Journal of Student Research 2015

205 S audi Arabian University Student Cultural Integration: The purpose of this project was to gain a better understanding of water chemistry within permanent and ephemeral wetlands. We investigated changes in water chemistry over the course of a growing season and com pared ephemeral and permanent wetlands. We hypothesized that conduc tivity would be higher in the ephemeral wetlands and dissolved oxygen and pH would be higher in the permanent wetlands. Conductivity and pH were expected to increase over the season and dissolved oxygen was predicted to decrease as the temperature increases. Area in Chippewa County, Wisconsin (45° 13’ 13.32” N, 91° 24’ 39.7” W). The study area was heavily wooded and contained many natural wetlands and lakes formed by the glacial moraine. 57 wetlands were sampled and of these and of these, 41 were classified as ephemeral and 16 were permanent. The water chemistry of the wetlands was measured over four sampling periods from May to August 2013 (period 1: 7-15 May, period 2: 3-10 June, period 3: 1-9 July, period 4: 29 July - 1 Aug). pH, specific conductivity, and dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations were measured at three sampling areas within each wetland to account for within-wetland variability. DO was measured with a YSI ProDO® meter and pH and specific conductivity were measured using an Oakton PCTestr 35® field meter. pH was calibrated daily and conductivity and DO were calibrated weekly. The mean of the three samples within each wetland was used to inform statistical analyses. We used general linear models to determine differences between class (ephemeral vs. perma nent) and sample period. We used Tukey’s HSD post-hoc to test significant difference between the means. RESULTS DO was higher in the permanent wetlands (mean ± S.E. = 7.96 ± 1.88 mg/L) and decreased over the season to a mean of 2.11 ± 1.45 mg/L. Ephemeral wetlands generally had lower DO values than permanent wet lands, but both followed a similar decreasing trend over the four sampling periods (Figure 1). In ephemeral wetlands, DO began at a mean of 4.71 mg/L and steadily decreased to 1.1 mg/L over the course of the growing season (Figure 1). DO was significantly higher (P<0.001, F1,189= 33.93) in perma nent wetlands and significantly decreased between sample periods, regardless of wetland type (P<0.001, F6,189=25.05). Permanent wetlands also exhibited a wider range of values: 0.367 - 12.7 mg/L compared to 0.233 - 10.9 mg/L in ephemeral wetlands. METHODS We studied 57 wetlands in the Chippewa Moraine State Recreation