RE: The Upstream Effect 12th Grade - 2020 SRS - 2020 SRS

Project Title: The Upstream Effect
School Name(s):St. Francis Xavier Catholic School
Teacher Name(s):Amy Woods
Student Name(s): Keefer Stiles
Contributors: Mrs. Gadow, George Turek, Ms. Nancy Duffy, Ms. Ruthann Pinkos, Mr. William Smith, and Ms. Beth Sneeringer
Grade Level:Secondary School (grades 9-12, ages 14-18)
Project Description:The Upstream Effect
Abstract:This experiment is designed to see if the water from Marsh Creek and Rock Creek (by testing at an unnamed tributary), is somehow polluting the Monocacy River. Marsh Creek and Rock Creek are the main contributors to the Monocacy River. The question, “How does the DO, temperature, transparency, pH, salt, and nitrates levels upstream affect the levels downstream?”, was asked, with The hypothesis stating that if the levels of dissolved oxygen, temperature, transparency, pH, salt, and nitrates at the upstream creeks are different levels than that of the downstream levels, then it will show that the two creeks contribute negatively to the southern river. This is because the creeks and streams are heavily shade, buffered by forests, roads and agricultural sources. The roads cross over or beside the creeks and rivers cause salt and pollution on the roads to flow into the rivers. The agricultural sources cause nutrient enrichment, like nitrates and phosphates, to flow into the rivers. There would be an indication of a source of pollution/sediment, flowing into the Monocacy River from Marsh Creek or Rock Creek (through unnamed tributary), by having similar results at the locations. CHEMetsⓇ Kits, Water Quality meters, a transparency tube, and other safety equipment were used during the experiments. The procedures were created by following GLOBE and the kits/instrument instructions. The data seemed to support the hypothesis, on a broader scale. The conclusion stated that Marsh Creek and Rock Creek do have an impact on the Monocacy River, but both a positive (ex. Dissolved Oxygen, Salt) and negative (Nitrates, Salt) impact. Since the Monocacy River is a contributor to the Chesapeake Bay and the Bay is struggling to become more healthy, restoration efforts are being implemented to improve the quality of the Chesapeake Bay and everywhere.Keywords: Water Quality, Monocacy River, Marsh Creek, Rock Creek, Chesapeake Bay, Upstream-Downstream Effect.
Protocols: Dissolved Oxygen, Water Temperature, Water Transparency, pH, Salinity (including Titration), Nitrates
Language(s): English
Presentation Video:View Video
Presentation Poster:View Document
Report Page:Link

Hi Keefer, my name is Katie Bennett and I am a Masters' student at the University of New Hampshire studying Earth and Environmental Science. I research how Arctic wetlands in nothern Sweden are responding to climate change by measuring the amount of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, that comes out of them.
You did an excellent job presenting your slides on The Upstream Effect and I really like your title, it is catchy and made me want to learn more. You are very well spoken in your video and your slides are well organized. I liked how you explained each variable that you measured in your study and why they are important. You also did a great job explaining why measuring pollution in these rivers is important for the overall health of the Chesapeake Bay. You have some great graphs showing your results and I like how they are front and center on your poster and you calculated standard deviations. Figures like these are very useful to scientists to understand what was measured and quickly see the results from a research project. In the future, it can be helpful to more carefully explain these graphs in your slideshow presentation to help the audience see your results. Your captions do a nice job of this on your poster. Your research question is very important to understanding how pollutants from one tributary can travel downstream and influence a larger ecosystem. In your hypothesis you say that if levels of the variables you measured are different than downstream levels, it will show that they negatively impact the southern river. To make this more specific you could say how they would be different, such as 'if levels are higher upstream than downstream it would indicate pollution is occurring." You did a great job at the end of your presentation saying what you would improve if you were to repeat this study.  This project was very well designed and I was very impressed with your presentation skills, great work!

Hi Keefer, my name is Matt Silberglitt. I am a researcher at WestEd and former high school science teacher. I enjoyed reading your report and watching your video. The maps and detailed descriptions of the rivers and watersheds helped give me a good sense of your study location and how it is connected to the larger area, from small tributaries to the Chesapeake Bay.

I appreciated how well you researched the study area and methods you planned to use, and how well the different parts of your study were connected, including the research question, hypotheses, methods and data collection, results, conclusion, and community impact. I appreciated that you provided an objective description of the evidence and how well it supported your original hypotheses, and that you took the time to write a revised hypothesis and ideas for further study.

I was particularly interested in how the storm affected your data, and I wonder how rainfall (or other precipitation) affect water quality in the rivers. As you noted in your report, rain can move a lot of material into the rivers. Knowing more about rainfall events during your study might help reveal how sources of pollution in upland parts of the watershed ultimately affect the rivers.

Hi Keefer,

My name is Lara Gengarelly and I am a science educator and former plant ecologist at the University of New Hampshire.

Your Upstream Effect study focused on a real-world concern and your findings supplement data collections within the Chesapeake Bay watershed overall. Your presentation was comprehensive. I especially liked the way you displayed google maps and explained the locations of your collection sites. The locations for collection are an important factor in your study design and you recognized this. I also liked the way you provided relevant and sufficient information about each of the water quality variables and explained how each variable impacts the ecosystem and ecosystem functions.

You produced many graphs to show your data. In the future spend a little more time discussing the main trends displayed in each of the graphs. One or two points per graph is adequate.

As you conducted this investigation did you identify any methods that could be improved?

I enjoyed learning about your research and I hope you continue to pursue scientific investigations using GLOBE protocols!