Abstract
The Long Island Sound is a tidal estuary that lies between Long Island and Connecticut in the United States [5]. It houses 9 million people and provides around 200,000 jobs which has an estimated value of $17-37 billion dollars a year [3, 2]. The purpose of this experiment is to figure out if the distance from Route 25A, a major road on Long Island, to the coast of the Long Island Sound has an effect on the coastal water nitrates, nitrites, ammonia or pH. It is hypothesized that the distance from Route 25A will have an effect on the nitrates, nitrites, ammonia or pH of the coastal water. The testing took place at Cedarmere Park, North Hempstead Beach Park, Bay Walk Park, and Sunset Park. At each location, a water bottle was filled with water from the tides and were brought home, where the pH, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite levels were tested for with an API saltwater testing kit and logged into a notebook. It was found that distance from Route 25A has no effect on pH or ammonia, but it does have an effect on the nitrate levels. This means that car engine emissions may have an impact on the local ecosystem, and may lead to eutrophication occurring, which can kill off marine organisms. Future research may want to increase the amount of locations tested and possibly use automatic sensors to increase accuracy and ease of testing.
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