Effects of Acid Rain on Plant Growth

This topic submitted by Brian Cownie, Jim Daffin ( cowniebs@muohio.edu ) on 10/20/05. [Section: McCollum]

Natural Systems 1 Syllabus---Western Program---Miami University

Research Proposal

1) Introduction:
What exactly does the emission of acid rain effect in our Universe? Horrifyingly, the answer is everything. Highly acidic rain water can destroy various ecosystems, plant species, and animal species. Even human beings can be physically harmed by highly acidic rain when it gets into their water supply, and when they ingest mercury infected fish. (http://www.lehigh.edu/~kaf3/books/reporting/acid.html) In our particular research project we will attempt to answer the question that asks, what are the effects of acid rain on the growth of spider plants? We are going to test growing spider plants with various degrees of acidic water. Our group predicts that the plants that are given the rain water with the lower amounts of acidity will continue to grow throughout the experiment but this growth will be stunted slightly. We feel that the plants that receive the pure rain water from Oxford will not be affected at all. We also predict that the spider plants that are given the rain water with higher acidity will eventually die out.
2) Relevance of Research Question:
A) -Acid deposition, more commonly known as acid rain, results when sulfur and nitrogen oxides and their transformation products return to the earthÕs surface. Acid rain has been linked to forest decline, decreased fish populations, and other adverse effects (Huang). One other group in the past did a project like ours. They used bean plants and used ninety of them. Each group had fifteen plants that were watered the same way. One group had a pH of 7, then Ð1, 1, 4, 5, and 5L. Some of the water they used had nitric acid in it instead of sulfuric acid. They, then, measured the growth of the plants as well as taking pictures every week of the difference in color and look of the plant.

1. Studies of acid rain in the eastern United States: a review. Huang, Herman. International Journal of Environmental Studies, 1992, Vol. 41 Issue 3/4, p267, 9p
-This source has a lot of general information about how acid rain comes about. For example, British chemist Robert Angus Smith published the first account about acid rain back in 1852 and also the paragraph above.

2. Acid rainÕs dirty business: Stealing minerals from soil. Kaiser, Jocelyn. Science, 4/12/96, Vol.272 Issue 5259, p198
-This source shows the long-term affects of acid rain. This happens when the soil loses all its minerals There has been a significant drop in calcium and magnesium levels in the soil since 1970.

3. Long-term effects of acid rain: Response and recovery of a forest ecosystem. Likens, G.E.. Driscoll, C.T.. Science, 4/12/96, Vol. 272 Issue 5259, p244,
-This source also shows long-term affects of acid rain, but this source shows, in depth, how delayed our efforts are going to be to stop acid rain and getting our rainwater back to normal pH levels.

4. Analysis of Natural Buffer Systems and the Impact of Acid Rain. Powers, David C.. Higgs, Andrew T.. Obley, Malt L.. Leber, Phyllis A.. Hess, Kenneth R.. Yoder, Claude H.. Journal of Chemical Education, Feb2005, Vol. 82 Issue 2, p274-277.
-This source shows how the pH is affected by different amounts of acid added to water. The more the acid you add, the lower the pH value the water has.

5. Acid deposition monitoring network in East Asia. I.R.. Look Japan, Jul98, Vol. 44 Issue 508, p27, 1/2p.
-This source shows what East Asia is doing to slow down and eventually stop acid rain from accumulating in the atmosphere. They have acid rain really bad in East Asis, especially, because of the rapid industrialization going on there.

6. PH 6 as the threshold to use in critical load modeling for zooplankton community change in acidification in lakes of south-central Ontario; accounting for mophometry and geography. Holt, C.A.. Yan, . N.D.. Somers, K.M.. Canadian Journal of Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences, Feb2003, Vol. 60 Issue 2, p151.
-This source showed us how zooplankton can affect the acidity of water and could affect our results if we used something like lake water.

7. The Effect of Simulated Acid Rain On Pine Needle and Birch Leaf Litter Decomposition. Neuvonen, S.. Suomela, J.. Journal of Applied Ecology, Dec90, Vol. 27 Issue 3, p857-872.
-This source shows us an example of another project done with plants and the affects that occur from acid rain. Certain levels of acidity in the plantÕs water gave different results.

8. Effects of acid deposition on terrestrial ecosystems and their rehabilitation strategies in China. Feng Zong-wei, Miao Hong. Zhang Fu-zhu. Huang Yi-zong. Journal of Environmental Sciences, Apr2002, Vol. 14 Issue 2, p227.
-This source shows all the effects of acid rain that have already occurred in China. Most of these things have also happened in the United States.

