Science Fair Project Ideas

[Caleb Kruse]

Hi, I am trying to figure out a science fair project for the 2008 science fair. I know that it seems like a long time away, but time really sneaks up on you. Last year I did a project on the affect of Vitamin C on fragged soft corals. You can read more about it on my website. I place first in my regional science fair, qualifying me to go to my state science fair, which I placed second. My goal for this year is to make it to the Intel ISEF, which is being held in Atlanta, Georgia. The way that I can qualify for this fair is to win Grand Prize or runner up at my regional science fair, or the same at the state science fair. This is hard because my regional fair is one of the hardest in the nation. So all this to say, do you guys have anything that you think would make a good science fair project? The judges love it when the student does multiple things, such as making test equipment, incorporating multiple areas of science etc... So I would love any of your ideas, even if you think they are bad, they might inspire me to think of something.

One idea that I'm thinking about is grafting SPS corals, if it worked, I would try to do some before and after DNA analyses.

Thanks!

 

[DivaMan]

Nice, 1 quick question how are you doing DNA analyses..... In any case, grafting SPS would be interesting, however it would be very iffy, and IMO theres really no If I do this, then..... As in its more of just a thing to do rather than a test. But im not a science fair kind of person so.......ive been against them ever since elementary, when a kid won first place 3 years in a row with the same experiment.

 

[thejrc]

Pods.... A whole world here.....

Feeding, mating, activity, why they switch habits when it comes to light, taxonomy, and the one I'm going to eventually tackle

Effects of dissolved organic compounds and nitrate levels on harpacticoidia tigriopus californicus

you really gotta see these things through this scope.....

 

[reefshadow]

Mantis shrimp. Mechanics and strength of strikes, maybe something about their visual capabilities. You could set up a few nanos for pretty cheap.

Everyone loves mantids, and if they don't at least they're impressed by them.

 

[Caleb Kruse]

Nice, 1 quick question how are you doing DNA analyses.....
Well I'm not sure yet, but there is a expert on DNA at Colorado College which is pretty close to me, so maybe he could help.
In any case, grafting SPS would be interesting, however it would be very iffy, and IMO theres really no If I do this, then..... As in its more of just a thing to do rather than a test.
Thats the thing, there is so much to test. If it didn't work I could try to figure out why, and then find out if there is a way to make it work ie. immunosupressents in human transplants.
But im not a science fair kind of person so.......ive been against them ever since elementary, when a kid won first place 3 years in a row with the same experiment.
Have you ever heard the Brian Regan stupid in school, about the science fair?

Terrible video quality but funny.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y0A0UtolqsI

 

[barbra]

I would do something on a small scale to study something that is happening on a larger scale. If your small project was representative of something happening on a reef in the wild it would give it more immediacy and a wider appeal than if the results were just applicable to an aquarist.

If you could get an environmental issue involved that would be great. The only thing I can think of that fits my qualifications off-hand is the effect of sunblock-wearing humans on the Great Barrier Reef, but maybe you can think of something better

 

[luv951]

Along the lines of what barbra was saying, maybe an experiment to determine the real harm, or possible benefits of severe storms that destroy parts of the reef. Start with twin tanks, and then have one get ravaged by a storm early on, keep them under identical conditions. and see if the destruction actually helped the one.

Like forest fires are actually good for the forest......over a long period of time.

 

[thejrc]

hmmm good ideas here! weather effects on a nano environment, that would definately be an interesting one.... you could match corals to a particular reef and go from there. You would definately have to start early though if you did that one.

 

[greenbean36191]

You could look at the effect of ocean acidification on the calcification of corals. We know pH is dropping due to CO2, but we don't really know what to expect for coral reefs. Will they slow or stop calcifying? Will they switch over to laying down calcite instead of aragonite? Will they just die?

 

[Pea-brain]

If you wanted to do the effect of suntan lotion thing, mantis shrimp are used as a biological essay animal and are very sensitive to chemicals. The storm thing sounds interesting, but how are you supposed to know how much damage a storm would do to a reef in the wild, and how would you carry that over to your scaled down model? I mean, in a storm the following things will probably happen (Just guessing) temperatures will drop, salinity will drop,PH may increase or more likely decrease (Acid rain maybe?) etc. And how can you replicate the storm? just stab the corals? swish the water around? knock things over? think about it, and then tell us if you get an idea. I'm interested

Dan

 

[Caleb Kruse]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10616766#post10616766 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by greenbean36191
You could look at the effect of ocean acidification on the calcification of corals. We know pH is dropping due to CO2, but we don't really know what to expect for coral reefs. Will they slow or stop calcifying? Will they switch over to laying down calcite instead of aragonite? Will they just die?

I don't understand this theory. If there was more CO2 in the atmoshpere, then why would the ocean become more acidic. I would think it would just boost the growth of micro and macro algae's. It would be a helpfull thing then, because then there would be more food for the fish, and possibly an effect on coral because of the increased zooxanthelae.


Thanks for the ideas everyone!

