The Effect of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Fertilizers on Moss Growth
Cyanobacterial blooms are damaging water systems all around the world due to the declining water quality and need to be prevented as soon as possible. The research done offers insight on how much nitrogen and phosphorus affect the rate of growth of aquatic plants. By finding the effects of these elements on the growth rate of moss, new standards for how much of these elements should be allowed in natural bodies of water can be regulated.
This experiment was conducted to determine which treatment of pure phosphorus fertilizer and pure nitrogen fertilizer would yield the most moss growth. The hypothesis was a high treatment of 0.5 grams of pure phosphorus fertilizer and high treatment of 0.5 grams of pure nitrogen fertilizer would result in the most moss growth.
Two Two-Factor Design of Experiments, or a DOE, were used to conduct the experiment, using high, low, and standard values to collect data and various checks to see how each trial type affects the response to the moss. The hypothesis was accepted, the treatment group with the high nitrogen and high phosphorus dilution had the highest average increase in mass.
Research Conducted By:
Kianna Dixon
Lake Shore High School
Jessie Ludwick
Lake Shore High School
Warren Consolidated Schools