Site 2

Site 2 is an swampy area containing bald cypress trees and dwarf palmettos

Sign for "The Flooded Forest"

Sign for "Dwarf Palmettos"

Baldcypress Tress

Along the Bayou Coquille Trail, we encountered the Baldcypress, which is a long-lived, deciduous wetland species that grows along rivers, streams, and creeks as well as in swamps with slow moving water. It can live up to 600 years old. It is a legendary tree of the Deep South and most known for its "knees," moss-draped crown, and buttressed trunk. "Knees" of the baldcypress root systems when they are growing in water. They are cone-shaped extensions of the root sticking out from the ground. They are thought to function as the trees' means of obtaining oxygen for the roots during flooded conditions.
Baldcypress trees occur in the coastal plains along the Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean and north up through the Mississippi River Valley. It is a very important tree in the swampland ecosystem. It is valuable for wildlife food and cover. Old-growth baldcypress has a flattened crown usually dangling with Spanish moss. Some river edges still have stumps of giant cypress trees that were logged in the early 1900s.

Approaching Site#1 C.F.

Another picture of the open field we saw while approaching the Site#1.

Images near Site#1 K.S.

This was a pictured taken as we were approaching Site #1. We took it because of the random strip of green marshland in the middle.

Site 1 - Enviromental Science - Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve

Site One - Located on the Marsh Overlook Trail (0.4 miles)



Standing out on the ledge you can gaze as far as the eye can see out into the marsh field. In some places it almost looks like solid ground but it is a marsh; low-lying wet land with grassy vegetation; which is usually a transition zone between land and water.

Looking straight down into the water from the ledge you can clearly see that though the trail travels no farther, the park does.



This is where we did our first set of water and soil testing of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. We are students from Thomas Jefferson Senior High School. On Wednesday, February 9, 2010, we took a field trip to Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve where we observed the ecosystem along The Bayou Coquille Trail which leads on heading of Southwest for almost a half mile.

In the water we tested Coliform Bacteria, Dissolved Oxygen, Nitrates, pH, Phosphates, Salinity, and Turbidity.



In the soil we tested Soil pH, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium (Potash).



Ellie Landry (February 24, 2010)

Site 1 water test results

The temperature of test site 1 was 10.5 degrees Celsius. When we preformed the test the water temperature was 17 degrees Celsius. After testing site one we came to conclude these are the results for each test. Coliform Bacteria test + and had a dark yellow color which provide the results of the test. For out dissolved oxygen test we concluded results that proved to be 0 ppm. These results have a high chance of inaccuracy unfortunately due to the fact that we preformed the test at the lab instead of on location. Walking with the water in a container could have possibly released O2 gases from the water. When testing for Nitrate our results also showed 0 ppm at this site. Our pH test showed a pH level of 7 showing a greenish color in the test tube. Both the phosphates and salinity of the water tested for 0 ppm and the turbidity of the water was 0 JTU.

Site 1 soil test results.

When we preformed our test for soils we concluded these results. For pH we came to the result that the soil has a pH level of 7 showing as a blueish color. When testing for potassium the traces were very low about 0-120 lbs/acre. On the other hand Phosphorous traces were high, around +100 lbs/acre. Lastly Nitrogen was very low and merely a trace only around 0-30 lbs/acre showing up light pink in the test tube.

Eric Vickers (February 24, 2010)

Water Hardness

Our AP Chemistry class went to Jean Lafitte park to explore and collect several species of plants and take samples of water at different locations. At each site, we collected at least 50 mL of water in three different cups. The difference in the sites was that they were each at different parts of the marsh so we could find if the hardness was affected by its location. After collecting all the samples we needed, we headed back to the lab and began our testing. To begin testing, we put 50 mL of each sample into individual beakers and tested them separately to compare. Next, we filled a burette pipette with 25 mL of EDTA solution and sat it above the beaker. Then, we added 10 mL of buffer to each sample, then we added 5 drops of indicator that made the solution turn a slight purple. Next, we began to allow the burette to slowly drip out into the beaker and we observed how many drops it took to change the solution color to blue. The more drops it took, the harder the water sample was. It wound up coming out that the hardness of water didn’t change a lot by the location of the water.

introduction

The students of Thomas Jefferson High School enrolled in the AP Environmental Science course recently went on field trip to Jean Lafitte Historical Park and Reserve. While on the field trip our mission was to take a water analysis and soil test for three different sites at the park. The sites where we collected water and soil samples consisted of a freshwater marsh, a cypress swamp, and the Mississippi River Barataria tributary. Using the water samples we extracted, we tested the levels of coliform bacteria, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, pH, phosphate, salinity, and turbidity of each. The soil analysis comprised of a pH, potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen test.