draft

Pond water organisms are very important in ponds and how they function. They are responsible for things such as nutrient cycling, water quality, disease control and other things like the nutrition of cultured species (Moriaty 2017). Species diversity in microorganisms and things such as protozoans and algae can vary between bodies of water even if they are in close proximity. We wanted to see which pond on the UMass Campus would have a higher diversity index of organisms. We ran a lab and looked at samples from both the Sylvan pond and Campus pond and used the Shannon Diversity index formula to figure it which had a higher and more even diversity. The Sylvan pond has murky water and is in a more wooded area than the Campus Pond. In addition, the Campus pond is maintained while the Sylvan pond is not. Before the experiment, we hypothesized that the Sylvan pond would be more diverse than the Campus Pond. After the experiment, we concluded that the Campus pond is actually more diverse than the Sylvan pond, but the Sylvan pond has higher richness. This result is important because it tells us that the Campus pond is more robust, and therefore, better equipped for survival