How Climate Fluctuation Affects the Survival of Species

Indonesia West

Noelle Harrison, Tyler Kee, Brent Roster and Annie Gannon

Hypothesis

Although precipitation fluctuation has a noticeable effect on plant life, temperature fluctuation has an even greater effect.

Introduction

Everyday experience reveals that plant life depends on regular atmospheric conditions. When the precipitation and temperature levels fluctuate too much, it has a negative impact on the survival of the species. For our project, we will use four large flowerpots to represent ocean islands. These flowerpots will contain a mix of wildflowers that will represent the life forms found on ocean islands. We will test our hypothesis by artificially controlling the temperature and precipitation of the four flowerpots.

Procedure

For the beginning of our experiment, all four of the pots will be planted and will remain inside until germination. After that, two of the pots will remain inside for the duration of the experiment. The other two will be placed outside regularly to test how dramatic temperature fluctuations affect the survival of species.

The four flower pots will be labeled A. B, C, and D. Pot A will be kept inside, and watered every third day. This sample will be our control -that is, all climatic conditions will remain stable. Pot B will also be kept inside. But unlike Pot A, watering will occur only when precipitation falls outside; this will effectively mimic random natural conditions. Pot B will serve to test fluctuations in precipitation while the temperature remains stable. Pot C will be watered every third day and put outside every other day from 8:00 AM to a half hour past sunset. This will serve to test temperature fluctuations on the survival of species. Pot D also will be placed outside every Wednesday for the same time period as Pot C. It will not be watered daily, however. Instead, it will only be watered when it rains or snows outside, similar to Pot B.

Monitoring

Every Monday, we will measure all of the plants in the pots and note any deaths. In addition, we will keep a close eye on stem strength, pigmentation, and leaf size and number on all of the different species of wildflowers. At the end of the experiment, we will go back to our notes and compare all of the different variables as discussed above, and from this we will make our conclusions.

It is important to note that each species will be monitored individually. That is, instead of looking at each of the pots and the species contained within as a whole, we will look at the condition of each species in all four pots. We do not know if temperature and precipitation fluctuations will affect one species more than another, and this is why we are going to compare species rather that compare just the pots.

During the initial growth period, all four pots will be kept at Brent Roster’s house. Once the pots become mature enough, we will each take one to make observations and record data. Pot A will be assigned to Tyler Kee. Pot B will be assigned to Annie Gannon. Pot C will be assigned to Noelle Harrison. Pot D will be assigned to Brent Roster. We will meet outside of class once or twice a week to compare data and discuss our progress.