From the table above, we can see that the pH of the lake (sites4-8, 11, 12) is much higher than the lead in or lead out. The lake clearly has something in it that makes it more alkaline than anything else. The lake does have more algae than any of the other bodies of water. The lake also has no carbon dioxide content at all. This could be explained by the fact that the algae photosynthesizes. The samples were always taken in the afternoon everyday, which means that the sun is out and all the plants are turning sunlight into energy. To do this they use up carbon dioxide and sunlight and expel oxygen to make glucose for fuel. All the plants have been using up all the carbon dioxide in the lake. The fact that all the other areas have some carbon dioxide content shows that they have much less plant matter than the lake. The fact that there was no carbon dioxide in the lake also shows that there would be no carbonic acid, which is present when carbon dioxide is present. If there is no carbonic acid, this could explain why the water in the lake is so basic compared to the other areas which do have carbon dioxide and therefore would have carbonic acid. Having this acid would help balance out the pH and make the pond and other areas more neutral than the lake.
There was much more dissolved oxygen in the lake than in the ponds or in the streams. This also points to how the lake has more plant life than any of the other areas, because they have been putting out oxygen into the water as they have been photosynthesizing. The amount of dissolved oxygen in the lake is important because if there was no oxygen, most life could not survive at all. All fish and many microorganisms need oxygen to live. All of the areas have a high amount of oxygen. While the normal amount should be 14 mg/L, based on previous tests done for dissolved oxygen done by the university of Kentucky, all of the results are much higher than this. This is mostly due to two factors; the fact that the sample was taken near the surface and when the test was done it was again contaminated by atmospheric oxygen. If the water is taken near the surface, then it has more contact with the atmospheric oxygen than the water deeper in the lake. I was only able to take samples off the shore of the lake, which has much more contact with atmospheric oxygen than the deeper parts of the lake towards the center. If this is taken to account, the oxygen levels still might be considerably high.
Chloride is in the pond water and is stored in the form of sodium chloride. The more chloride there is, the more sodium chloride in the water there is. There is much more chloride in the pond as well as the lead in and lead out than there is in the lake. There must be something in the lake that takes out or prevents the salt from being present. As of now, there is no previous research that might show what lowers the salt in a lake.
Ammonia is present when there a fish because they use it to excrete nitrogen out of their body. Ammonia readily dissolves in water, but the amount in water for the healthiest animals should be 0 mg/L. The amount of ammonia in the water is usually so small that is does not affect the water and area around it. Fish survive best when there is 0 mg/L of ammonia in the water, but if there is more, the water will begin to be toxic and will interfere with osmoregulation, or how animals regulate the content of their cells. The water should only have a small amount of ammonia in it, and the ammonia was in a very small amount, proving that the water is not toxic and that organisms can live in it. There was only this small amount in the pond and lead out (sites 1 and 2), which could show that there is a deposit there from the lake or that there is a higher concentration of fish putting more ammonia into the water.
Conclusion:
The water in the lake and pond were extremely different. The lake was much more basic, had no carbon dioxide, had more dissolved oxygen, less chloride, and no ammonia. The pond and lead out (site 1 and 2) had trace amounts of ammonia, but nothing that would be considered too toxic for organisms to live in. The rest of the sites also had a low dissolved oxygen content and a high carbon dioxide, showing that there is less plant matter in all the other areas compared to the lake. The lake was much more basic, due to the fact that there was no carbonic acid, to the point where it would have been too basic for fish to live along the shore.