THE EFFECT HIGHWAYS HAVE ON INVERTEBRATES: DOES DISTANCE MATTER?

By: Rachel French

QUESTION

What effect did distance from a highway have on roadside soil communities?

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Forms of highway pollution

Effects of highway pollution on children

Most invertebrates are found in the top five centimeters of soil

HYPOTHESIS

Species density and diversity would increase with increasing distance from a highway.

PROCEDURE

1. Created funnels 2. Collected and massed soil samples3. Put soil samples in funnels 4. Returned fallen particles to funnels 5. Filled jars with alcohol and wrapped

with foil 6. Centered lights over funnels 7. Observed samples over the next five

days 8. Removed collection jars and analyzed

APPARATUS

http://medlibrary.org/medwiki/Tullgren_funnel

VARIABLES

Independent variable: distance from highway Dependent variable: number of invertebrates

found Control: none (comparative among distances) Constants: amount of alcohol, type of alcohol,

type of jars, amount of each soil sample collected, where the soil samples are taken from, the type of bottles, the amount of light the bottles get, the amount of time the soil samples have to dry out

NUMBER OF INVERTEBRATES FOUND

1 meter

2 meters

3 meters

Trial 1 1.0 2.0 5.0

Trial 2 0.0 2.0 4.0

Trial 3 1.0 3.0 3.0

Trial 4 1.0 2.0 4.0

NUMBER OF INVERTEBRATES FOUND

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 40.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

1 meter2 meters3 meters

Trial Number

Nu

mb

er

of

Invert

eb

rate

s

Fou

nd

NUMBER OF INVERTEBRATES FOUND

1 meter

2 meters

3 meters

Average .75 2.3 4.0Standard Deviation

.50 .50 .82

AVERAGE NUMBER OF INVERTEBRATES FOUND

1 meter 2 meters 3 meters0

0.51

1.52

2.53

3.54

4.5

Distance From Highway

Nu

mb

er

of

Inver-

teb

rate

s F

ou

nd

CONCLUSION

Hypothesis supported Sources of error

Weather Pedestrian/animal traffic Human disturbances during

experimentation Further research

Various roadways Research organisms

Thank you for listening to my presentation

Questions Sources are to follow

THANKS

REFERENCES Abbott, L. (2010). Soil Animals . Retrieved October 5, 2010, from The University of Western Australia website: http://www.soilhealth.com/

animals/ Barringer, C. (n.d.). Chester County Toastmasters. Retrieved January 27, 2011, from http://www.cctoastmasters.org/ directions.html Brugge, D., Durant, J. L., & Christine Rioux. (2007, August 9). Near-highway pollutants in motor vehicle exhaust: A review of epidemiologic

evidence of cardiac and pulmonary health risks. Environmental Health. A Community Underfoot. (2000). In Encouraging Student Biological Research (pp. 115-130). Jefferson City, MO: National Association of

Biology. Fraser, P. M., Dr. (2003). What Is Soil? Retrieved October 6, 2010, from New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food Research website:

http://www.compostingvermont.org/ articles/ what_is_soil.htm Getz, L. L., Verner, L., & Prather, M. (1977, June). Lead concentrations in small mammals living near highways . Science Direct, 13(2), 151-

157. Abstract retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/ science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B75CG-48XVFT1-5D&_user=10&_coverDate=06%2F30%2F1977&_alid=1485666847&_rdoc=2&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_zone=rslt_list_item&_cdi=13010&_sort=r&_st=13&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=2&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f021721779bd9ef6036611931194392a&searchtype=a

Han, D., Liang, W., Zhang, X., Vikram, T. V., Li, Q., & Wen, D. (n.d.). Effects of heavy metal pollution of highway origin on soil nematode guilds in North Shenyang, China. Retrieved October 1, 2010, from Key Laboratory of Terrestrial Ecological Process website: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pubmed?term=%22Tomar%20Vijay%20Vikram%20S%22%5BAuthor%5D

Living near a highway affects lung development in children, study shows. (2007, January 26). Retrieved October 1, 2010, from University of Southern California website: http://www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/ 2007/ 01/ 070125185843.htm

Martinez, A. (2009, November 18). Highway pollution and its devastating impacts on local communities. Retrieved October 1, 2010, from http://stopgateway.wordpress.com/ 2009/ 11/

Noss, R. (1995, June 29). Pollution. In The ecological effects of roads. Retrieved October 1, 2010, from Wildlands CPR website: http://www.wildlandscpr.org/ ecological-effects-roads

Parker, S. (2006). Microlife That Lives in Soil (K. Orchard, Ed.). Chicago, IL: Raintree. Research & Evaluation Core. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24, 2011, from AIDS Project Los Angeles website: http://www.apla.org/ research/ REC/

glossary.htm Sakowski, M. (2007). Math Motivation. Retrieved January 24, 2011, from http://www.mathmotivation.com/ symbolic/ standard-deviation.html Schaller, J., Brackhage, C., & Dudel, E. G. (2010, September 28). Invertebrates Minimize Accumulation of Metals and Metalloids in

Contaminated Environments . SpringerLink. doi:10.1007/ s11270-010-0637-0Online First™ Stille, C. R. (2009). A Warming Planet. In J. VanVoorst (Ed.), Nature Interrupted: The Science of Environmental Chain Reactions (pp. 36-37).

Mankato, MN: Compass Point Books. Tullgren Funnel. (2010, December 10). Retrieved February 6, 2011, from Medication Information Library website: http://medlibrary.org/

medwiki/ Tullgren_funnel US 202 Expressway-Pennsylvania. (n.d.). Retrieved January 27, 2011, from Eastern Roads website: http://www.phillyroads.com/ roads/ US-

202_PA/ Working with Isopropyl Alcohol . (2008, December 17). Lab Manager. Retrieved from http://www.labmanager.com/ stips.asp?id=41 Your Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24, 2011, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/ average