Description
The Coral Reef Conservation Project is a year long project that focuses on learning about coral and coral bleaching and utilizing scientific tests done by students to find more about the affects of specific environmental stressors on coral species. This project is a collaboration between Biology and Environmental Engineering
What Is Coral?
Coral is an organism that lives in tropical waters around the world. Coral belongs to the same phylum as jellyfish, Cnidaria, meaning that coral is related to jellyfish and all of its relatives.
Coral is an animal, a plant, and a rock. The animal part of the coral is the coral polyp. The plant part is the symbiotic algae that lives in the coral. The rock is the calcium carbonate skeleton that the coral builds upon.
A coral polyp is the individual organism that lives on the coral skeleton. They usually live in colonies of hundreds of polyps on the coral.
The symbiotic algae that lives on corals is called zooxanthellae. The zooxanthellae has a symbiotic relationship with the coral polyp called mutualism meaning that both organisms benefit from each other. Zooxanthellae benefits the coral by providing food for it through photosynthesis. Coral benefits the symbiotic algae by providing shelter for the organism
The calcium carbonate structure is the skeleton that holds and supports the polyp colonies. This structure is built upon by the coral polyps for many years and usually grows about an inch a year.
Coral is an animal, a plant, and a rock. The animal part of the coral is the coral polyp. The plant part is the symbiotic algae that lives in the coral. The rock is the calcium carbonate skeleton that the coral builds upon.
A coral polyp is the individual organism that lives on the coral skeleton. They usually live in colonies of hundreds of polyps on the coral.
The symbiotic algae that lives on corals is called zooxanthellae. The zooxanthellae has a symbiotic relationship with the coral polyp called mutualism meaning that both organisms benefit from each other. Zooxanthellae benefits the coral by providing food for it through photosynthesis. Coral benefits the symbiotic algae by providing shelter for the organism
The calcium carbonate structure is the skeleton that holds and supports the polyp colonies. This structure is built upon by the coral polyps for many years and usually grows about an inch a year.
Test Group
My Coral Reef Conservation Group is Control Medium, Control meaning the type of parameter that our testing is and Medium being the factor for the tests. Being in the Control group means that we are testing or having our tank environment be more similar to the ideal habitat that coral lives in.
Reflection
1. What is the moment that sums up Exhibition for you?
The moment that sums up the Exhibition for me is when I presented my tank to several different people. I explained to them how our entire tank system worked, the parts and equipment that we built, and gave a summary on what our project is all about. This moment sums up Exhibition for me because this
2. What did you produce and accomplish during this project?
For this project, I produced two major pieces, a research paper and the equipment for my tank. Accompishing to complete both of these products was not easy and took a long time. The research paper took about a month to complete fully. The rack, sump, and tank took about two and a half months to finish.
3. What are you most proud of achieving during this project?
I am most proud of achieving the final product of this project, which is the equipment for the tank. This was the longest part of this project and took up most of the time in Environmental Engineering.
4. What lessons have you learned from the project?
The lessons that I have learned from this project are to collaberate with your group members to get a role in the project and to store your project in a safe place that you remember. With the first lesson, my group members had already taken the available jobs in build the rack, leaving me with nothing to do but wait for a time where I could help out. With the second lesson, my group had learned this every week when we could not find our group's completed parts for the rack. Finally we were able to find and complete the rack after a few weeks into the project.
5. What are some transferable skills that you have developed through doing this project?
The transferable skills that I have developed in this project are my abilities to work with different types of equipment. The equipment that I learned to use include a drill, soldering iron, pipe cutter, and wire strippers.
The moment that sums up the Exhibition for me is when I presented my tank to several different people. I explained to them how our entire tank system worked, the parts and equipment that we built, and gave a summary on what our project is all about. This moment sums up Exhibition for me because this
2. What did you produce and accomplish during this project?
For this project, I produced two major pieces, a research paper and the equipment for my tank. Accompishing to complete both of these products was not easy and took a long time. The research paper took about a month to complete fully. The rack, sump, and tank took about two and a half months to finish.
3. What are you most proud of achieving during this project?
I am most proud of achieving the final product of this project, which is the equipment for the tank. This was the longest part of this project and took up most of the time in Environmental Engineering.
4. What lessons have you learned from the project?
The lessons that I have learned from this project are to collaberate with your group members to get a role in the project and to store your project in a safe place that you remember. With the first lesson, my group members had already taken the available jobs in build the rack, leaving me with nothing to do but wait for a time where I could help out. With the second lesson, my group had learned this every week when we could not find our group's completed parts for the rack. Finally we were able to find and complete the rack after a few weeks into the project.
5. What are some transferable skills that you have developed through doing this project?
The transferable skills that I have developed in this project are my abilities to work with different types of equipment. The equipment that I learned to use include a drill, soldering iron, pipe cutter, and wire strippers.