2013 EnvironMentors National Fair Abstract Book

2013 EnvironMentors National Science Fair Student Research Projects

Monday, May 20, 2013 U.S. Department of Agriculture Jamie Whitten Building 1400 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, D.C. Hosted by U.S. Forest Service, Division of Conservation Education

About EnvironMentors Since 1992, EnvironMentors has prepared high school students from underrepresented communities for college degrees and careers in environmentally related science, technology, engineering, and math fields.

Over the past 20 years, EnvironMentors has matched over 1,500 high school students with science and environmental professionals, university faculty, and undergraduate and graduate students in mentoring relationships; facilitated teams in development of environmental science research projects; and supported students in presentation of their projects at the annual EnvironMentors National Fair and Awards Ceremony.

EnvironMentors joined the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) in 2006 with the goal of expanding nationally as a university-based college access program. The EnvironMentors National Science Fair is the only competitive, national environmental science fair specifically geared to advancing students underrepresented in the fields of environmentally-related science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Top high school students from diverse, underrepresented backgrounds from across the United States compete for 11 college scholarships in areas such as climate change and air pollution, energy, water pollution, health, and biodiversity conservation.

We were pleased to host students from EnvironMentors chapters at Alabama A&M University, Alabama State University, Arkansas State University, Colorado State University, Heritage University, Kean University, Louisiana State University, North Carolina State University, University of California, Davis, University of Nebraska- Lincoln, West Virginia University and the University of the District of Columbia Chapter.

ENVIRONMENTORS CHAPTERS Alabama A&M University Alabama State University Arkansas State University Colorado State University Heritage University Kean University Kentucky State University

Louisiana State University North Carolina State University University of the District of Columbia University of California, Davis University of Nebraska– Lincoln West Virginia University

To learn more, please visit us at www.environmentors.org 2

Table of Contents Scholarship Winners Emerging Environmental Leader Scholarship ………………………………………………

Page 4

Interstate Natural Gas Association of America First Place…..…………………………… Page 5 Second Place …………………………………………………………………………………….

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Third Place ………………………………………………………………………………………. Page 7 Aquatic Research ………………………………………………………………………………..

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Atmospheric Research ………………………………………………………………………….

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Environmental Health Research ………………………………………………………………

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Environmental Toxins Research ………………………………………………………………

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Human Health and the Environment …………………………………………………………

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Patrick Lalley Memorial Scholarship for Excellence in Biodiversity and Wildlife Conservation Research …………………………………………………………………………

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Ronald Carvalho Memorial Award for Excellence in Environmental Policy Research

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H K and Mary Leach Memorial Scholarship for Environmental Stewardship …………. Page 15

National Fair Participants…..………………………………….

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2012-2013 Sponsors ……………………………………………………………….. Page 43

*National Fair Participants represent the top winning students from each chapter 3

Emerging Environmental Leader Scholarship

Emma Johnson University of the District of Columbia Chapter

“The Effects of Pesticides on Indicator Species in Aquatic Environments�

Mentor: Megan Radtke Pesticides are an integral part of agriculture, yet continue to present health and environmental hazards to all organisms.

One alternative to conventional pesticides are biologically derived pesticides, which are not thought to produce harmful effects on non-target species. My experimental goals included testing the effects of synthetic and biologically derived pesticides on non-target aquatic organisms. I tested one synthetic pesticide known to be toxic to aquatic invertebrates permethrin - and two biopesticides: Bacillus thuringiensis sub. israelensis, a strain of insecticidal bacteria, and allicin, the main pesticide active ingredient in garlic. I determined two concentrations per pesticide based on EPA values for LD50 tests and/or runoff values. These concentrations were then added to beakers with water and a small population of ghost shrimp. The shrimp were monitored for 48 hours, and the mortality rates, pH, DO, water clarity, and nitrate levels recorded. Permethrin yielded an LD100 value for the shrimp each round, with consistent mortality rates for three experimental repetitions. The allicin and Bti groups showed no significant difference in mortality rates from the control. From my data, I concluded that biopesticides do not significantly cause increased mortality rates in non-target organisms unless present in extremely high concentrations. Synthetic pesticides are highly toxic, even in very low concentrations, and present serious risks to human health and biodiversity in environments neighboring application sites. Based on their efficacy and safety, biopesticides should replace synthetic pesticides in both home gardens and large-scale agricultural applications.

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Interstate Natural Gas Association of America First Place Scholarship

Jasmen Cheese University of the District of Columbia Chapter

“Noise Pollution: The Effect of Noise Pollution on Fruit Flies’ Mating Patterns” Mentor: Teneille Walker The traditional definition of noise is “unwanted or disturbing sound”. The aim of the experiment is to find the effect of noise on fruit flies mating pattern, therefore be able to use fruit flies as animal models to other organisms such as birds and other insects. The procedure of the experiment was to set up 16 test tubes, 4 for each construction work, car traffic, train and the control (no noise). I introduced the noise for 4-5 hours and 4-5 days a week, and record data every other day. The noise for the experiment was recorded outside for the frequency rate, and then reproduced by an application called NCH Noise Generator. For the second part of the experiment, one male fruit fly and one female fruit fly was introduced into a petri dish, and then I recorded the fruit flies to see the effects the noise has on the fruit fly licking and copulation rate. The results of the experiment displayed that there was a difference in the fecundity and mortality rate of fruit flies of construction work and the control groups on day 8 (p=.05) and day 17 (p=.02) for trial one. There was not a significant difference among the groups in the second trial. The results from the fruit flies licking and copulation rate is currently being studied. In conclusion, noise pollution does not have an effect on the fruit flies mating behavior based on the data from the different noise introduced into the test tubes for 4-5 hours and 4-5 days a week.

