Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Sacrifice for science

I have the solemn task of honoring the various animals and plants who gave their lives during the duration of my experiment. The plants were always intended to be sacrificed at the end; the animals were accidental victims of the circumstances. A few poor bodies drowned in the water-filled tubs that the plants were in; at least one lizard and some ladybugs met their ends this way. I suspect that a few ladybugs were attacked by ants and carried off, though I believe most flew away of their own accord. And sadly, a few unsuspecting frogs may have died from osmotic shock. A couple of times there were live frogs in the freshwater tubs, but twice I found dead frogs in the super salty water. They likely hopped in for a refreshing bath and didn't realize that they were losing their own water through their permeable skin. I don't know much about frog skin, so perhaps this wasn't the case. However, I apologize to the frog gods for the accidental death of two frogs.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Results!

I would like to share some results from my Florida experiment. Without going into all the nitty gritty details, I can show you some clear differences between my treatments. Check it out:
On the left, plants are growing tall and happy. On the right, plants are not as tall and not as happy. Plants on the left are in freshwater; on the right, very very salty water. These are only 2 of my 27 tubs, so there is a spectrum of heights and leafiness but this is a pretty nice visual!