Plankton!

For my groups study, we compared the abundance of plankton in Ho’okipa and the Kihei boat ramp. There are two major types of plankton; there is phytoplankton and zooplankton. Phytoplankton is plant plankton, and zooplankton is plant plankton. We will be looking at different species of plankton and their amount.

According to a site I found, “animal life is almost entirely dependent on the phytoplankton for its existence.”- Van Nostrand’s Scientific Encyclopedia, 1989.

Question & Hypothesis-

Will there be a higher abundance of plankton in Ho'okipa, or at the Kihei
boat ramp?

We thought that we would find more plankton at Ho'okipa than the Kihei boat
ramp, because there is less pollution I the area. Therefore, the
plankton will not have to struggle to survive at Ho'okipa.

Results:
We found that the average number of copepods in Ho'okipa was 1; the
average number of polychaete was 2. At the Kihei boat ramp, we found
that there was an average of 14 copepods, and 4 poychaete. With that, we find that the average plankton at Hookipa was 3, and an average of 18 at
the Kihei Boat ramp.

We found that there was a higher abundance of plankton at the Kihei Boat
ramp, our hypothesis was incorrect.

This means that The Kihei boat ramp has less destructive factors that the plankton has to fight off. The results from our test might mean that the water in Kihei is cleaner, less polluted, and a better place for plankton to be found. This study was important, because it’s good to know how the plankton is a part in the ecosystem. Maui, being surrounded in water, is covered in plankton; we should know the plankton population where we live. Plankton rules the world!!!

We thought that there would be more plankton in Ho'okipa, because it is not in a polluted area, it is cooler than Kihei, and the boat ramp seemed like it would be more polluted because of boats going in and out. As you know, we were wrong, there was actually more plankton at the Kihei boat ramp. This could be because there are less people in the water.