Blog Assignment #6: Research Introduction Soil Erosion

Procedure: The point of this blog post is to update your colleagues on what you are doing for your research project. Please make sure to include the following components in your blog post:

• Name of the research project

Effects of different grasses on the reduction of soil erosion in locally sourced soil.

• Names of the research group members

Megan Thees, Gretchen Janes, Karina Yu

• Photo of your research

Day 1 & Day 11 of Grass Growth

• Brief description of your research

We decided to test different types of grass to see the effects each have on preventing soil erosion. First, we collected bottles and decided on three types of grass and one type of soil. We received what Christina could find for us which was top soil, overseed mix, which is a combination of ryegrass and fescue, 98.91% bentgrass and a seed/fertilizer/mulch combination. We measured and cut the bottles and then filled each bottle with 580g of soil. Based on the recommendations of each bag we calculated how much grass should be planted in each bottle.  

• Major League 4.5lb/75sqft = .06lb convert to grams = 27.216g per square ft
• Overseed 6lb/1000sqft = .0006lb convert to grams = 2.722g per square ft
• Bentgrass 2.5lb/1000sqft=.0025lb convert to grams 1.13g per square ft

The seeds were measured and mixed in with the soil. Then we watered each bottle, thoroughly saturating the soil for proper germination. The bottles were randomly placed under a light and the timer was set for 6 hours of light per day. The next lab period we established a watering apparatus of a plastic cup with 10 holes poked in the bottom to make the watering more evenly distributed. From here we decided to water each bottle with ½ cup of water. The grass was watered on 4/27/17, 5/2/17, 5/3/17, 5/4/17, 5/5/17 and 5/8/17. During lab on 5/9/17 we decided that the grass did not need watering so we will check on them on 5/10/17 and 5/11/17. We increased the amount of light to 12 hours per day. Our next steps will be to test the grass and it’s ability to prevent soil erosion. We will pick the most successful grass, by measuring the amount of soil that is lost during the simulation, the least amount of soil lost equals the most successful grass. This type of grass will be planted in different types of soil found in different locations of Washington state. We will then retest the soil erosion simulation to see if the type of soil has an affect on it.

• Clearly state your hypothesis and predictions.

An environment with plants will have reduced amounts of soil erosion compared to an environment without plants.

• Tell us why your group decided to do this research project.

We decided to do this research project because soil erosion has become a giant problem as more and more people inhabit the earth. As people inhabit the earth, natural landscape is replaced by roads, houses, parking lots, and buildings that reduce the infiltration of water into the ground and accelerates runoff into ditches and streams. As more people inhabit the earth, the need for food and other agricultural products continues to soar, yet the soil is being washed away 10 to 40 times faster than it is being replenished, destroying croplands the size of Indiana every year. The washing way of soil by wind and water can cause pollutants in waterways, damage to human life, health, and property (Surface Runoff- The Water Cycle 2015). Soil erosion damages the soil by decreasing nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium in the top soil that plants need to grow (Pimentel et al. 1998). The purpose of this research is to find out if we can reduce the amount of soil erosion in an economically efficient way by using nothing more than a few plants.

• Update us about the current state of your research project.

As of May 9th, our grass is growing at a good rate. Next we will run the experiment to test how much soil is lost with each type of grass. We also need to decide which grass is the most successful in preventing soil erosion and grow more of that type.

• Tell us about any challenges that your group has dealt with thus far.

One challenge was deciding how much water the grass would need to grow. When trying to look this up we could only really find information saying how to water large lawns and we wanted to know the proportions on a smaller scale. We ended up choosing a fixed amount of ½ cup of water almost every Monday through Friday and no water on the weekends and our seeds germinated and grew very fast at that amount. Another challenge was deciding how much grass seed to plant in the first place. We followed the instructions on the seed bags on a much smaller scale, and kept the weight of the seeds consistency between the three trials of the same type.

• Provide us with at least one reference for background information for your project.

Surface Runoff - The Water Cycle. Surface Runoff - The Water Cycle, from USGS Water-Science School. 2015 Dec 15 [accessed 2017 Apr 18]. https://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercyclerunoff.html