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Second Place Scholarship

Emma Mathers West Virginia State University Chapter

“Purification of Chemically and Bacterially Contaminated Waters Using Organic Filtration Materials” Mentor: Jessica Odenheimer According to the World Health Organization’s “Health and Environment Linkages Initiative,” more than one billion people do not have access to sanitary drinking water, and even more startling, almost 1.7 million people die each year due to poor sanitation and contaminated water supplies. These shocking and highly disturbing statistics simply cannot be ignored, and it is imperative that the public and the scientific community, alike, place a deeper focus on the pressing issue of water sanitation and invest more efforts and funds into developing sustainable and affordable methods of water sanitation. With my project, I aimed to transform relatively affordable and widely available organic materials into water filtration systems, and test their effectiveness at filtering microbial and chemical pollutants out of contaminated water supplies. The seven specific organic filtration materials that I chose to focus my research on were coir, straw, sisal, cardboard, purified cow manure, peat and wood pulp. To test the filtration capabilities of these various organic materials, we created standard chemical (containing 10mg/L of aluminum, iron, copper, nickel and zinc) and microbial (containing approximately 50,000 colonies of E. coli bacteria) contaminated solutions and measured the levels of contamination before and after filtration. Based on previous research (discussed in more depth in background research section), I hypothesized that the coir (coconut husks) would be most effective at filtering metals and microbes out of the water. My hypothesis, however, was not supported by my experimental results, as the wood pulp was the most successful chemical filter (removing more than 99% of the metal contaminants), and the peat was the most effective bacterial filter (eliminating 100% of the E. coli contamination). It is my hope that these results can be incorporated into further scientific research to develop an affordable and effective water filtration system that can be successfully implemented in developing countries where water sanitation and availability is a pertinent concern.

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Third Place Scholarship

Hume Dickie University of California, Davis Chapter

“Radiation in Yolo County�

Mentor: Kit Colwell

In today's post-nuclear age, there are many man-made sources of radioactivity, in addition to the natural background we expect from cosmic and terrestrial origins. While all atoms possess unstable isotopes, there are few that are abundant enough, energetic enough, and have long enough half-lives to pose a significant risk of ionizing radiation exposure. We hypothesize a decreasing relative radiation measurement (in detected counts per minute [CPM]) at nine locations that might pose occupational or environmental hazard. We tested the hypothesis by measuring 100 minutes of counts on a self-assembled MightyOhmTM Geiger counter at each location.

Our results show that contrary to the hypothesized ordering, my house was the most radiologically active. We present possible explanations for the observed radiation levels, as well as possible sources of measurement error, possible consequences of prolonged exposure to the measured levels, and suggestions for decreasing exposure and environmental impact.

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Excellence in Aquatic Research

Marcus Padia Colorado State University Chapter

“The Effect of the High Park Fire on the Poudre River�

Mentors: Mark Keating and Paul Allegretti The High Park Fire was a naturally sparked fire that devastated the Larimer County region. In the process of the fire, the Poudre River was affected by the debris and sediment runoff. This project was aimed at finding to what extent the Poudre River was affected by the fire. I tested for phosphate, nitrate, acidity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and mass of solid materials. How did the High Park Fire affect the Poudre River? I predicted that phosphate, nitrate, mass of solid materials would increase, while acidity, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen would decrease. Four areas were chosen based on their relevant location to the fire. Rustic was chosen because it was above the fire; Eggers Landing was chosen because it was on the western edge of the fire; Stevens Gulch was chosen because it was near the center of the fire; and Overland Trail was chosen because it is below the fire. In each location one sample was taken and tested for phosphate, nitrate, dissolved oxygen, acidity, turbidity, and mass of solid materials the sample carried. Five of the tests were run using a generic Water Monitoring testing kit. The test to find the mass of any ash, soot, debris was conducted using weigh boats and a kimtowel to cover the weigh boats. In my results, a majority of the tests stayed constant with each sample, leaving dissolved oxygen, and the mass of solid materials to vary, but only slightly. Parts of my hypothesis were proved wrong; phosphate, nitrate, turbidity, and acidity proved to be the same in each area, while mass of solid material and dissolved oxygen varied ever so slightly. The mass of dissolved solid material increased as the area chosen was further downstream, and Rustic turned out to have a lower dissolved oxygen than the other three areas.

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Excellence in Atmospheric Research

Rabeeta Aroosh Kean University Chapter

“Comparison of Black Carbon Concentration in Route 1 & 9 and Ridge Street Park�

Mentor: Alejandrina Canelo The purpose of this project was to test the relationship in increase of Black Carbon as the mobile sources increase. The hypothesis was that there will be more Black Carbon on Route 1&9 as compared to Bridge Street Park because as the amount of mobile sources increase the amount of Black Carbon will increase. The Black Carbon was measured by using MicroAeth Athealometer in Route 1& 9 and Bridge Street Park. The different types of vehicles were counted that includes cars, vans, trucks and buses. According to the results there was more Black Carbon in Route 1&9 than Bridge Street Park.

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Excellence in Environmental Health Research

Abigail Meis Colorado State University Chapter

“Spice Up Your Life: The Anti-Microbial Properties of Everyday Spices�

Mentor: Paul Martin This experiment examined the extent to which different household spices could work to inhibit Escherichia coli (E. coli), strain DH5x, in comparison to penicillin. I examined this topic because I felt it could shed a lot of light on household remedies and prevention strategies for staying healthy while being friendly to the body and the environment. In order to do this, I first created the concentrations of the chosen spices: garlic, onion, allspice, and oregano. When the concentrations soaked onto filter paper disks and placed onto the E. coli smeared agar plates, they were allowed to cook overnight in a 37°C incubator so that the antimicrobial properties of the spices could take effect. The results of the experiment showed that the garlic was relatively the most effective behind penicillin, with allspice coming in at a very close second. After further processing of the results and comparisons to previous similar research studies, it was concluded that incorporating garlic into food is a good preventative strategy to stay healthy and free of an E. Coli infection.