9. The effects of long-term exposure to simulated acid rain on the development of pine wilt disease caused by Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. Asai. Futai. Forest Pathology, Aug2001, Vol. 31 Issue 4, p241-253.
-This source shows that the pH of normal tap water is 6.3 and the pH of simulated normal acid rain is around 3. It also shows the effect of acid rain on pine trees.

10. Dropping Acid: How acid-decimated Czech forests are making a comeback. Bloch, Nini. Earthwatch Institute Journal, 2001 Research & Exploration, Vol. 20 Issue 1, p43.
-This source shows the effects of acid rain on two-thirds of the former Czechoslovakia woodlands. It shows the truly powerful effects of acid rain.

11. Long-Term Data Show Lingering Effects From Acid Rain. Krajick, Kevin. Science, 04/13/2001, Vol. 292 Issue 5515, p195.
-This source shows some of the long-term effects of acid rain and also talks about the evidence of acid rain on trees. It emphasizes the need for power plants to cut down on sulfur dioxide emissions.

12. Sulfur cycling in the water column of Little Rock Lake, Wisconsin. Brezonik, P.L.. Baker, L.A.. Urban, N.R.. Sampson, C.J.. Biogeochemistry, Jan2001, Vol. 52 Issue 1, p41
-We will use this source to show how acid rain affects lakes and their acidity which, in effect, will ruin the plant life around the lake.

1) http://www.lehigh.edu/~kaf3/books/reporting/acid.html
2) http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/
3) http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/acidrain/2.html
4) http://www.policyalmanac.org/environment/archive/acid_rain.shtml
5) http://www.acidrain.org/

B) This topic not only pertains to a larger question, it is crucial to our entire planet and everything it encompasses. As stated before, acid rain negatively affects all organisms and ecosystems in our World. Acid rain occurs primarily from the emission of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), which are usually created from the burning of fossil fuels. These gases get released into the atmosphere and react with oxygen, water, and other chemicals to form differing acidic compounds. (http://www.policyalmanac.org/environment/archive/acid_rain.shtml) The longer we wait to seriously attempt to reduce acid rain, the more endangered our Earth will become for everything and everyone who lives in it.
Research Design:
We are going to test a total of thirty spider plants. Six of these plants will receive water with a PH of 5.5. This is the average PH of pure rain water found in Oxford, Ohio. Six other plants will be given water that has a PH of 5.1. The next six plants will receive water with a PH of 4.8. Then the next set of spider plants will be given water that has a PH of 4.5. Lastly, the final six plants will receive water that has a PH of 4.2. This is the average PH level of acidic rain found in the United States. Each group of plants will be placed on separate treys that will have a constant flow of water that pertains to its specific amount of PH level. This helps to eliminate the questionable data we would receive if we attempted to just water the plants twice a day, because it would be hard to tell which plants should get more water due to various sizes. Instead, all of the plants have the ability to get water when ever they need it. We will also place plastic wrap over all of the treys and around the outside of the miniature vases that the spider plants will be placed in. This will help stop evaporation of the water in the treys which could in turn change the PH levels in the remaining water. We will check and water these plants once a day for five weeks. We will record the number of leaves and the length of the longest leaf on each spider plant three different times during this experiment. We will collect this data once in the beginning of the research project, once half way through the second week of the experiment, and once at the end of the project. We will also mark down dates anytime we notice that a plant has died. At the end of this research period we should have the ability to calculate what PH levels affected the spider plant growth and which did not.
Materials and Methods:
We will need thirty spider plants to conduct our experiment. We will also need thirty miniature vases, five treys, soil, and five two liter canisters of distilled water. We will need a container of sulfuric acid to add to all five of the canisters to create water with the different PH levels discussed earlier. We will need a ruler to periodically measure the size of the longest leaf on each plant. Lastly, we will need a PH tester to create all five differing PH water levels. We will include the class into our experiment by asking everyone to help with the setup process of the experiment. This includes putting soil into all of the vases, planting the spider plants, and counting the number of leaves on the different plants as well as measuring the largest leaf from each plant.

Data Sheet
Length of longest stem in centimeters
Plants
pH 5.5 5.1 4.8 4.5 4.2
1A
2A
3A
4A
5A
6A
1B
2B
3B
4B
5B
6B
1C
2C
3C
4C
5C
6C
1D
2D
3D
4D
5D
6D
1E
2E
3E
4E
5E
6E