Group+6H

 8/8 Neatness/Organization 8/8 Introduction- 8/8 Procedure- 8/8 Data- 8/8 Conclusion 40/40 Total-Nice job!



== Jamie, Lettie, Casey ==

**Common Names**: Green Star Polyps, Starburst Polyps, Eight Tentacle Polyps, Mat Polyps, Daisy Polyps Green star polyps have green or sometimes light brown or gray polyps. When the polyps retract they are dark purple calyces sticking out on a purple mat. Green Star Polyps prefer strong currents and a temperature in the mid 70's to mid 80's. They can grow in low level lighting but grow best in strong inderect lighting, and tend to develop brighter colors when in higher lighting. Given good placement and water quality this type of coral can grow quickly. They are quick to react to changes in water by not opening, but are hardy and do not die quickly do to changes. Green Star Polyps feed photosyntheticly and are not prey to other animals. The coral will encrusts rocks and most other things it is near, including other coral, so it is best to make sure it is not close to anything you don’t want it covering. The can easily be propagated by cutting a section of the purple mat that the polyps are on and attaching it to a hard surface such as a rock. They are not toxic in nature.
 * Background information on Green Star Polyps:**
 * Scientific Name**: Pachyclavularia
 * Distribution:** Indo Pacific, Philipines
 * Coral Type**: Soft Coral

**Question:** Do Green Star Polyps grow best in high or low lighting?


 * Materials:**
 * Light
 * Coral
 * Razors
 * Cement Blocks
 * Glue

**Procedure:**
 * 1) Get 4 cement blocks to put the cut coral on.
 * 2) Mark each block to identify it. (We used and X and then the numbers I, II, III, and IV to be able to tell each individual block apart)
 * 3) Put on gloves before you cut the coral (your likely to get goo on your hands)
 * 4) Cut a piece of Green Star Polyp off a rock from the bottom of the colony.
 * 5) Then cut that one piece into four pieces of about the same size
 * 6) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Glue a piece on each of the four blocks, making sure the side with the polyps on it is no the side getting glued.
 * 7) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">In order to measure the polyps growth count the polyps(little bumps) on each coral, and measure the Area of each piece
 * 8) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Place corals in water in a way to assess how their growth is changed by being exposed to different conditions (your experiment)
 * 9) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">We put 2 corals (XI and XII) in an area that had the highest possible light and 2 corals (XIII and XIV) in an area that had the lowest possible light
 * 10) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Leave the coral there for several days (actual length of time is up to your own discretion), and then go back and record size/ growth of the coral. Check growth as frequently as you want, the more data you have the more helpful it can be for making a conclusion.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">**Data:** Note: -first time through the experiment did not work so we have restarted the experiment and disregarded the old data. -We counted polyps based on the bumps that were signs of a polyp being there, even if the polyp wasn't actually out, this may have effected our data if we counted a bump thinking there was a polyp where there actually wasn't.

Date: 10/29 - starting with new corals just cut. of Polyps ||
 * Colony || length(cm) || width (cm) || Area (cm20 || Number
 * XI || 1 || .7 || .7 || 17 ||
 * XII || 1 || .7 || .7 || 8 ||
 * XIII || 1.2 || .6 || .72 || 14 ||
 * XIV || .8 || .9 || .72 || 13 ||

Date:11/4 - lost the colony XIV and had to get another one. of Polyps ||
 * Colony || length(cm) || width (cm) || Area (cm20 || Number
 * XI || 1.1 || .6 || .66 || 11 ||
 * XII || 1.2 || .7 || .84 || 13 ||
 * XIII || 1.3 || .6 || .78 || 14 ||
 * XIV || 1 || .7 || .7 || 8 ||

Date:11/12 - lost the colony XII and got a new one. of Polyps ||
 * Colony || length(cm) || width (cm) || Area (cm20 || Number
 * XI || .9 || .7 || .63 || 12 ||
 * XII || .8 || .7 || .56 || 9 ||
 * XIII || 1.3 || .7 || .91 || 14 ||
 * XIV || 1.3 || .5 || .65 || 9 ||

Date:11/19 - polyps showing/ coming out in colony XI and XIII - Couldn't see any polyps in colony XII

of Polyps ||
 * < Colony ||< length(cm) ||< width (cm) ||< Area (cm20 ||< Number
 * < XI ||< .8 ||< .6 ||< .48 ||< 17 ||
 * < XII ||< .9 ||< .8 ||< .72 ||< 0 ||
 * < XIII ||< 1.2 ||< .6 ||< .72 ||< 15 ||
 * < XIV ||< 1.5 ||< .5 ||< .75 ||< 10 ||

Date: 11/30 of Polyps ||
 * < Colony ||< length(cm) ||< width (cm) ||< Area (cm20 ||< Number
 * < XI ||< 1 ||< .7 ||< .7 ||< 0 ||
 * < XII ||< .5 ||< .5 ||< .25 ||< 0 ||
 * < XIII ||< 1.5 ||< .6 ||< .9 ||< 9 ||
 * < XIV ||< 1.2 ||< .3 ||< .36 ||< 2 ||

Date:12/18 - we lost the colonies XI, XII, and XIV and had no information for them. - Colony XIII was the healthiest we have seen any of our colonies. of Polyps ||
 * < Colony ||< length(cm) ||< width (cm) ||< Area (cm20 ||< Number
 * < XI ||<  ||<   ||<   ||<   ||
 * < XII ||<  ||<   ||<   ||<   ||
 * < XIII ||< 2.4 ||< .8 ||< 1.92 ||< 11 ||
 * < XIV ||<  ||<   ||<   ||<   ||

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">**Conclusion:** Because we kept losing the corals in certain colonies it is hard to determine how what light is actually the best for the corals. However, with the data we were able to collect the lower lightening produced the best results. The one coral that did survive was in the lower lighting and it was the healthiest coral of all four of them. It was also the only colony that had polyps coming out, and grew the most.