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Excellence in Environmental Toxins Research

Erin Murphy University of California, Davis Chapter

“Household Anthropogenic Pollutants Against Soil Respiration” Mentor: Trent Ichiuji Macroscopic organisms have been largely studied for carbon dioxide release rate and the effect that human development has had on these rates. However, the majority of biomass on Earth is microbes found on the Earth’s surface, in the waterways and in soil. As for pollution, a single drop of weak acid on the skin is unlikely to kill a large animal, yet this could be catastrophic to a colony of microbes. This experiment studied the effect of anthropogenic pollution on soil respiration using toxins that could easily infiltrate our soil and water systems. This project specifically examined common household chemicals in conjunction with Putah Creek soil. The tested toxins were Mobil 1 motor oil, Windex window cleaner, Ajax dish soap, and Dawn antibacterial dish soap. Six samples of Putah Creek soil were collected in jars. Four soil samples were exposed to toxins, while the remaining two were the control and glucose replicates. The control included soil damped by water, while the glucose replicate included both water and glucose. The glucose replicate was included because of its known ability to encourage respiration. A 20mL NaCl base trap was added to each jar before being sealed. The jars were aerated once a week before titration. The 1.0N NaCl from each jar of each week was titrated with 0.5 N HCl. The initial prediction for this experiment was that the glucose would raise the respiration levels, and that the control with no glucose would fall. Five weeks of recording the respiration levels led to the observation that household toxins are detrimental to the soil microbial community over time. A similar experiment employed heavy metals instead of household toxins. The experiment showed that soil respiration and ATP content were strongly affected by the heavy metal content present in the soil. (P. T. Vanhala, J. H. Ahtiainen, 2006). This project will raise awareness of the negative effect of improper disposal of seemingly harmless materials. The next step of the project would be to compare the effect of similar toxins on soil respiration in different habitats. This would indicate that soil microbes are more or less acclimated to human-made toxins depending on the exposure or proximity to human development.

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Excellence in Human Health and the Environment Research

Xiu Chen University of the District of Columbia Chapter

“The Effect of Cyanobacteria in the Potomac River on Human Health” Mentor: Ambuja Bale Storm water runoff and nutrient-rich sources have increased the growth of cyanobacteria blooms in the water sources of the Washington Metropolitan Area and worldwide. One method to measure cyanobacterial levels in water is to analyze the levels of microcystin. The purpose of the project is to investigate the microcystin levels in Potomac River water sources and determine potential human health effects. In addition to distilled water, the water samples were collected from five sites of the Potomac River: Potomac River Park, Daingerfield Island, Gravelly Point, Georgetown Waterfront, and Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool. The Abraxis Microcystin Strip Test Kit was used to determine the microcystin levels of the water samples in each site. The distilled water had the lowest microcystin level of 0.3 ppb. Potomac River Park and Georgetown Waterfront had the next lowest levels of microcystin aside from the control, with 2.0 ppb, and the waters in these areas had a lot of movement. The levels in Daingerfield Park and Gravelly Point, where the waters were calmer, were in between 2 and 3 ppb with 2.5 and 2.84 ppb of microcystins respectively. Lastly, the Lincoln Memorial Park, where the water was almost stagnant, recorded the highest levels of microcystin at 3.3 ppb. The results depict that water sources that are stagnant and experience less movement have higher levels of cyanobacteria. An idea to further develop the project would be to analyze the correlation between microcystin levels in drinking water and the sicknesses of children in a designated area.

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Patrick Lalley Memorial Scholarship for Excellence in Biodiversity and Wildlife Conservation Research

Kirsten Millsap Arkansas State University Chapter

“Turtle Species’ Preference on Substrate” Mentor: Martin Mastioff

There are many things about animals’ habits that we have yet to understand. An example of this would be what kind of substrate certain species of turtles prefer. Do they prefer mud, sand, hard clay, gravel, or large rocks? Very few studies have been completed concerning this factor. The goals in this project are to successfully conduct an experiment to test this theory and to discover if a turtle species does exhibit a preference for certain substrates over another. The design for this experiment is fairly simple. Four Trachemys scripta (red-eared slider) turtles (two male and two female) will be placed in their own individual horse trough. Each horse trough will have four sections divided by Plexiglas and will contain an area of soft clay, sand, gravel, and large rock substrata. Over the course of five days each turtle will be observed and noted which substrate they inhabit.

The first turtle was observed in the gravel four times out of seven; and the sand, soft clay, and large rock once each. The second turtle was observed in the soft clay four times out of seven, the sand once, and the gravel twice. The third turtle inhabited the gravel three times out of seven, the sand twice, and the soft clay twice. The fourth and final turtle inhabited the soft clay four times out of seven, the gravel twice, and the large rock once. These results imply that turtles do exhibit a preference for substrates. The first and third turtle preferred the gravel whereas the second and fourth turtle preferred the soft clay.

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H K and Mary Leach Memorial Scholarship for Environmental Stewardship

Shannon Jackson Arkansas State University Chapter

“The Effects of Common Groundwater Pollutants on the Seed Viability of the Invasive Shrub Chinese Privet and Native Shrub Deciduous Holly�

Mentor: Meghan Foard Plants are important to every living thing. They are the source from which we derive many necessities such as food, clothing, fuel, and medicine. Water being absorbed by these plants can become polluted by a number of sources ranging from sewage treatment plants, factories, mining activities, paved roads, and agricultural runoff. Water pollution has a wide variety of effects on plant life and on the environment in general. Pollution in water not only harms plant growth, but also allows the absorption of dangerous chemicals thus passing chemicals to animals and humans that rely on these plants for survival. Pollutants are harmful substances introduced into the environment such as pesticides, herbicides, surfactants, and fertilizers. The two plants used in this study are the native Deciduous Holly and the invasive Chinese Privet. Invasive plants take nutrients and space from the native species, which are the species naturally growing in an area. This study discusses the effects of pollutants and invasive species on the environment.

