Biology: Coral Report - Research Paper Example

The skeleton of the soft corals are very flexible and are made of protein named gorgonin. The hard corals are responsible for the building of the reef due to their rigid calcium carbonate skeletons. Provided that corals get enough lighting and the right temperatures their growth is very fast. They grow at different shapes depending on the environmental conditions in they find themselves in (Bak 47). some corals grow in the direction of the waves while others grow just directly to the surface.

Hypothesis 1. To investigate why corals are animals. 2. To investigate the corals’ anatomy. 3. To investigate how corals feed. Prediction The corals in the tanks will have grown and increase in their weights. Materials used: Two submergible tanks, bowls, 51 lbs sand, 30 gal of water, coral skeleton made up of aragonite, underwater weighing plate, metal halide metal and calcium. Methods Water was poured to the tank. Sand is then added to the tank. Calcium was added to the tank. The coral skeleton, which was made up of aragonite was then put into the tank.

Eight corals were later put in the tank. Light of the highest intensity was applied to the tank while temperature twenty seven of degrees was kept constant. The weight of the corals was measured using the underwater weighing plate after two week. The weight of the coral is measured in the third, fourth and finally the fifth week. The first tank was used as a control group while the second one was used as an experiment group. In the first tank calcium was only added once but all other factors were kept constant.

The weight of the corals was then measured in the first two weeks and later in the third, fourth and finally the fifth week. The difference in the weight was recorded. In this group, calcium amount could not be varied. In the experimental group, the amount of calcium was added to the corals after the first addition. This additional calcium helped the corals in their growth since the corals fed on them. Therefore in this experimental group, calcium is used as a variable. In these experiments, the independent variables used were; amount of calcium, temperature and light intensity.

The dependent variable was weight of the corals. This is because it was determined by the amount of calcium used in the experiment. Therefore this dependent variable is the result of the experiment. Increasing the amount of calcium, lead to the increase in the weight of the corals. When putting the corals in the tank, I randomized them to avoid any biasness. I put them in the tank without considering their weight. Each tank had eight corals. The tanks should have equal number of corals. I used a random number and assigned each coral a random number.

I then placed the fragments with random numbers 1-7 in the control group and random numbers 8-14 into the other experimental group. Therefore randomizing the corals helps to avoid biasing in selecting which coral is to be put in which tank. Measuring the corals Measure the weight of the tank with all the materials in it as the experiment starts. After one week, measure the weight of tank and subtract the previous weight. Record that increase in weight. This was done for the next following weeks until the fifth week (Chalker 457).

I also measured the growth of the corals through the increase in the height. I measured the height of the coral as the experiment starts. After two week, I measured the new height of the oral and subtract the previous height to get the increase in t