Conclusions

Before concluding, there are several limitations on our results that are worthy of noting:

First, samples were only taken at one tide level (low tide only), and thus may not accurately represent the average differences in the environments at different locations (as the effect of the tide is more prevalent within the bay than in the open strait).

Second, the samples were not collected simultaneously (the latest having been collected up to a couple of hours after the first samples). This may account for differences in salinity and temperature (as both fluctuate as the day progresses and as tides progress).

After conducting this experiment, I have a number of conclusions to make.

It was interesting to see the differences in the aquatic environments of the inner bay and in the Juan de Fuca. It seems that, beyond temperature differences between the different areas, there is also a big difference in terms of actual micro-organism populations and their motility between the inner bay and beyond the mouth of the bay.

There are also many lessons I have learnt during this project.

Despite the many hours we spent planning our experiment, there were inevitable problems encountered during the experiment itself. For instance, we discovered that gram stains can only be conducted on cultured bacteria samples and that the use of a hemocytometer is difficult when examining samples with a wide range of different species (as some may look like clusters of another, etc.) and also when examining motile organisms, as it can make it difficult to count accurate values. This has given me a better appreciation for the intricacy of lab design.

It was also difficult (at times) to be able to work as a team. We all have our own ideas on how the lab should be laid out, which leads to both conflict and compromise. Although the difficulties of team work were not unknown to me prior to this experiment, it nonetheless further highlighted the importance of being able to discuss and make a compromise.