EVR1001L 0001 Fall 2018 Lab 7 Nutrient Effects on a Watershed Materials and Methods This lab was conducted to figure out the effect that fertilizer has on the bodies of water that is collects in There were six different watersheds growing sugarcane the first watershed was the control For watershed 2 6 the amount of fertilizer added increased from 0 144 kg P ha 1 Tools were used to measure the different The dissolved oxygen meter was used to to measure the amount of dissolved oxygen that was in that body of water A sample of water was also taken and sent to the lab of the EPA Environmental Protection Agency The agency then sent back the the levels of dissolved inorganic nitrogen phosphorus and chlorophyll a Results Tables and Graphs Table 1 shows the results of tests that were taken in the 6 different watersheds Watershed 1 2 3 4 5 6 P Added kg P ha 0 9 18 36 72 144 Dissolved Oxygen mg L 7 0 6 5 5 8 4 0 2 2 1 0 Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen units of M 2 1 2 9 4 2 5 7 10 15 Phosphorus units of M 0 5 0 9 1 5 1 8 2 3 3 0 Chlorophyll a units of g L 6 27 44 63 89 121 Graphs Figure 1 shows the comparison of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus vs the amount of fertilizer added to each watershed 16 3 5 14 3 12 2 5 10 2 8 1 5 6 1 4 0 5 2 0 Phosphorus mg L Dissolved Nitorgen mg L Dissloved Inorganic Nitrogen and Phosphorus vs the amount of fertilizer 0 50 100 150 0 Added Fetilizer kg Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen M Dissolved Phosphorus M Figure 2 compares the dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll vs the amount of fertilizer added to each watershed 8 140 7 120 6 100 5 80 4 60 3 40 2 20 1 0 0 50 100 Added Fertilizer kg Dissolved Oxygen mg L Chlorophyll a g L 150 0 Chlorophyll a mg L Dissolved Oxygen mg L Dissolved Oxygen and Chlorophyll a vs amount of fertilizer Discussion and Conclusions During this experiment different amounts of fertilizer were added to the different watersheds This was the find how different amounts of fertilizer affected the bodies of water I discovered that as the fertilizer in the body of water increased the amount of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus did as well The reason that the amount of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus increased as more fertilizer was added to the water is because nitrogen and phosphorus were found in the fertilizer that was added to the watersheds The amount of Chlorophyll a in the body of water increased as more fertilizer was added More Chlorophyll a kept being found in the watersheds because there are more nutrients available for the algae to thrive As more fertilizer was added to the watersheds the amount of dissolved oxygen decreased The BOD biochemical oxygen demand is the amount of dissolved oxygen that is need in bodies of water for organisms to break down material in the water Which explains the overgrowth of algae in the water Eutrophication is seen in watersheds 5 and 6 As the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus significantly rise the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water plummets When the body of water has below 5 mg L of dissolved oxygen the is a limited amount of plant and animal life surviving Though when the body of water has less then 2 mg L of dissolved oxygen in it there is no plant life organisms or animals that can survive in this state Eutrophication is when an extreme amount of nutrients is added to a body of water usually because of fertilizer that which amounts in the depletion of oxygen in the water This can affect the environment negatively in a number of ways Because of the excess fertilizer algae blooms take over the body of water allowing no sunlight to enter which leads to no oxygen getting to the water Having little to no oxygen in the body of water leads to dead zones in the water which is where no organisms can survive These dead zones have been discovered in Chesapeake Bay and in the Gulf of Mexico Eutrophication not only leads to the depletion of biodiversity it also affects the economic standing of the fisherman in that body of water Laws are I place to help regulate pollutants Farmers found using too much pesticides can be fined