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Ronald Carvalho Memorial Award for Excellence in Environmental Policy Research

Chloe Pearson North Carolina State University Chapter

“Are Erosion Control Methods Keeping our Waters Clean?�

Mentor: Lindsey Garner

Soil erosion is the washing away of soil by the flow of water. Soil erosion negatively affects the environment by removing layers of nutrient rich topsoil, destroying sensitive habitat, decreasing water quality when sediment is deposited in rivers and streams causing: eutrophication, increased turbidity or cloudiness of the water, inhibiting plant growth, smothering invertebrate habitat and spawning beds of fish, and making fish more susceptible to disease and infection. Many human activities promote soil erosion including road and building construction, agricultural practices, and deforestation and logging.

The Department of Natural Resources and the Sediment Protection Control Act regulate erosion caused by human activities. We decided to test different erosion control methods used by construction companies to prevent sheet erosion including: compost, straw, hydromulch, Excelsior, and polyacrylamide. We hypothesized that hydromulch would work best at preventing sheet erosion. This is because hydromulch gives good ground cover, which would protect the bare soil from eroding.

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National Fair Participants

Akeeta Barnaby Alabama A & M University Chapter

“Stopping the Storm: Studying the Effectiveness of Cloud Seeding�

Mentor: Stormy Stevens Hurricanes are natural disasters that begin in the ocean and travel until they reach land. More specifically, it is a cyclone that initiates in tropic waters and has reached land with a wind speed of 74 mph or more becoming a hurricane. According to NASA, about 85 hurricanes and tropical cyclones occur each year globally. Data collected by the Wind Science and Engineering Research Center showed that hurricanes account for 60 injuries and 17 deaths per year. In this project, I researched cases where cloud seeding has been used to break up hurricanes. Cloud seeding is a process of weather modification where a plane is sent to the place of designation above the hurricane and it delivers drops of silver iodide. The hypothesis concerning cloud seeding was that freezing the droplets of water within the hurricane using the silver iodide would cause it to lose momentum and break up. After reviewing various case studies, it was found that cloud seeding has no effect on hurricanes.

However, research is still being conducted to find a solution for these natural disasters that have plagued the world.

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National Fair Participants

Sean Beatty North Carolina State University Chapter “The Effect of Stream Channelization on Aquatic

Life in Adjacent Wetlands�

Mentor: John Dorney Streams are a vital part of aquatic ecosystems in North Carolina, providing drinking water for humans and animals and supporting life for aquatic organisms. However, for many companies trying to expand, these streams restrict growth and development. These streams frequently flood and make it harder for buildings to be constructed near them. To fix this, many people began deepening and straightening streams to make them easier and safer to build around. In the United States, this practice has been restricted because of the adverse effects on the streams but many people and politicians want to allow it once more. However, stream channelization does not just affect the streams. Many streams have adjacent wetlands that the stream supplies water to. These wetlands are home for many macroinvertebrates (aquatic insects, mollusks and Crustacea) and juvenile amphibians. Any harm done to the streams will also affect the wetlands and these amphibians.

In this project, we tested to see whether the channelization of steams harmed aquatic macroinvertebrates and amphibians. To determine this, we took samples of aquatic macroinvertebrates and amphibians in order to determine if channelized streams had fewer orders, families and abundance of macroinvertebrates and what types of amphibians were found. These numbers told what damage, if any, was caused by stream channelization. We hypothesized that the channelized streams will have a lower number of families, orders, and total number of macroinvertebrates and fewer amphibians than the unchannelized streams.

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National Fair Participants

Wendy Bebe Kentucky State University Chapter “Water Pollution: The Best Soap to Clean Up an

Oil Spill�

Mentor: Katherine Kamminga My project was based on water pollution. This research taught me what water pollution is and the effects it has on the environment and human beings. Water pollution is a big change in the state of water, and is contaminated with many substances that are very harmful. Most of the water pollution that is going on right now is caused by us humans, because of the way we throw away our waste. I decided to do an experiment based on the oil spill. I took 3 beakers, 4 eye droppers, motor oil, dishwasher soap, hand soap, shampoo and water. I put 100 ml of water in each beaker and I put 3 ml of oil in each of them and when I did that the oil settled in the middle of the water. Then I took 5 ml of dishwasher soap and put it in the first beaker, 5 ml of shampoo and put it in the second beaker and took 5 ml of hand soap and put it in the third beaker. As soon as I put the different soaps in the oily water, the oil started reacting in different way depending on the soap that was put in the water. My experiment concludes that the hand soap worked better that the dishwasher soap and the shampoo. I was thinking that the shampoo would work better since it has more chemicals in it, but to my surprise it turned out to be the worst cleaning product.

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National Fair Participants

Kasey Bolyard West Virginia State University Chapter

“Using Sulfate Reducing Bacteria to Treat Acid Mine Drainage in West Virginia” Mentor: Carol Brown Acid mine drainage (AMD) is a problem in West Virginia because it pollutes drinking water and kills flora and fauna in the water systems. Sulfur-containing coal reacts with rainwater to produce AMD with pH around 3 and increased soluble metallic ions. Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) are known to help lower pH and remove metallic ions (specifically iron) from AMD water. Passive treatments are inexpensive ways to treat AMD. This experiment was designed to simulate the passive treatment of AMD water in West Virginia. Since both chicken litter and wetland sediment are known to contain SRB, they were chosen as the two inocula. A substrate developed from a prior experiment (25% oak chips, 15% peat moss, 35% sandstone <6mm, 10% limestone, and 15% inoculum by volume) was used in each eight ounce Tupperware® container, along with AMD. It was hypothesized that wetland sediment would be most effective due to its higher concentration of SRB. The experiment was conducted over five weeks. Water was collected from three containers of each of the three treatments once a week, for a total of nine samples per week and forty-five samples total. The water was filtered, pH tested using a pH meter, and cation content tested using ICP. The pH remained fairly constant (most from 7-7.5) across all treatments. Although wetland sediment was able to lower iron content, the control was able to lower all metal content. Wetland sediment data was only collected for three weeks because weeks 4 and 5 did not have enough water to sample.

