Team: 49
School: Melrose High
Area of Science: Biology
Interim: Project:Â Â
Our project is based on our research of bioluminescence in marine life, specifically algae, and what stimuli cause the algae to glow. Bioluminescence is the chemical process that allows living things to chemically produce light in their bodies. Stimuli that can trigger the algal glow are primarily changes in the flow pattern of water. When the water experiences a change, the algae’s illumination is considered a stress response.Â
Plan:Â Â
Our group is building a computer model of the algae responding to environmental stimuli using NetLogo. It will show how different amounts of disturbances can produce varying amounts of light in the dinoflagellates. We plan to visit Santa Fe Community College and visit with staff who are experienced in growing protists and algae to get their help in making a large-scale live display of the bioluminescent algae. We are also using the website environment.sa.gov.au to research more into the algae and how it responds to stimuli to aid in the generation of our computer program. Our group is planning to contact Dr. Manuel Varela, a biology professor at ENMU, and ask him questions about how bioluminescence occurs and about how different amounts of changes in their environment affect the amount of light they give off. We will be using two books as resources also: Fisher Science Education- Catalog and Instructions- 2016 and Ward’s Science- Catalog and Instructions- 2018. Â
Progress:Â
Our group has not made much progress so far due to our involvement in other activities in our school, but we plan to resume our research and contact our sources as soon as we can. We hope that all our sources can provide the materials that we need so that we can complete our research. We are preparing to grow some of our own bioluminescent algae in our school’s Science lab, and we plan to visit several different colleges to find the most successful way to grow them. We have also started thinking about how we can represent this interesting biological phenomenon in a computer program. For our program, we plan to display how these specimens react to their environment using NetLogo.Â
Results:Â Â
The results we are planning to get from this experiment are seeing how the algae responds to stimuli in their environment and what conditions are the best for them to grow. We predict that the more changes in the bioluminescent dinoflagellates’ environment, the brighter their light emissions will be. We are so excited to be participating in this competition, and we can wait to learn more about the science behind this fascinating natural event!Â
Melrose High School- Team 49Â
Team members: Skyla Wicker, Jalee Snipes, Hally Draper, and Aubrey GoddardÂ
Team Members:
Skyla Wicker
Hally Draper
Jalee Snipes
Aubrey Goddard
Sponsoring Teacher: Alan Daugherty