pH or not pHBy Blue Herrings
Paul Ayala,Hamid G Makki,
Jimmy Tran,Felicia Sainvilus
Urban EcologyUrban Ecology is the study of the city’s biotic
and abiotic factors. The Study of the environment.
Research Questions and Predictions
Question: “What differences are there between the surroundings of an
unhealthy and a healthy tree with regard to soil and water
characteristics?”
Hypothesis: We predict that the unhealthy trees’ soil and water
environments would have measurable differences from the healthy trees’ soil
and water environments, and that those differences would contribute to
the overall health of the tree.
Chandler’s PondChandler’s pond is a pond that was man
made for ice. The ice was collected so that people could get ice when it was summer where they would put the ice in a huge box in a house to keep things cold.
VariablesOur variables for this question are: The
type of tree, and the location of the tree (down by the water), and the health of the tree.
Control Group: 2 Healthy TreesExperimental Group: 2 Unhealthy TreesIndependent Variable: Characteristics
of surrounding soil and waterDependent Variable: The health of the
tree
Chandler’s Pond Study Site
MaterialsMaterials:
Spades for diggingcollection bags for soilBuckets for collecting and transferring waterLaMotte Soil and Water Kits, (including pH, phosphate,
and Dissolved Oxygen) temperature probe tree identification keys tree health inventory sheetGraduate cylinderCameraGoggles and gloves
Identification of Experimental and Control Groups
The control and experimental groups were matched for tree type, overall size, and distance from the water source.
We evaluated the health of the trees by examining the characteristics of the bark, the leaves, root exposure, fungus, and canopy, and identified two healthy and two unhealthy trees to study based on the criteria above.
Healthy Tree #1 genus Salix
Healthy Tree #2 genus Salix
Unhealthy Tree #1 (willow )genus Salix
Unhealthy Tree #2 genus Salix
Methods: ProceduresTo collect soil samples, we dug 4 inches deep at the tree
base to collect the soil. LaMotte Kits were used to test for pH and phosphate. A temperature probe was used to collect temperature
readings at a depth of 4 cm. 200 ml soil samples were collected to be analyzed back at the
lab for soil composition using a turbidity column.To collect water samples, we used a bucket thrown into
the water. LaMotte Kits were used to test for Dissolved Oxygen, pH, and
phosphate. A temperature probe was used to collect the temperature of
the water.Tree Health was evaluated for each testing site.
We looked at the leaning of the tree, root issues, %of dead branches, and %of canopy missing foliage.
Procedure for Sedimentation Tube1- Collect 25 mls of the dirt to be sampled2-Pour the dirt into a 250 ml graduate
cylinder 3-Pour water into the cylinder until its 1
inch bellow the surface of the tube.Shake vigorously to mix the contents.Let the tube settle, undisturbed, until there is
no further separation.Observe the different sediment levels!
Study of Chandler’s Pond SiteThe Blue Herrings
TESTS Healthy Tree Unhealthy Tree Site 1 Site 4 Site 2 Site 3
WaterDissolved oxygen
6 ppm 9ppm 8ppm 4.5ppm
pH 8.0 8.0 7.0 7.0phosphate <0.05 >0.05(blue) <0.05 >0.05(white)temperature 78.9F 75.0F 72.1F 71.4FSoilph 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0Phosphate High Trace Medium Mediumtemperature 77.5F 79.8F 75.5F 77.9FSoil characteristics/ Column description
Well mixed, a combination of gravel, sand and, fine organic matter and silt
Contained a lot of organic materials much less sand than other sample
Tree ID #4 #3 #2 #1Date visited 7/24 7/24 7/28 7/28Tree location See Google mapHeight Class 3 2 3 3Tree Health 3 .5(1-4 scale) 4(1-4 scale) 2.5(1-4 scale) 2.5 (1-4 scale)
ResultsThere were no significant differences in the
water DO concentration test between the healthy and unhealthy trees. There were also no big differences in water pH level. There were no significant differences in the Phosphate for water or soil.
Healthy Unhealty0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Average Water Phosphate LevelsPh
osph
ate
in p
pm
Healthy Unhealty0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Average Soil pH
Healthy Unhealty0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14Average Water pH levels
Healthy Unhealty0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Average Dissolved OxygenD
O in
ppm
The Sediment Tubes
Soil from healthy tree Soil from unhealthy tree
ConclusionsWe concluded that there were no significant differences between the healthy and unhealthy trees’ surrounding soil and water chemical characteristics
Evidence: The unhealthy and healthy trees both had consistent data with regard to pH in soil, wide ranges in phosphate suggest that it doesn’t have a consistent pattern, the temperature of the soil and water where slightly different, and the dissolved oxygen where in wide range
Reasoning: wide ranges in phosphate suggest that it doesn’t affect the tree health.
ConclusionsClaim: there were differences in the soil layering
and composition between the healthy and unhealthy tree .
Evidence: The sediment tube shows the different types of sedimentation. There was a difference in soil composition. The unhealthy tree had less sand and more organic material than the healthy tree. The healthy tree had less organic material but more fine soil.
Reasoning: The test tube showed the level of dirt and pronounced the difference of sediment collection.
Recommendation for further studyInclude more trees in the study(study every
willow around Chandler Pond)Include comparisons of different species of
treesBetter determination of the criteria for
rating the health of the tree
Question for further research1- Why does the unhealthy tree have the
same characteristics as the healthy tree?
2- Why does the unhealthy tree have different soil than the healthy tree’s?
What We learned1.I learned that you can tell if a tree is
healthy or unhealthy.2.A tree is unhealthy if it has any shoots at
the bottom of the trunk and if it has any mold or fungi.
3.A tree is healthy if it doesn’t have shoots growing at the bottom or mold growing on the tree.
4.pH is the potential hydrogen ion (H+)concentration of water and soil .