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National Fair Participants

Lauren Brooks Kentucky State University Chapter

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Do Earthworms Improve Soil Fertility and Plant Growth?â&#x20AC;?

Mentor: Martin Mastioff There is a plethora of anecdotal evidence that suggests that earthworms improve soil quality thorough decomposition of dead and organic matter. The importance of soil composition and quality has long been known to have a dramatic effect on plant growth, size, health, and quality. In this study, I added earthworms or earthworms and NPK fertilizer to sterilized soil to examine what effect these amendments had on plant growth.

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National Fair Participants

Danea Davis Louisiana State University Chapter

“The Effect of Household Chemicals on Shrimp” Mentors: Morgan McKee and Nick Janzen

Many household chemicals are linked to the water ways and these chemicals can affect the aquatic organisms.

Louisiana is well-known for its seafood, so keeping our water ways free of pollution is an important concern.

This experiment looked at the effects of household chemicals on shrimp. For the entire four week experiment, two household chemicals, ibuprofen and bleach, were put into different tanks with 4 shrimp. For the first half of the experiment, 0.029mg of ibuprofen was added to the water of one tank, 1 ml of bleach was added to another, and one remained neutral as a control. Bleach shrimp died in less than 24 hours, ibuprofen shrimp died a couple days later and the control lasted 1 ½ weeks. For the second half of the experiment, different concentrations of ibuprofen and bleach were used (0.023mg ibuprofen and 0.125mL bleach) and the tanks were aerated.

All of the bleach shrimp died within 48 hours, half of the ibuprofen shrimp died within 5 days, and none of the control died. As a result, bleach is more toxic than ibuprofen and both are more toxic than the control.

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National Fair Participants

Katheryn Dick Heritage University Chapter

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Exploring the Significance of a Blue Fat Body: Finding a More Environmentally Friendly Way to Control the Potato Psyllidâ&#x20AC;?

Mentor: Rodney Cooper The potato psyllid is the insect vector known to transmit liberibacter, an economically important pathogen of potato and tomato. When the psyllids are in their nymph stage of development, for the most part they cannot transmit the liberibacter. Preliminary studies on this subject have shown that nymphs infected with the liberibacter are more likely to have blue fat bodies and that a blue fat body can be linked to an immune response.

The objective of this study was to see if nymphs infected with liberibacter have a higher incidence of blue fat bodies. This experiment has provided some evidence that infected nymphs do have a higher chance of blue fat bodies, and provides details necessary to control experimental variance in future studies on the role of blue body in psyllids. That could lead to a better understanding of pathogen-vector interactions which is important to the development of new tactics to control the potato psyllid and liberibacter.

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National Fair Participants

Lynn Diep University of Nebraska– Lincoln Chapter

“Effects of Ecofriendly Car Wash Soap Versus a Regular Car Wash Soap on Daphnia magna at Different Concentrations” Mentors: Prabhakar Shrestha and Heaven Hulshizer During the summer, you will see that there are many people washing their car(s) in their driveway using car soap. Most soap contains both phosphate and surfactants which are used to break up lipids. In the case of car wash, the “dirt” and “grime” on the vehicle that is being washed is removed. This research and experiments were to test the effects of “eco-friendly” brand car wash soap versus “generic” brand car wash soap at differing concentrations on Daphnia magna. The results collected were unable to neither support nor reject the hypothesis made for this experiment.

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National Fair Participants

De’Marcus Goins Louisiana State University Chapter

“How Many Ants Does it Take to Get to the Center of a Cupcake?”

Mentor: Stephanie Sharuga, Marla Valentine

Problems associated with an increase in trash have resulted in a need for alternative disposal options. One possible method is to find a way to accelerate biodegradation. Ants are a common pest that have the potential to assist in the biodegradation of trash. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if ants can be effective contributors to the break-down of trash. By introducing ants into enclosed microcosms containing a particular type of trash item, the impacts of ants on biodegradation were evaluated using observations of the habitats over time. The results of this study indicated that ants can quickly consume and bury trash items. While ants seem to be effective at contributing to the break-down of trash, they cannot be sustained on a limited diet of trash alone in an enclosed environment.

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National Fair Participants

Michaela Guzman Alabama A & M University Chapter

“Herpetofaunal Use of AAMU Properties with Special Emphasis on Breeding Ecology of Pseudocris feriarum and the Relationship Between Rainfall and Movement of Plethodon glutinosus” Mentor: Andrew Cantrell Herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians) are important species to the ecosystem, however, reptiles and amphibians are experiencing global declines and extinctions (Stuart et al., 2004; Gibbons et al., 2000). Understanding which habitats are used by theses species is important in their conservation. The research methodology to examine terrestrial herpetofauna traditionally uses drift fences equipped with box funnel traps and pitfalls as well as cover boards. We wanted to focus on the use of recycled/salvaged materials in place of standard items typically used for such research. The main focus of this research was to see if there were any differences between the different methodologies, while conducting research in an innovatively “environmentally friendly” way.

Using such materials not only adds a green component but it also saves money and puts materials to use that would otherwise be in landfills.

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National Fair Participants

Anne Holden Kentucky State University Chapter

“Does Precipitation Affect Water Quality in the Kentucky River?”

Mentor: Regina Hill For my project, I wanted to find out if pollution increases when there is precipitation. My hypothesis was: “I think that the water quality in the Kentucky River will worsen when it precipitates.” First, samples were taken from the river on several days (Feb. 20, 21, 25, and 26, as well as Mar. 2 and 25). The water samples were tested for dissolved oxygen, pH, nitrogen/ammonia, and conductivity, and the data was graphed. Three of the samples were taken during precipitation, and the other three were taken when there was no precipitation. I interviewed Dr. Steven Mims, who explained that when it rains, pollution from the land gets washed off into the river. The water that goes into the river during rainfall is called runoff. I have prepared a demonstration to show how this happens. I concluded that the general water quality in the Kentucky River does not change during precipitation, but the pollution does increase and build up in the food chain every time that it rains.

