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The effect of colours and different materials on physico-chemical properties of water and on the appearance of mosquitos

Organization(s):XV. gimnazija
Country:Croatia
Student(s):Vinko Michael Dodig, Maja Milas, Mirta Medak, Juraj Stancl,
Grade Level:Secondary School (grades 9-12, ages 14-18)
GLOBE Teacher:Mihaela Marceljak Ilic
Contributors:Paula Stancl
Report Type(s):International Virtual Science Symposium Report
Protocols:
Presentation Video: View Video
Presentation Poster: View Document
Optional Badges:I make an Impact
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Date Submitted:03/06/2017
first page of presentation
Mosquito development is a mean of encouragement for disposing and recycling waste. This is especially important for developing countries where mosquito carried diseases are more frequent. A recent example of this problem is the Zika virus. Our research question is: What are the effects of colours and different materials on physico-chemical properties of water and on the appearance of mosquitos? Containers made of different materials and colours, were paced around the school station; glass, plastic, rubber in black, white, green, yellow, red colour were used. The measurements took place form 1.3.2016. to 25.4.2016. „Mosquito Larvae Sampling Field Guide“ was used for sampling. Physico-chemical properties of water that were measured using GLOBE protocols. The only larvae were found in black glass and plastic containers. A high pH value is an inhibiting factor for the development of mosquitos. The low concentrations of inorganic compounds don’t have an inhibiting effect on the development of mosquitos and were suitable for the development of microorganisms. The results indicate that the greatest number of organisms, such as mosquitos and algae, will develop in black materials. In this research only the common mosquito, that doesn’t spread diseases, was found (genus Culex)..


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Comments

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Sirilak Chumkiew
6 Years Ago
Well done! I have few questions for you,

1. How many places that the experiments were set up? Would that be possible if the different in study site location affecting on the appearance of mosquito larvae.

2. What's happen to the nitrate concentration in the blue container?
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Mihaela Marceljak Ilic Sirilak Chumkiew
6 Years Ago
Thank you for your questions.

The experiment was set up at one location. Setting it up at different locations would definitely have different effect on appearance of mosquitos between those locations. That difference could be caused by proximity of location to larger water areas that mosquitos more frequently visit.
The concentration of nitrates in the blue rubber container is higher than in other containers, but concentration of algae was the lowest. One possibility is that in other containers algae absorbed more nitrates for their metabolism, which resulted in lower nitrate concentration.