Title: Statistical and experimental evaluation of lemna growth in a heated experiential tank and

room temperature control tank.

Author: Matthew Lang

Honors Science Research I

Mod 1

December 20, 2018

Abstract: This experiment evaluates the growth of lemna in two different tank systems. The

control tank is set to room temperature water, as the experimental tank uses heated water. This

experiment requires daily interaction, as the leman growth in tracked in grams. Lemna is an

aquatic plant that helps enhance water quality and lead to healthy water environments. Our

experiment found that the room temperature tank promoted more growth compared to the heated.

Lemna grew in both environments substantially, but the control tank saw the best growth. This

experiment can help enhance our own tanks in class to stabilize the varying water quality of our

tank systems.

Key Words: Lemna, room temperature, heated, aquatic plant, stabilize

Introduction: For the experiment, the objective is to determine the varying growth of lemna

(duckweed) as it attempts to grow in different water environments. For the experiment, lemna is

allowed to grow in two different environments, as the objective is to study growth in these two

areas. Lemna grows in a rapid pace as it seems to grow in many water environments, allowing it

to reproduce rapidly in many regions. For the project, we will evaluate how heated and room

temperature water impact the growth of lemna. For the experiment, I predict that room

temperature water will be better to create a stable and healthy environment for lemna to grow

rapidly. Lemna is one of the smallest flowering plants on Earth, as it rapidly grows in nearly any

water environment. Even though it lacks stems, leaves, and roots, lemna is one of the most

abundant flowering aquatic plants in many water environments. Lemna reproduces asexually,

throw a process known as budding. A normal reproduction cycle has one single lemna produce a

duplicate each day, accelerating the rapid way of reproduction. Lemna is high in protein for

fishes, especially tilapias, as the plant can enhance any water system. Lemna can also enhance

water quality in pod systems, as it acts as a stabilizer for harmful substances created by the fish

in their water systems.

Materials and Methods: For the experiment, several items were required to evaluate and record

lemna growth. First two small fish tank systems were created and filled with water to allow for

the experiment to begin. Once the tanks were filled with water and stabilized, a heater was

installed in one creating the experimental tank, while the other was left alone to be a control. The

heater was put on a timer, as the heater stayed on a few hours each day to test lemna growth. A

small strainer was used to collect lemna each day to evaluate growth, as it was weighed on a

scale each day. The data was recorded in pen in our logbooks, as the data was evaluated on Excel

on the school laptops.

 For the experiment, two small fish tank systems were constructed to begin this evaluation

of leman growth. Once the tanks were filled with water, the lemna seeds were inserted into the

systems to begin growth. A timer was attached to the heater in the experimental tank, as it only

activated a few times each day. Each day a small strainer collected as much as leman as possible

to be weighed on a scale. The weight was evaluated to see how much growth had been

accomplished in the one day timeframe. The experiment was repeated for many days, even with

many of the original leman seeds dying after several days of growth in each tank.

Results: After completing this experiment, the lemna in the room temperature control tank had

the best growth. Each tank allowed leman to grow, but the room temperature tank created the

healthiest environment. From the observations in the control tank, we clearly observed much

more leman growth as the plants greatly outnumbered the experimental tank. Additionally, the

average biomass in the control tank was greater than the heated tank, by about 10 grams of

additional biomass.

Data Tables:

Figure 1, Control and Experimental Lemna Growth.

Control Tank Experimental Tank

Temp (c) Biomass (g) Temp (c) Biomass (g) DAY#
19.2 103 25.7 100 1
17.5 110 26.6 99.1 2
17.7 97 26.1 91 4
16.1 99 23.1 94.5 7
15.8 103.5 25.7 98 8
17.1 116.5 26.3 93.5 9
18.1 108 26.1 89.5 10
18.5 103.5 26.8 93 11
AVG 105.0625 AVG 94.825

Figure 2, Water Quality of Both Tank Systems.

