During this trip to America, we went to Adelphi University, and stayed there for two weeks. What we did was so much fun! Besides the field trips and the recreation time in every afternoon, we also did an interesting experiment.

In order to solve the problem of algae bloom, we designed this experiment. Bivalves are an important group of animals that obtain food from water around them by filter feeding. When they filter feed, they remove plankton from the water and effectively improve water clarity. Our objective was to confer the relationship between the number of mussels and the amount of plankton in the water. Additionally, we tried to answer the question, “How many bivalves does it take to improve water clarity?”Our hypothesis was: Mussels are effective filter feeders so that they can reduce the chance of algae bloom. We predicted that the more mussels there are, the more plankton they eat. During the experiment, we tested them again and again for two days. After observing the changes of the amount of plankton in each tank, we make a chart by using the statistics we got. Unfortunately, we found out that the result didn’t show as the way we predicted. Maybe there should be more time and replications so that we could reduce bias in our experiment.

To sum up, my classmates and I learned a lot from this experiment. We also improved our English as well! I really enjoyed every moment in the US, and I’d like to thank all the doctors, teachers and teaching assistants. What a wonderful summer vacation!