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National Fair Participants

Elizabeth Johnston Heritage University Chapter

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Effect of Nitrates on Northern Leopard Frog (Rana pipiens) Tadpole Growth and Developmentâ&#x20AC;?

Mentor: Heather Simmons This experiment was inspired by the Lower Yakima Valley which is very rural and often involves large amounts of nitrates during agricultural practices. During irrigation season, irrigation water takes suspended sediments, nutrients and nitrates into the Yakima River. To test the effects of these practices an experiment was set up where two tanks of leopard frog tadpoles were compared that were exposed to different levels of nitrates (10 mg/L of sodium nitrate and 20 mg/L of sodium nitrate). The result of this experiment showed that the 10 mg/L tank grew quicker and consistently with a lower mortality rate than both the 20 mg/L tank and control tank. The 20 mg/L tank grew quicker than the control but slower than the lower nitrate tank. The mortality rate was higher than that of the control and lower nitrate tank.

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National Fair Participants

Marcus Jones Kean University Chapter

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Differences in the Concentration of Nitrates Along the Elizabeth Riverâ&#x20AC;?

Mentor: Evelyn Vivanco

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National Fair Participants

Daniela Martinez University of Nebraska Lincoln Chapter

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Effect of Various Concentrations of Hydrogen Peroxide on the Germination of Raphanus sativusâ&#x20AC;?

Mentors: Dan Snow and Tyler Goeschel Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) is an organic, naturally occurring chemical that consists of two hydrogen molecules and two oxygen molecules. Because of its basic chemical structure it is non-toxic and can be broken down into two water molecules and one oxygen molecule. Hydrogen peroxide has a wide range of uses. One less commonly known is its use in gardening. Using hydrogen peroxide with plants is beneficial both for plant and the environment and is a better alternative than using plant fertilizer that is harmful for the environment as it intoxicates the water that later merges into rivers and streams and has a negative effect on the organisms living there. The aim of the experiment was to study the effect of various concentrations of hydrogen peroxide on the germination of R.sativus (Cherry Belle radishes). Experimenting with the potential of hydrogen peroxide as a benefit for plant growth can stimulate gardeners to replace fertilizers with hydrogen peroxide which is environment friendly and natural. Thus, the question under research: How do various concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (3%, 1.5%, .75%, and .035%) affect the germination and growth of R.sativus (Cherry Belle Radish)? Seeds were germinated on dampened paper towels with the said solutions of hydrogen peroxide. The germination rate was calculated after five days and qualitative data such as length and number of leaves were recorded. Results indicated that seeds germinated at a higher rate less than .75% and .035% of hydrogen peroxide at 100% germination.

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National Fair Participants

Zoie McNeill West Virginia State University Chapter

“Meat Production and Consumption: An Analysis of People's Views on the Health and Environmental Aspects of a Meat Based Diet” Mentor: Zachary Ryerson Studies have shown that producing and consuming meat has consequences; links have been found that connect meat consumption to environmental degradation and health issues. Research was conducted to explore people’s perception of meat production, and how it compares to their opinions of the environmental and health issues connected to it. The research was conducted using surveys. People strongly believed that a meat-based diet had a positive health impact, and slightly agreed that it had a positive environmental impact.

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National Fair Participants

Queena Merrimon Alabama A & M University Chapter

â&#x20AC;&#x153;No Justice: No Peace: Discussing Environmental Racism and its Negative Effects on our Quality of Lifeâ&#x20AC;?

Mentor: Rafaela McCoy We are introducing a topic that may be unfamiliar to most, environmental racism. It is the intentional or unintentional act of singling out minority communities for the unfair treatment in correlation to any policy, law, or practice that adversely affects the quantity and/or quality of life of the targeted individuals. We further explored the issue of exposure to toxins, and discussed the routes of exposure to humans. Our area of focus was Triana, AL. It is a small rural town on the southern tip of Madison County that was a victim of environmental racism. The town's water supply and aquatic life had been severely contaminated with dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) which was a compound that was initially produced and used as an insecticide around WWII, but was later banned by the EPA in 1972 (US EPA). With this project, we examined the location of the town, the demographics of the town, the effects DDT had on the quantity and quality of life of the Triana citizens, and what was done to correct this issue. The presence of DDT in the water supply was at such high levels, people were banned from fishing in the river. Olin Corporation manufactured the DDT at the Redstone Arsenal from 1947 to 1971 (US EPA, 1983). After being sued by the Justice Department and several other groups, Olin Corporation was fined, had to pay for and monitor the cleanup of DDT in Triana. The residents of Triana were awarded with monetary compensation to aid with health and/or moving expenses. This is only one of many examples of environmental racism. We selected this project, because it combined our interests of law and environmental science.

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National Fair Participants

Tyler Morris Louisiana State University Chapter

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Can the Weather be Predicted by Using a Wooden Stick on a Tree?â&#x20AC;?

Mentors: Giovanna McClenachan and Marshall Kormanec

The purpose of this study was to develop a way for third world countries to predict the weather without using modern day technology. In this experiment, we used two balsa wood sticks and a weather station to test the relationship between stick orientation against humidity and pressure. The wooden weather stick is supposed to move in response to changes in the pressure and the moisture. I measured the degree of bend in the stick, and compared it to the humidity, pressure, rainfall, and wind direction for approximately one month. The sticks did not show a significant trend with any variable measured. However, at the end of the study, as the pressure decreased, the stick went down and when the pressure increased, the stick rose. Although the stick did not correlate well with the variables measured, we started to find a trend towards the end of our experiment, thus indicating that after a period of equilibration, the stick may be an accurate predictor of weather patterns.

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National Fair Participants

Carmen Odalis Munos Colorado State University Chapter

â&#x20AC;&#x153;What Types of Pollutants Does Tetraselmis striata Clean up Most Efficiently?â&#x20AC;?