Days Heated Control
pH Temp pH Temp
Day 3- Nov 2 6.4 24.7 6.6 23.5
Day 6- Nov 5 7.8 28 7.8 19.8
Day 8- Nov 7 7.6 28 7.6 20.5
Day 9- Nov 8 7.6 28 7.6 20.5
Day 10- Nov 9 7.8 23.5 6.8 18.8
Day 13- Nov 12 7.6 24.6 7.4 17
Day 14- Nov 13 7.8 26.4 7.6 18.1
Day 15- Nov 14 7.3 25.4 7.9 17.4

Calculations: With the copious amounts of data, there were many pieces of data that were

utilized to statistically compare growth between the heated and unheated tank systems. For the

control tank, the average biomass in grams sat around 105.1g. For the heated tank, the average

biomass was around 94.8g. For the control tank, the standard deviation was about 6.3 while the

heated standard deviation was about 3.6. After completing the T-Test, the difference between the

data sets came to about 10.8, which correlates to less than .1% difference.

Figure 2, Calculations for Standard Deviation and T-Test.

103 100
Paired T-test 110 99.1
t= m 97 91
s /√n 99 94.5
m= mean both mean and deviation 103.5 98
s= standard deviation are from the diffrences in 116.5 93.5
n= size of data each pair of the two sets of 108 89.5
data 103.5 93
avg 105.0625 94.825
m= 10.2375 std dev 6.264626 3.593658
s= 2.67096813664352 amount 8 8
n= 8

T= 10.84102138 signifigance level

less than .1%

t= 10.2375
0.944329841
Graphs:

Figure 1, Control and Experimental Biomass Graph.

140
Control Tank vs Emperimental Tank Biomass
120

100
BIOMASS (G)

80

60

40

20

0
DAY NUMBER 1 2 4 7 8 9 10 11
Biomass (Control) 103 110 97 99 103.5 116.5 108 103.5
Temp (Control) 19.2 17.5 17.7 16.1 15.8 17.1 18.1 18.5
Biomass (Experimental) 100 99.1 91 94.5 98 93.5 89.5 93
Temp (Experimental) 25.7 26.6 26.1 23.1 25.7 26.3 26.1 26.8

Discussion: After completing this experiment my prediction was accurate, as the control tank

promoted better growth compared to the heated tank. Lemna grows in almost any water

environment and was true in both tank systems. However, the tank system that only utilized

room temperature water had the best growth. The heated experimental tank allowed for growth

to occur, but the average biomass was over 10 grams less compared to the control tank. The T-

Test provided the differential between the data sets had a miniscule significance, showing that

the experimental difference is influenced by outside environmental factors. After completing the

experiment, several examples of error could impact data collection and analysis. The collection

of lemna may have not been extremely thorough, allowing traceable amounts to be left in the

tanks causing mass measurements to be inaccurate. Additionally, when collecting and analyzing

data, calculations and roundings may have been done incorrectly creating skewed results. To
improve the experiment, the next testers may set up another tank system and try chilling the

water to create environments for numerous water conditions.

Conclusion: After completing this experiment with lemna, I have a better understanding of how

this aquatic plant grows so rapidly and the environments it can do so. The lemna we planted in

the room temperature control tank and grew greater amounts comparted to the heated tank. The

experiment helped us experiment with lemna growth and see the rapid nature of its reproduction.

Lemna can grow nearly everywhere, but it’s important to find its most stable environment. From

completing this experiment, we can better utilize lemna in our large-scale tank systems to

enhance water quality. The tilapia tank systems would benefit most from additionally ways to

enhance water quality. Lemna is a complex and easy to study aquatic plant, and the research

gathered from this experiment can help enhance any of our numerous tank systems in our class.

References:

“Duckweed Facts.” Gardenerdy, Gardenerdy, gardenerdy.com/duckweed-facts.

Brian L, Allyssa Gamble, Sydney Arcuri, Kevin Tobin.