The Effect of Varied Levels of Acidity on the Growth of Caulerpa sertularioides

Caulerpa sertularioides is an invasive seaweed native to regions near the Mediterranean Sea. It is used as a staple in many sushi dishes and in aquariums as a nitrate absorber. The purpose of this experiment was to find which pH that would provide the most growth for the ferns in a 2 week time span. It was predicted that the 8.0 pH ferns would grow the most in comparison to the other groups because the average pH of the Mediterranean Sea is 8.0. 30 ferns were planted in each treatment of 7.0 pH water, 8.0 pH water, and 9.0 pH water. The water treatment with 8.0 pH was used as the control. The ferns were measured in weekly intervals . The ferns in the 7.0 pH water had the highest average length in both weeks. At the end of the first week, the 9.0 pH ferns had the smallest average. At the end of the second week, the 8.0 pH ferns had the smallest average. Overall, the 9.0 pH ferns had the largest change in average length and the 7.0 had the smallest overall change. A One-Way ANOVA [F(2, 90)=2.33, p=0.103] was run to test if there was a difference between the start and end average lengths, and the end results were found to not be statistically significant