Phytoplankton and the effects of Phosphate Levels

1
Phytoplankton and the effects of Phosphate Levels
By Kim Boucher Jake Johnson
2
Our Advisor Lisa Moore

• Lisa Moore is a Biology professor at the
  University of Southern Maine
• She is studying the effects of different
  phosphate levels on phytoplankton off the Maine
  coast
• She is investigating the growth of the
  phytoplankton due to the increase or decrease of
  phosphates

3
The Knowledge Gained

• By knowing the effect phosphate has on the
  phytoplankton, we can ultimately determine what
  effects pollution (containing phosphates) will
  have on the ocean food chain.
• This knowledge can also help to determine if
  synthetic phosphate could be beneficial if
  introduced into the environment.

4
Our Goals

• Our first goal was to make a standard curve using
  known phosphate levels .
• Our next goal was to run samples of unknown
  phosphate levels
• By comparing the standard curve to our samples,
  we could determine the unknown phosphate levels

5
Procedure

• Cleaning the Glassware
• Wash with detergent
• Rinse with tap water 6 times
• Rinse with distilled H2O 6 times
• Soak in HCl bath overnight
• Rinse with nanopure H2O 6 times

Why?
6
The Stock Reagents

• Ammonium Molybdate Solution
• Sulfuric Acid Solution
• Ascorbic Acid Solution
• Antimony Potassium Tartrate
• The stock reagents were used to make the Mixed
  reagent.
• The mixed reagent used the following amounts
• 4ml of the ammonium molybdate, 10 ml sulfuric
  acid, 4ml of ascorbic acid, 2ml of antimony
  tartrate.

7
The Phosphate Sample

• A 6.0 mM standard phosphate solution was prepared
• Seven serial dilutions were prepared from this
  standard
• Each Molarity was consecutively smaller the one
  before it

The Phosphate Molecule --gt
8
Making the Standard Curve

• 10 ml of each of the previous dilutions were
  mixed with 1 ml of the mixed reagent
• Using the UV visible spectrum analyzer, we
  measured the absorbance of the seven samples
• The wavelength used was 885 nm.

9
Amount of Phosphate Levels Determined from
Absorption reading at 885 nm
10
So, what next??

• The next step would to be run unknown phosphate
  sample, and compare their absorbance values to
  the standard curve.
• This would determine the concentration of the
  phosphate.
• Lisa would then grow phytoplankton in an
  environment that mimics these phosphate levels to
  determine the highest growth rate.