03-04 Research Projects | Marine Science Experience Home Page | BioWeb Home Page

 

School/Teacher:   Burbank High School, Burbank USD/Ms. Debi Haynes
Class: Biology
Project Title:  Desalination
Abstract:    The question that we were trying to answer is how do you turn saltwater into freshwater. It is an interesting topic to discuss because many people do not know how to. The answer to our question is yes, you can change saltwater into freshwater in a process called desalination. You can do this by using expensive machines or different kinds of experiments. Of course, the experiments take longer than the machines, but it works just as good. It takes a while, but one experiment that we conduct in class is called distillation which separates the saltwater from freshwater through evaporation.
1. What is desalination? The answer is: desalination is a process that removes dissolved minerals from saltwater, brackish water, or untreated water.
2. How can you turn saltwater into freshwater? The answer is: saltwater can be turned into freshwater by using expensive machinery or by doing special kinds of experiments.
3. How much of Earth’s water is fresh? The answer is: only about 3% of the earth’s water is fresh.
4. How much desalination is there worldwide? The answer is: there are over 7,500 desalination plants worldwide.
5. What country has the biggest desalination plant worldwide? The answer is: Saudi Arabia has the biggest desalination plant worldwide producing 12 million gallons of freshwater per day. The most useful web sites that we found in the Internet are:  “Water,Water,Everywhere”http://library.thinkquest.org,  “Everything You Wanted to Know About theSaltWater”http://drake.marin.kiz.ca.us,  “Thermal Desalting”  http://www.world-wide-water.com.

 

School/Teacher:   Burbank High School, Burbank USD/Ms. Debi Haynes
Class: Biology
Project Title:  Do Whales and Dolphins Have Anything in Common?
Abstract:    Whales and dolphins do have something in common because there from the some family called cetacean. Dolphins navigate by following the hills and mountains of the ocean, tracking the sun, sensing currents, and tasting the water along the journey. Whales, on the other hand, travel by sound wave.

 

School/Teacher:   Burbank High School, Burbank USD/Ms. Debi Haynes
Class: Biology-Period 4
Project Title:  The Lifestyle of Bottlenose Dolphins and How Underwater Earthquakes and Volcanoes Affect Them
Abstract:    What is the lifestyle of bottlenose dolphins, and how do underwater earthquakes and volcanoes affect them? This question is important because it teaches people about dolphins, and how geological factors can alter the lifestyle and populations of dolphins.
To collect information about bottlenose dolphins, my partner and I checked out several different websites, encyclopedia’s, and articles that we were able to find. We found out that the Internet was the easiest and most up to date way to collect information. We concluded that the lifestyle of dolphins is simple, intelligent, and very similar to that of humans. In order of finding information on how geological factors affect dolphins, we had to carefully research all of our sources. We did not exactly find a complete answer, but we were able to find out so much other valuable information about dolphins that we could easily guess what we think the effects of geological factors could be.
Other questions that are useful in our knowledge of dolphins are:
1)      What role did male dolphins play in the bottlenose dolphin society? In the bottlenose dolphin society males are dominant, but are not supportive of raising a calf. They are present for the fertilization only. They remain social to all of the dolphins.
2)      What is a bottlenose dolphin’s daily diet like? Bottlenose dolphins have a diet that consists of various foods. These foods include squid, shrimp, mullets, rays, eels, crabs, catfish, mackerel, octopus, and other invertebrates.
3)      Who are predators of the bottlenose dolphins? Predators of bottlenose dolphins are sharks, killer whales, and other large fish with many teeth. Most of the time bottlenose dolphins are able to stay away from their predators, but are still killed by humanity at the same rate.
4)      How does sensitivity help dolphins? Sensitivity helps dolphins in many ways. Firstly they are sensitive to sound and touch. With this sensitivity they are able to sense waves of sound to protect themselves or even waves of intense pressure indicating the action of a geological factor.
5)      How does location affect dolphin status? Dolphins are located all over the world except for the polar regions. Some species live in places more common to have geological actions present. Most species of dolphins migrate as well, but the bottlenose dolphins are of the species that do not.
The most useful resource found by my group was http://www.angelfire.com/nj2/bottlenose/.

 

School/Teacher:   Burbank High School, Burbank USD/Ms. Debi Haynes
Class: Biology
Project Title:  Coral Reefs
Abstract:    For my Marine Science Project I decided to do it on coral reefs in general, because I think that they are really interesting animals. In order to find out about coral reefs I used the World Book Encyclopedia, and Armenian Encyclopedia. I also used Internet Explorer to find out some of my questions about coral reefs. By researching coral reefs I found out that they are reefs that are made up of coral and other materials that have solidified into rocks. Another thing that I learned is that coral reefs are among the most diverse and productive communities on Earth, and that they contain more species of life than anywhere else on Earth. I also learned that coral reefs contain compounds that are found to help fight heart disease, asthma, leukemia, viruses, cancer, and HIV!

