Effects on the gas exchange of Chylamydomonas under controlled conditions

Introduction:

Is gas availability a limiting factor for algae growth this spring in the Louisiana State University (LSU) lake system? For three weeks, we observed the effect that changes in gas availability had on the rate of algae growth in the LSU Lake System to determine the optimal growth of Chlamydomonas. To study the effect that temperature had on the Chlamydomonas population, we compared three different environments: high (control), medium, and low exposer to the gas present in a room. This study led to our next question: how does gas availability affect chlorophyll concentration this spring in the LSU lake system? The null hypothesis for this experiment is: if gas availability changes in the lakes, then the Chlamydomonas population will not change. The alternative hypothesis for this experiment is: if temperature changes in the lakes, the Chlamydomonas population will change.
Predictions
As gas availability is increased in the lakes, the growth of the Chlamydomonas will also increase. Therefore, decreasing the availability in the lakes will decrease Chlamydomonas growth. As temperature is increased in the lakes, chlorophyll production will also increase. (2)

Methods: Samples of water were taken from the lakes and among other things the depth, water clarity, temperature, pH were measured. These measurements were taken to compare the chlorophyll of algae concentration to the Chlamydomonas population. Since aquatic plants, cyano-bacteria and archaeans are all found in the chlorophyll of lake systems, chlorophyll was used to relatively measure the autotrophic concentration via spectrophotometer. The concentrations of algae were recorded weekly, over the course of 21 days

Figure Caption: The figure above represents the amount of concentration of gas exchange