Duckweed Photosynthesis Lab Report

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This graph shows that at the end of the experiment the neutral solution (pH 7) was the one with the most duckweed fronds left and the lower the pH gets, the less duckweed survives. Acidity has an effect on the rate of photosynthesis because the enzymes required in the process of photosynthesis only function properly at a pH of between 6 and 8 (Egle & Brown, 2005). All the solutions in the experiment that had a pH of less than 6 did not allow the duckweed to survive or to be in a good condition, this is because the pH was too low for photosynthesis to take place which resulted in the duckweed dying as it could not obtain the nutrients it needed to survive (Egle & Brown, 2005). This is what happens when acid rain falls into fresh water systems and makes the water acidic killing the duckweed in the systems.…show more content…
According to an unknown author (2014) the lowest pH that duckweed can survive in is pH 4.5 which explains why the duckweed in the pH 5 solution just managed to survive while the duckweed in solutions of pH 2 and 3 did not survive at all. (Anon., 2014) also says that the lower the pH of the water, the slower the duckweed will grow. This is the reason for the faster rate of growth of the duckweed in the pH 7 solution than that of the pH 5 solution. For rain to qualify as acid rain is must have a pH that is lower than pH 5.6 therefore some duckweed can survive in acid rain if the pH level is between
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