Mentor: Meg Mahoney

In this project three different pollutants were used: oil, antifreeze and fertilizer. The control was distilled water. Before the research was conducted, it was hypothesized that the algae could clean up pollutants efficiently, and the water with the fertilizer would return the most oxygen back to the water because it already provides nutrients that the algae needs to survive. However, after having conducted the experiment and analyzed the data, it was concluded that algae could clean up oil the best. In the data, there were signs of cycles forming in the nitrate and phosphate levels that had begun since the experiment took place.

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National Fair Participants

Sara Mustafa Kean University Chapter

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Salinity Levels in an Estuary Between High and Low Tidesâ&#x20AC;?

Mentor: Steven Hillyer

Different animals need different levels of salt in the water for their survival. Estuaries contain many different types of animals but may have fluctuating levels of salinity. I wanted to see if the tides make any difference in the levels of salinity in an estuary. It is believed that high tides can cause higher levels of salinity. Samples were taken from locations in the Elizabeth River/Arthur Kill estuary. Tests were done with water from both high and low tides. It was found that the low tide had slightly higher levels of salinity.

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National Fair Participants

Shyla Potter University of California, Davis Chapter

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cockroach Habitat Preference in a Human Influenced Environmentâ&#x20AC;?

Mentor: Tyler Richman

Cockroaches are an organism familiar to most people and are usually thought of as a pest. In the present day environment, controlled so heavily by human activity, cockroaches have started using human trash as a shelter.

Currently no research has been done to see if cockroaches prefer habitats under certain conditions caused by humans. The goal of this study was to observe what types of habitat conditions cockroaches spent more time in. This is important for our understanding of cockroaches so that humans can avoid attracting them and having them as pests near their homes. In this study, cockroaches from three different species were placed in a large container with two different habitat types and allowed to move around freely. Each cockroachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s position was tracked over time. Multiple combinations of different habitat conditions were tested. Results from this study support that cockroaches do not exhibit a preference for any of the habitats tested and instead will randomly assort to different habitats. This research will help people understand what environments cockroaches are attracted to in order to the prevent people from littering, to stop attracting cockroaches as pests.

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National Fair Participants

Abhilash Pyreddy North Carolina State University Chapter

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Can Excessive Amounts of Cellular Radiation be Harmful to the Human Body?â&#x20AC;?

Mentor: Dorianne Dysart Today, many of us are scared of the rapid rise in technology because the scientists and engineers that have been inventing new innovations in the past decade have not been checking on the long term health effects of their products. One such product that has many people worried is the cell phone because no one is sure if the cell phone gives off high amounts of radiation that may be harmful to us. There has also been new innovations on just the cell phone which also worries people because the people are not sure if radiation is coming from the cell phone. In fact, the cell phone does give off radiation. Therefore, many believe that overuse of a cell phone can lead to cancer and brain tumors and I believe that cell phone radiation is harmful to us. The people that believe that cell phone radiation is not harmful are the people that use their cell phones many times during the day and might be in a state of denial. There are roughly five billion cell phone owners, which is seventy-five percent of the world's population. This means that the diagnosis for cancer has been going up ever since more and more people have been getting cell phones. Studies and major scientists have either swayed to one side or another and neither have shown if cell phone radiation is harmful or neutral. Therefore, cell phone radiation is harmful to us because of the increase of the diagnosis of cancer in the recent years.

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National Fair Participants

Victor Ruelas University of Nebraska– Lincoln Chapter

“Grassland Management Effects on Wildlife Activity” Mentors: Jeffrey Hartman and Tanner Doescher In Nebraska and many other states in the U.S. grasslands cover a large portion of land. Grasslands are managed in different ways, including haying, burning, and restoration. These management techniques may have different effects on the wildlife populations. The purpose of this experiment was to see which management area had a higher wildlife activity. This will give us a better idea of how management decisions affect wildlife.

In my experiment, three different tracking stations were place within each management area. They were a meter in diameter, filled with a mixture of sand and vegetable oil, and then baited with tuna. After setting up the tracking stations they were checked once every few weeks. This couldn't tell us how many animals actually walked on the tracking station, but could tell us how many different animals walked upon the tracking station.

Results showed that raccoons were the most active across all management areas. The annually burned prairie had the highest wildlife diversity (7 species) compared to hayed and CRP fields (4 species each). This experiment shows that there are differences in wildlife activity between grassland management areas, and that an annually burned prairie is used by more species of wildlife.

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National Fair Participants

Sabrina Sam Heritage University Chapter

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Impact of Wild Horses on the Yakama Indian Reservation on Native Shrub-steppe Vegetationâ&#x20AC;?

Mentor: Peggy Plumee Horses are one of the majestic animals that are important to many cultures, including Native Americans. Historically Native Americans have become reliant on horses for travel, whether it is to carry heavy loads when migrating or to help travel faster when hunting. All these horses had to be broken or tamed in order to do these jobs. Wild horses on the other hand freely roam, run, graze, sleep, and play. Horses free ranging is okay in their native environment but horses are originally from Spain and they have become over populated in the United States. On the Yakama reservation alone there are over 12,000 wild horses, there are about 37,300 wild horses across 10 western states, so over 1/3 are on the Yakama reservation. The overpopulation of the horses is having a negative effect on the native shrub-steppe. The shrub-steppe on the Yakama reservation is stabilized by the cryptobiotic soil. The cryptobiotic soil is very delicate and can be destroyed the crust very easily. The cryptobiotic soil stabilizes the soil, and promotes moisture retention. When the cryptobiotic soil is destroyed all the roots that are being stabilized can blow away with the soil or even die due to lack of water. When the horses stampede they destroy some of that cryptobiotic soil. In addition, grazing by the horses decimates all the vegetation. In order to know how the horses have affected the soil the research was done by doing a plant survey. In two different plots of land, one that had a large amount of horse influence and one with little horse influence. Then I did a survey on a two meter squared plot of land on each area. One had more plants than the other both times and that one was the one with minimal horse influence.

