Protists are microscopic organisms that are found in aquatic ecosystems. A student wonders if protists are more common at certai
n depths than others. After considering factors such as photosynthesis, the student hypothesizes that the surface waters of his neighborhood pond contain the greatest number of different protist species. To test his hypothesis, the student collects several water samples from different depths in the same region of his neighborhood pond. Which data must be collected from the samples in order to address the hypothesis?
The data the student must collect is the number of protists in each sample.
Explanation:
The student wants to know if the number of protists is influenced by the depth of the aquatic environments. For this reason, the student went to a lake and collected water samples at different depths. What the student should do now is to place these samples in a telescope, count and note how many protists he has in each sample. After he does this with all samples, he should look at his notes and compare the amount of protists equivalent at each depth. In this way the student will know if the amount of protists is influenced by the depth of the water in an aquatic environment.