 

[greenbean36191]

More CO2 in the air means more is being dissolved into the ocean and lowering the pH because it forms carbonic acid. The average pH has already dropped from around 8.2 to 8.1 and is expected to drop to around 7.9 with the next 40 years or so. The change has been even bigger in the tropical Atlantic and parts of the Indian Ocean where reefs are located. It's a problem for reefs for several reasons. As pH drops, so does the saturation point of aragonite in seawater, so less calcium is available to build skeletons. Also, as pH drops calcification becomes less energetically favorable so it costs the animals more energy. If things got really bad coral skeletons might even start dissolving faster than they could be laid down. There have been studies looking at planktonic organisms with aragonitic shells under the predicted CO2 levels and they couldn't build their shells and eventually died. There were no coral reefs the last time this happened, so we don't really know what to expect. Will hard corals just disappear? Will they switch from laying down aragonite to laying down calcite? Will they just grow slower and be restricted in range? It's a big question right now.

The hurricane thing has been looked at quite a bit in the wild and isn't really something you could scale down to the size of a tank.

 

[Caleb Kruse]

It's a cool project, but I already saw a kid doing a project like that at international last year. I still might do a spin off, like will more algae grow in the presence of increased CO2, reducing the effect on the pH of the water. I don't know, just brainstorming.

 

[Waxxiemann]

I think a cool one would be symbyosis

like pistol shrimps and shrimp gobies
or clown fish and anemones
or commensal crabs and SPS

Just a thought.

 

[airinhere]

Probably been beaten to death, but why not do a long term global warming foecast vs current comparison.

Set up 2 tanks.

Cycle both and keep the params of one at current reef levels as present in our modern oceans. The other tank should be modeled on one of the worst case scenarios for global warming. Higher temp, increased CO2, lowered salinity, the whole spectrum of environmental disasters.

Once both tanks are fully cycled, you could place identical corals into each tank. Preferably frags of the same colonies.

Observe the difference in growth rates, or possible death of corals in the two tanks.

This would have to be modeled on some pretty far flung reports, but light would have to be an issue as well. We might find that after a few months, the corals in the future tank would actually be healthier than the ones in the modern tank.

Dont know if this would be practical, but it would be timely and would be a good excuse to get 2 reeftanks setup for "school". Wish I had though about that one when I was a kid.

My parents would have had a hard time telling me 'no' if they knew it was for school.

In fact, maybe they could still fall for that one....

 

[Yabasoya]

You could pee in a bucket of water, then run a protein skimmer. Time how long it takes before you can drink that water.

 

[csb]

How about a light and growth experiment ...

Setup a series of small tanks (10g each?), all plumbed together in the same system. Each tank would get a different type of lighting ... you'd also need to measure lux and par for each tank.

Obtain a mother colony of any SPS coral ... frag into individual, equal frags one for each light tank, plus one extra as a control specimen to go back to the original source. Each frag would be placed on an individual plug and placed into it's respective tank.

Over the following weeks, record growth, color and general health observations. Also record and track water parameters daily for the entire system.

Depending on how much time you have to run the experiment, you could run for 30 days, 60 days, 3 months, etc... I think the results could potentially be a very interesting.

This experiment could be as large or small as you'd like ... it could be done with different intensities of the same type of lighting, or different spectrums of the same type, or across different types of lighting, or all types and spectrums and intensities! (that'd be a HUGE setup)

--csb

 

[MeuserReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10619943#post10619943 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Yabasoya
You could pee in a bucket of water, then run a protein skimmer. Time how long it takes before you can drink that water.

you used your first post to post this???

 

[Yabasoya]

Seriously. He could set up several buckets. Invite the judges to take a wiz in them. Each bucket can have a different protein skimmer on it. There could be a sign above "Watch ME, Drink Your PEE!!". Just dont drink from the one with the seaclone on it.

 

[Caleb Kruse]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10619968#post10619968 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by csb
How about a light and growth experiment ...

Setup a series of small tanks (10g each?), all plumbed together in the same system. Each tank would get a different type of lighting ... you'd also need to measure lux and par for each tank.

Obtain a mother colony of any SPS coral ... frag into individual, equal frags one for each light tank, plus one extra as a control specimen to go back to the original source. Each frag would be placed on an individual plug and placed into it's respective tank.

Over the following weeks, record growth, color and general health observations. Also record and track water parameters daily for the entire system.

Depending on how much time you have to run the experiment, you could run for 30 days, 60 days, 3 months, etc... I think the results could potentially be a very interesting.

This experiment could be as large or small as you'd like ... it could be done with different intensities of the same type of lighting, or different spectrums of the same type, or across different types of lighting, or all types and spectrums and intensities! (that'd be a HUGE setup)

--csb

I would love to do this project, but I think it would cost too much.


quote:
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Originally posted by Yabasoya
You could pee in a bucket of water, then run a protein skimmer. Time how long it takes before you can drink that water.
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Now that would go over well with the judges. I might even get a special award from the wastewater department.