Adirondack Leaf Pigment Experiment
Jordan
Lake Placid High School

Abstract
The purpose of this experiment is to find out which of the abiotic factors has the greatest effect on leaf pigment amounts.

Hypotheses
That temperature has the greatest amount of effect on leaf pigment concentrations.

Ecological Importance
The maple tree has an ecological importance because it provides shelter and food for many animals.

Economic
The sugar maple tree is economically important because it produces $5 million dollarrs in revenue for the maple sugar industry. It also provides wood for floors and furniture.

Spectrum of Light
The spectrum of light is a group of wave lengths that give off light and can be absorbed and reflected into or away from an object. This is why plants are green - they reflect green light but absorb the other colors.

Photosynthesis
This is the process by which plants and some protise make food. The pigments are the parts of the plant that lets plants carry out photosynthesis. If there is too much caratenoids or anthoyanins the plants color is not green which means that there isn't enough chlorophyll to carry out photosynthesis.

In order for photosynthesis to cocur there must  be chemical reactions and to have retains it needs enzymes.

Abiotic Factors
Abiotic factors that would affect pigment production are the amount of day light, water, PH levels and temperature.

Materials and Methods
We used a hole puncher to take the leaf samples from various locations around the tree, then put samples into bags. We did this 6 times for 8 weeks, then the samples were put in a solution of acetone and were left to sit for 24 hours, then the amounts of caroteniods and anthocyanin present were measusred.

The Abiotic Factors
We monitored temperature, the amount of sunlight and water the tree got. We got the amount of day light from an internet web site, used a thermometer to monitor the temperature, and a rain gauge for the amount of water.

Results
The following numbers tell what graph it is for.
1. Day three got no rain but day four and five got the most rainfall.
2. Day one and four got no rain so they had no PH but the rest had levels into the three to seven range.
3. Temperatures over all went down with two large spikes of heat.
4. The hours gradually went down with no spikes.
5. Cholorophyll b went down and so did cholorophyll a as well.
6. Anthocynin - there was a large spike at week 5 but it remained the same the rest of the time.
7. Corticoid went down with a constant flow.

Conclusions
As the temperature and day light went down, chlorophyll went down. There is not a reltationship between water loevels, PH amounts, and the amount of chlorophyll. A controlled experiment tresting only one is best because then you can see if that is affecting it. If you have more than one then you don't know which one is affecting the results.

The hypothesis I had I accept. Temperature has the greatest amount of effect on leaf pigment concentrations.



1. Fall Precipitation (Sept. - Nov.) 2005
ml of rain/weeks
750







700




x

650







600







550







500







450







400







350







300



x


250







200

x




150







100
x



x
50






x
0








1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8

2. pH of Precipitation (Sept. - Nov.) 2005
pH/weeks









7















x
6
















5





x





x


4




x



x





3

x













2
















1
















0








1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8

3. Fall Air Temperatures (Sept. - Nov.) 2005
temp F/weeks










80


















70
 x
x









x




60










x

x

x
50


















40




x









x

30

















x
20


















10









1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9

4. Hours of sunlight (Sept. - Nov.) 2005
daylight hours/weeks
13









x









x






12











x









x









x



11




x



















x









x
10







x






























9









1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9

5. Chlorophyll Concentrations
amounts of chlorophyll A and B/weeks
1600








1500








1400








1300








1200








1100








1000
 A
 A
 A
 A
 A



900








800








700








600








500








400
B
B
 B



300




B
 B

200








100
 B
B

A
 A
 A

1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9

6. Anthocyanin Concentrations
amounts of Anthocyanin/weeks










0.150








0.140



x



0.130








0.120








0.110








0.100








0.090








0.080








0.070

x
 x
x
 x
 x
0.060
 x
 x






0.050








0.040








0.030








0.020








0.010









1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9

7. Caratenoid Concentrations
amounts of Caratenoid/weeks








1500








1400








1300








1200








1100
x
x




1000

x
x



900








800
 x







700




x


600





x

500








400






x
300








200








100







x

1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9

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