Conclusion

g) The data accumulated from this experiment can serve an important tool in understanding things such as the importance of light and dissolved oxygen in an ecosystem.  At the end of the lab, we were able to note that the warmer the water is the less amount of oxygen absorbed.  This is because as temperature increases, the concentration of dissolved oxygen decreases.  This explains why there is a seasonal fluctuation in dissolved oxygen concentration in a body of water.  In addition, we concluded that as the amount of light to an aquatic system decreases, the dissolved oxygen amounts decrease. This is because sunlight is a key component in photosynthesis which is a process that plants undergo to produce oxygen. Without the sunlight, organisms that undergo respiration use up all of the oxygen in the water to breathe, and the plants cannot replenish the oxygen amounts because of the lack of sunlight.  Overall, the experiment proves that oxygen is an essential component in a body of water because it is necessary for metabolic processes of almost all of the life forms living within it.  The conclusions made from this lab can be beneficial to government agencies, businesses, land developers, water treatment companies, and other groups by demonstrating to them how oxygen levels in aquatic environments are easily effected and slight changes can alter the dissolved oxygen levels within the environment.  For example, as photosynthesis cannot occur during the night time, the levels of dissolved oxygen immediately drop in response to the quick shift in light exposure.  Furthermore, groups working on the environment need to fully understand what are the ideal conditions for a particular aquatic ecosystem.  By fully grasping this concept, they then have the ability to take action as well as inform the public of these problems and allowing them to change their habits as well.  This information can also be useful to government agencies because it could help them understand how productivity works, and they could then use their authority and resources to help save natural habitats and build nature preserves to ward off any form of pollution, and stop eutrophication from occurring.  Next businesses and water treatment companies can benefit from this information because it will help them monitor the pH of the water and create ideal conditions for these bodies of water to thrive in a heavily oxygen concentrated ecosystem.  Land developers also should utilize this information for it will help them be more cautious.  While they do construction, they can now make sure they are not using extremely harmful methods and chemicals.  Also it will help the prevent runoff that can ultimately destroy the environment.  Lastly, knowing this information can ultimately benefit everyone.  This is because almost everyone impacts the biogeochemical cycle through pollution at one point in their life, so knowing this information will allow all citizens to become eco-friendly leaving our aquatic ecosystems intact.