Mrs Lazarus
Option 2
Population Ecology: What is the effect of air, soil and water pollution on the growth of lettuce?
Table of contents Introduction
Motivation
Pollution has had an adverse effect on our society as well as on biodiversity in the last two centuries and continues to increase globally. The documented increase in air, water and soil pollution has caused many risks and diseases which not only affect the environment, but humans and animals as well.
Air pollution, soil pollution and water pollution are growing exponentially. The effects range from disease in humans and animals through usage of contaminated water, deleterious consequences on the ecosystem e.g., stunted plant growth by soil pollution, to biodiversity loss due to air pollution.
Plants are the …show more content…
• Label the pots with labels and a black marker.
• Place the pots in an ideal growing place, a table outside which is exposed to sunlight for half of the day.
• Water pot labelled ‘Experiment 1’ with water containing water pollutant - vinegar.
• Mix excess ammonia sulphate (fertiliser) into the soil of pot labelled ‘Experiment 2’.
• Place a stick in pot labelled ‘Experiment 3’ and place a plastic packet on over the pot
• Spray Target Mortein bug spray in the surrounding air of pot labelled ‘Experiment 3’, making sure that they spray gets caught in the packet.
• place a stick in the soil and a plastic bag on top of the stick, surrounding the plant.
• Spray more bug spray in packet, in the air surrounding the soil.
• Leave pots labelled ‘Control 1’, ‘Control 2’ and ‘Control 3’ without exposure to any pollutant.
• Continue to water the plants and expose them to pollution for two weeks.
• Assess size of lettuce in each pot every day for five weeks.
• Record the results in a table and graph.
• Draw a