Carbon sequestraion and climate change lab Assignment

Carbon sequestraion and climate change lab - Assignment Example Release of carbon dioxide into the water lowers water pH. Elodea photosynthesizes only when it is exposed to light but respiration is constant because the plant will always require energy. The effect of respiration, however, does not overly influence the pH since aquatic plants have a low energy requirement (Lal). 3. Amount of light penetrating the water is a limiting factor to terrestrial carbon sequestration by aquatic plants. For the aquatic plants to be able to sequester the carbon, light is needed to facilitate the process of photosynthesis. Another limiting factor is the amount of aquatic plants in the water. Aquatic plants sequester carbon when they are alive and when they die, the organic matter that is rich in carbon remains in the dead matter (Lal). As aquatic plant coverage increases, therefore, so does the terrestrial sequestration that accompanies it. The population of aquatic life feeding on the aquatic plants also determines the amount of carbon that aquatic plants can sequester. In the aquatic ecosystem, the aquatic plants are at the base of the food chain. The size of the subsequent food level will determine the population of the plants that will remain available to sequester carbon. 1. Accuracy and precision of measurements in the experiment is influenced by the process of estimation. An estimate is subjective in nature, and is prone to errors because it will depend on the person carrying out the estimate. Individual differences such as height and eyesight will affect the estimates that are made. The same tree will, therefore, have different height estimates for different individuals. Estimating wood volume of branches is also introduces errors to the experiment because branches are not perfect cylinders. The diameter of a tree branch reduces as you move from the stem to the branches; the calculations do not account for this