Aquaponics Post #9
AP Biology Standards
LO 1.16 The student is able to justify the scientific claim that organisms share many conserved core processes and features that evolved and are widely distributed among organisms today. [See SP 6.1]
Cellular respiration and photosynthesis are both major core processes that are widely spread. In our aquaponics system, all organisms use cellular respiration to create energy, while our plants specifically use photosynthesis to grow.
LO 2.1 The student is able to explain how biological systems use free energy based on empirical data that all organisms require constant energy input to maintain organization, to grow and to reproduce.
In our aquaponics system, our growth light acts as a source of free energy. This free energy is used by the plants in our system and we can see evidence of this through the growth of our plants and animals in our system. This shows that the plants and animals are taking in and utilizing this energy for the purpose of growth.
LO 3.24 The student is able to predict how a change in genotype, when expressed as a phenotype, provides a variation that can be subject to natural selection. [See SP 6.4, 7.2]
Our aquaponics experiment is based upon which plant grows best in the aquaponics system we have made. Our genotype directly determines our physical characteristics (phenotype). These physical characteristics are what determine the fitness of our plants in our aquaponics system.
LO 4.27 The student is able to make scientific claims and predictions about how species diversity within an ecosystem influences ecosystem stability. [See SP 6.4]
For an aquaponics system to function properly, it must contain a diverse group of organisms that contribute to the ecosystem in a positive way that doesn't disrupt the stability as the ecosystem. This group of organisms comprises of bacteria, plants, and fish. The resources in our system flow through these 3 groups of organisms in a balanced manner that can sustain an ecosystem.
Science Practices (2 and 4)
2.1 The student can justify the selection of a mathematical routine to solve problems.
Our aquaponics system has required us to use mathematics in a variety of ways. These ways include measuring the amount of ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and pH to determine if our water was fit for fish survival. Another way we have used mathematics is to measure the height of our plants.
2.2 The student can apply mathematical routines to quantities that describe natural phenomena.
Our consistent schedule of measuring plant height and the fitness of the water is an example of a mathematical routine that we use to quantify certain aspects of our experiment.
2.3 The student can estimate numerically quantities that describe natural phenomena.
We have estimated which plant will grow the highest numerically when stating our hypotheses.
4.1 The student can justify the selection of the kind of data needed to answer a particular scientific question.
Because our scientific question centers around the growth of the plants in our system, the data we decided to gather were on plant height and length of the leaf, due to the fact that these things change with the growth of the plant.
4.2 The student can design a plan for collecting data to answer a particular scientific question.
For our aquaponics experiment, we chose to collect plant measurements once every 3 days because it was a healthy interval for a plant to grow.
4.3 The student can collect data to answer a particular scientific question.
Due to our intensive training on scientific tool usage, we are properly able to use a straight edge to determine plant height and leaf length in centimeters.
4.4 The student can evaluate sources of data to answer a particular scientific question.
We are able to take the vital data from the straight edge and turn it into a graph that properly displaying the information that we have collected.