Research Paper
In my experiment I’m going to test the affect acid rain has on the photosynthesis rate of primroses. I’m also going to see if acid rains affect on the primroses change if I test it with and without flowers. Primroses and acid rain are both important. Acid rain is one of the many different water pollutants that are destroying our environment. Acid rain is very harmful and dangerous and is killing off many plants in different ecosystems. Flowering plants like the primrose affect so many insects. Primroses are a flowering plant that many insects and some birds need to survive. They all need their nectar from the flower, and they take the pollen and spread it. My independent variable is the ph level of the acid rain. My dependent variable is the oxygen produced by the primrose. Acid rain and primroses are related because if acid rain destroys all of the flowering plants then the whole food chain will be jumbled. Primroses and acid rain are related
Acid rain weakens many different plants in our environment. It can completely ruin the plants photosynthesis, slowing it down until it stops and the plant eventually dies. Acid rain is made up of pollutants from our atmosphere; it’s made up of different gases and pollutants gathered up in the air. The gases released from the factories, and from vehicles, and they get absorbed by the rain clouds, then mix with the precipitation, and form acid rain. Some of the acidic gasses in acid rain are sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ozone. (Think Quest, 2002). Acid rain is all from things that humans do, industrial buildings and factories that are giving off fuels or waist, and car exhaust. Acid rain is not only in big cities and urban areas it can also be in rural areas, the pollutants can go really high into the atmosphere by the wind mix with the rain clouds before it rains down. Everything in acid rain destroys vegetation and ecosystems (Water Science For Schools, n.d.). Acid rain is measured on a pH scale; there are different ph levels of acid rain. The lower the ph level the more acidic the rain is. The level of acidity is measured on a pH scale, the lower it is the more acidic. Pure water is pH=7 anything lower is considered acid. Acid rain is harmful to many species of plants; it stops the nutrients from getting to the plant. (Ophardt, 2003)
The primrose flower is a quaint flowering plant. Primroses are in the primula family. The primula family has over five hundred different kind of plants, a small portion of them flowering. Primroses are mostly found in Europe. Primroses can grow in many different environments; they grow wild, in gardens and in greenhouses. In flowering plants photosynthesis occurs, so primroses still take out carbon dioxide from the air and produce oxygen for us to breath. (Encyclopedia Britannica 2010) Pollination is important to our environment, so flowering plant need to be preserved also. Insects take the nectar from the flowers then pollinate the flower. Some bugs like bees turn the nectar into honey for us to eat. Flowers are nutritious for birds and bugs, it’s there food source. Flowering plants benefit our environment in different ways than other non flowering plants can. Insects can only get their food from a flowering plant (The Pollinator Partnership, n.d.). Without flowers many ecosystems would completely fail. Plants with flowers have a different group of wildlife that they affect; that non flowering plants do nothing for. Without flowers bugs like bees, butterflies, or moths that need nectar from the flowers to survive will all die off.
Acid rain is a threat to our environment and the different wildlife in each ecosystem. It’s made up of gathered pollutants from factories or car exhaust; they all go into the atmosphere and mix together with the rain clouds. The acidity of acid rain is measured by its pH. The lower the acid rain is on the pH scale the more acidic it is. Acid rain slows down the photosynthesis rate of the plant until it eventually dies. Acid rain is not only in city’s it’s brought by the wind in the atmosphere into rural areas also. This dangerous pollutant affects all sorts of different environments. Acid rain is really dangerous and harmful to different organisms such as the primrose (Water Science For Schools, n.d.)
Primroses are small flowering plants. They are members of the primula family. Primroses are common flowers, there mostly found in Europe. Primroses can be grown in different habitats; they can be grown in a garden, in the wild, or in a greenhouse (Encyclopedia Britannica 2010). Photosynthesis occur in primroses like any other plant, but a flowering plant like the primrose has different advantages that don’t occur with non flowering plants. In flowering plants pollination can occur. Flowering plants are a food source for insects that need nectar to survive and some small birds like the hummingbird. Flowering plants provide nutrients to bugs and bird by depositing pollen. Pollination is very important to the environment and without flowers pollination can’t take place (Plant Guide, 2004).
In my experiment I’m going to find out how much acid rain both a flowering plant and a non flowering plant can have until its photosynthesis stops working. I’m going to figure out what affects acid rain will have on the photosynthesis rate of the primroses over time. I’m also going to see how removing the flowers off of half of the primrose I’ll be testing will affect the oxygen production. I’m going to have 6 primroses in three different sets of one flowering and one non-flowering. One set of primroses with flowers watered with normal water and primroses with no flowers watered with normal water. Another set of primroses with flowers watered with acid rain and a primrose with no flowers watered with acid rain. This set of primroses acid rain will have a ph level of 4. The last set will have primroses with flowers watered with acid rain and a primrose with no flowers watered with acid rain. The ph level of its acid rain will be 3. Testing primroses with and without flowers will test if the flowers affect the photosynthesis rate. Each primrose will get 150 ml per day of the type of water. I’m going to put each primrose in a closed container, and then I will measure the amount of oxygen in the container using an oxygen probe to determine the photosynthesis rate. Every day I’ll take pictures and write observations.
The importance of the investigation I’m going to do is since acid rain is killing off so many flowering plants, I’m going to show how long the flowering plants will last before they die. Acid rain affects many plants; the primrose is representing the whole plant family. When the plant absorbs the acid rain it’s taking in different gases. When the flowers take in toxins and they die, birds, bees, beetles, and moths all loose their food source. Then the small animals that ate the birds or bugs don’t have any food. Then in the end the whole food cycle will be at a loss. We need to preserve the flowering plants because pollination is very important for our environment, and you can’t get it unless you have a flowering plant. Flowers are the starting point for a whole different cycle. Without flowers bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds would have no other way of getting food, they cant get pollen from a plain green non flowering plant they need a flowering one so they can get the nectar. Acid rains effect on the primrose is important to Global Environmental Agency because flowering plants are a huge part of our environment. I’m going to show how dangerous the acid rain is to the flowering plants, how it completely destroys its photosynthesis. The water that flowering plants are absorbing contains different water pollutants, like car exhaust or factory or industrial gases. When acid rain kills the flowering plants it’s destroying the food source for beetles, moths, butterflies, and bees, which then gets rid of food for small animals that we eat. Loss of all these resources might result in a food shortage for everyone. In the end it’s reducing the amount of oxygen production that is going into the air.
