebrates similar to daphnia.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your lab! Your idea looks fantastic.
Hi guys,
ReplyDeleteI automatically clicked in here purely because of the topic. It sounds like a very intriguing experiment! So I just read the other group's project introduction, which is pretty similar to how we did in lab testing daphnia's heart beat by changing the water content. Differently, you guys are planning to connect the pollution problems and the daphnia's reproduction ability. This is kinda challenging cause it might be hard to find them mating or fertilized cause they are sooo small; however, the results can help us to look deeper to the pollution issues and organism's reproduction. Overall, I love this idea and good luck to your project!