Conclusions

Our class concluded that the highest amounts of dissolved oxygen occurred in the canal water. This is probably because pond water does not contain any salt that would reduce the amount of dissolved oxygen, while still having the current that allows oxygen to absorb into the water. In both the beach and canal water, the amount of dissolved oxygen was the highest in the water in the ice baths.
Our class also concluded that as the number of screens increased, the amount of dissolved oxygen goes down because of the low amount of sunlight being let in to preform photosynthesis. There were a few groups that did not match this conclusion, but could have been resulted from an air bubble in their bottle or a flaw in calculating the amount of dissolved oxygen.

This data is important for many different businesses and government agencies. Fishermen would greatly benefit from this information because areas with low dissolved oxygen contain few, if any, fish. They would benefit by knowing areas where there is a high amount of dissolved oxygen in the water so they know where to fish. Also, many conservation companies would benefit from this information because dissolved oxygen is a main component of whether or not a fish population can survive in an area. If the dissolved oxygen is low, then conservation companies need to find the reason for the low quantities of oxygen and help reverse it before fish populations begin to die out in the area. Another group that would use this information is land developers because they need to know where the proper place to build is. We realized that a lot of grassy area surrounding a body of water could be beneficial in increasing the amount of dissolved oxygen, so they need to know the amount of dissolved oxygen so they know areas where they can build from areas that can be dangerous to the oxygen level. Water treatment companies also need to know this information so they can distinguish which areas are the most polluted and need the most attention to return the oxygen count back to a normal amount.