 

School/Teacher:   Burbank High School, Burbank USD/Ms. Debi Haynes
Class: Biology
Project Title:  Moon Jellyfish
Abstract:    I started my research right after I finished watching Sponge Bob Square Pants. The show got me thinking about jellyfishes. As I was watching, I noticed how the jellyfishes were stinging the actor, and asked my self how they did it. What makes the jellyfish so special that makes them capable of stinging? I made the research from online and through books for the project. First I wanted to make one on just jellyfishes, then I found out there was more than one type. My research went from jellyfish to the moon jellyfish. I wanted to draw a jellyfish and label its organs to understand the structure of a jellyfish. I didn’t find enough details. As I read more about it, I found out more about its stinging skills. Do a jellyfish and a human have anything in common? The answer to that is most likely to be no. They are made up of about 96% water, 2% protein. How long does a Jellyfish last? They live for about 8 to 10 years, but watch out even dead jellyfish can sting. How many different types of jelly are there? There are about 5 different types. What’s the history of a jellyfish? Jellyfish is one of the most ancient organisms on earth. They have been here over 600 million years, long before the dinosaurs. What are some health facts about the Moon jellyfish? They generally have four stomachs. They have the ability to regrow or repair themselves.

 

School/Teacher:   Burbank High School, Burbank USD/Ms. Debi Haynes
Class: Biology
Project Title:  Starfish
Abstract:    A starfish is a very interesting animal.  Without having a brain or a heart, it can look for food, feed, find a sexual partner, or orient itself.  How can they do things they want without having them?  We found in a website that tells how starfish can move or live even they don't have brains or hearts.  It has a well-developed nervous system with thousands and thousands of nerve cells that make a starfish to do all the tasks.  A starfish is small and it doesn't need a heart because all nutrients can reach every part of the body by distributing them.  It does not need a real blood vessel system.
  There are other questions and answers for the starfish.  First, how do they act when they meet their enemies?  Do they have ability to change their colors to hide from the enemies?  They have ability to change their colors to hide from the enemies.  Second, how long can they be out of water?  They can be out of water for two hours, if they stay out more than two hours, they will dry up and die.  Third, do they always affect bad things to people?  They might affect bad things to the sea village by eating all clams in the same area, but they are useful too.  They can be used medicine and as fertilizer in the farms.  Fourth, how do they eat?  They grab the clam with their feet and they can easily open them.  Their mouth is located in the middle of the body and they put their stomach out and eat them.  Finally, how can they grow new arms?  As time goes on, they can grow into new arms.  All it matters is the time! 

 

School/Teacher:   Burbank High School, Burbank USD/Ms. Debi Haynes
Class: Biology-Period 5
Project Title:  Corals
Abstract:    The sea is home to millions of fish, crustaceans, and other organisms that try to survive in its environment. Corals are home to more than a quarter of all marine life. The coral reefs cover one percent of the sea’s ground. Corals help as shelter for small species and they protect weak shorelines by breaking up ocean waves and support life to help the ocean’s community. Long time before dinosaurs walked the Earth, corals developed in the ocean. They are very old and simple organisms made up of polyps connected by a thin layer of tissue. The communities of corals are called colonies and they become thicker over the time. Many corals die and new ones colonize on top of the dead ones. Algae that through photosynthesis makes food and oxygen inside the coral’s tissue keeps this reef survive in exchange for the coral’s waste nutrients and home. This is an example of mutualism because the coral is home and the waste of nutrients to this kind of algae and the algae provides the coral a thin layer to be hard and survive. Coral reefs have amazing colors and different styles that give shelter to a variety of fish. Small organisms live there and hide from its predator. This is another symbiosis, commensalisms because the small fish lives in the coral and hides from the predator and the coral is not harmed or benefited. Coral reefs are in crisis. Approximately twenty seven percent of them have been destroyed or severely damaged.

 

School/Teacher:   Burbank High School, Burbank USD/Ms. Debi Haynes
Class: Biology
Project Title:  Marine Plants
Abstract:    We as a group are trying to answer, “Why are marine plants important for the ocean?”  Our group discussed about the question and did a research on the Internet and from the library.  We found very useful information about the four different marine plants we were doing a research on.  As a conclusion we found out that the marine plants go through photosynthesis to make their own food and provide food for other organisms such as fish and shellfishes.  The four plants are algae, diatoms, phytoplankton, and dinoflagellata.   All the plants are in different colors, and are major food resource for marine and freshwater microorganism.

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