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National Fair Participants

Alayjah Taylor Alabama State University Chapter

“Studies in Tail Protein Stability” Mentor: Robert Villafane The phage P22 is a virus that infects Salmonella. The addition of the tailspike protein (TSP) to the tail-less virus (phage head) particle inside the cell is the last step that the virus needs to complete its virus particle structure before it kills the Salmonella cells and gets out of the cell. Our studies deal with this protein. The phage tail or TSP is the virus protein that can recognize different bacterial cells. The P22 TSP consists of three identical chains of 666 amino acids each. The first 120 amino acids (120aa) of the protein take the shape of a dome. This dome is critical for interacting with the viral particle structure. Similarly, how does a trimeric protein, like the P22 TSP, keep itself trimeric so that it can interact with another protein surface? Our studies and results pertain to this latter question. Since the 3D structure of the P22 TSP is known, it was possible to show that the first 23 amino acids in each of the three chains of the N-terminal domain was localized to the middle center of the dome. Since these structures begin at the dome top (amino acid 23) and go right through to the bottom of the dome, we have termed these as “stems”. All amino acids in the stem, except aa23, are located in the dome interior. Further analysis of the P22 TSP stems have indicated that as these stems go down through the middle of the dome that they branch out and aa1-aa13 are actually located in the adjacent polypeptide chain. We hypothesized that this small protein segment provided the stability for the entire NTD.

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National Fair Participants

Breuna Thomas Alabama State University Chapter

“Is Hydropower the Best Power?”

Mentor: Lula Smith The global energy crisis and gas emissions from green houses have significant impacts on health and the environment. This has sparked renewed interest for alternative forms of clean renewable energy. Hydropower offers many advantages in this respect, as the fuel source is flowing water which is readily replaced through nature’s rain. Moreover, the use of hydropower can prevent metric tons of carbon pollution in the air, and hydropower plants require very little maintenance, once constructed. To date, approximately 20% of the world’s electricity is provided by hydropower. However, with the implementation of new techniques such as pumped storage and marine and hydrokinetic projects with existing hydropower operations, that percentage can more than double within the next decade. The Pacific Northwestern states use the most hydropower as an energy supply to homes and businesses. Statistics show that the utility bills in these areas are much lower compared to other regions of the country. As hydropower is one of the greenest energy sources on the planet, it might represent an excellent choice as a future global energy source.

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National Fair Participants

Amanda Weston Arkansas State University Chapter

â&#x20AC;&#x153;American Robin (Turdus migratorius) Migrationâ&#x20AC;?

Mentor: Amy Wynia The purpose of my project is to determine that actual time the American Robin (turdus migratorious) migrates through Jonesboro, Arkansas. If you look online everywhere will say that Jonesboro, Arkansas is either a year round habitat or is a migration stop through the month of March. Both are true because we do have two different populations; one that lives here year round and another that migrates through. The way I solved the question of the migration times of the American Robin in relation to Jonesboro, Arkansas is by going to Craighead forest park and conducting a point count. I walked around the lake and wrote down anything I or my mentor saw or heard on March sixteenth and April sixth. My results are that I saw ninety-five American Robins in March and thirty-seven on April sixth. So the results are that the American Robin is most likely to come through in mid-March than in early April. I compared this to other websites and they had similar results. My conclusion is that the American Robin would most likely have a higher population in Jonesboro, Arkansas in March rather than April.

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National Fair Participants

Aadam Yazeed Alabama State University Chapter

“Comparison of Antibacterial Activity of Environmental Bacterial Isolates to Bacillus subtilis” Mentor: Ben Okeke Several environmental isolates were evaluated for in vitro antibacterial activity by agar diffusion assay using Staphylococcus epidermidis, S. aureus and Escherichia coli as test organisms. Isolates that displayed in vitro antibacterial activity were selected and compared to Bacillus subtilis using S. epidermidis. Some isolates displayed significant antibacterial activity comparable to Bacillus subtilis. Bacillus species are known producers of subtilisin and polypeptide antibiotic substances such as bacitracin and polymyxin B. Production of antibacterial substances by the isolates was dependent on the type of media (tryptic soy agar and Müller-Hinton agar) employed for the assay. Isolate B repeatedly produced the antibacterial substance on tryptic soy agar. Bacillus subtilis (F) produced the antibacterial substance on both tryptic soy agar and Müller-Hinton agar. Isolate B appears to be a more potent producer than B. subtilis as suggested by the halo size and specific inhibition on TSA. Results indicate that some isolates produced substantial antibacterial activity compared to B. subtilis.

Further studies will focus on production of the antibiotic substances in submerged culture and the nature of the antibacterial substances.

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ENVIRONMENTORS EXTENDS A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR 20122012-2013 SPONSORS Agencies National Science Foundation, I-TEST Program U.S. Forest Service, Division of Conservation Education U.S. Department of Agriculture

Foundations

Corporations and Organizations

Interstate Natural Gas Association of America ECOPACT

Individuals Janet Ady Winona Allen Byron Alterman Mark Auger Sharon Baker Nancy Blackmore David Blockstein Susan & Eric Carlson Lorraine Carvalho Michael Carvalho The Coca-Cola Company Elizabeth Conroy

Kevin Coyle Karl Dalla Rosa Nancy K. Daves Shanti de Jongh Matthew Ford and Audra Dial Dixon Mills Meredydd Evans Claire Fallender Jerry Farris Larry Feldman Peter Franzen GZA Environmental, Inc.

Patricia Hathaway Daphne Hendricks Mason and Matt Howard Christine Hughes Andy Jorgensen Dr. George Kirkham Shelley Kossak Cara Lalley Samuel and Mary Lawrence Susan Lucey Wendy McAllister Derek Morgan

Pat Munoz George Ohrstrom Chaia Odoms Sonia Ortega Susan Pultz Maureen Quinn Debbie Sliter Marion Smith Maggie Walser Tommy and Barbara Wells Thomas Windham Dr. William Winner 43