Duckweed Growth Experiment

The question of interest is the following: what is the effect of nitrogen solution on duckweed growth? We want to know whether nitrogen will increase or decrease duckweed growth. In past experiments of the effects of nitrogen on plants, nitrogen was found to decrease plant growth when there was a deficit amount of nitrogen. An experiment was set up where plants were given 0%, 20% , and 100% nitrogen concentrations and were left for 58 days (Zhaoa, Reddya, Gopal, Reddyb, “Nitrogen deficiency effects on plant growth, leaf photosynthesis, and hyperspectral reflectance properties of sorghum”). They found, as a result, that the higher the nitrogen concentration the more growth in the plant sorghum. Nitrogen has been found to be a limiting factor when referring to plant growth and algae in marine waters (Ryther, Dunstan, “Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Eutrophication in the Coastal Marine Environment”). A limiting factor is something than is a main factor that affects the population growth of an organism. A 37 year old experiment on a lake

Nitrogen would have a key role in eutrophication and would help people understand how to stop eutrophication and control it too. If nitrogen does increase the growth of plants then that means it speeds up or makes the chance that eutrophication will occur go up more. Even then, nitrogen may not be and probably is not the only factor affecting plant growth and eutrophication but will contribute to the understanding of both of them. With this knowledge people could find the main source of nitrogen in the environment that humans are imputing in to the environment. This will lead to taking better care of the environment and its ecosystems while minimizing the effects humans have on it by decreasing the eutrophication