Peter Magerle Participates in State Science Congress
Huntington High School junior Peter Magerle recently participated in the New York State Science Congress at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton.
Mr. Magerle is a member of the Huntington science research team that competed in the Long Island Science Congress’ varsity level regional championships at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue earlier this spring. As the top award winner from the team, Mr. Magerle advanced to the State Science Congress finals. He was also presented with a $25 Amazon gift card.
The Huntington teenager’s performance in the LI regional event was sensational and earned him “highest honors,” along with a plaque and medal to commemorate the achievement. Mr. Magerle’s research project, “The Effects of Different Substrates on the Basking Behaviors in Trachemys scripta elegans” impressed the judges.
Mr. Magerle’s showing in the LI Science Congress garnered the young scholar a $50 award from the Science Teachers Association of New York State – Suffolk Division. He also won a $50 stipend for placing third in the behavioral sciences category.
The hard working young man again faced judges at the recent State Science Congress at Brookhaven National Lab. Competing against top research students from around the state, Mr. Magerle more than held his own. While he didn’t win an award, he walked away with substantial experience in how to best go about presenting his research and explaining and defending it to judges evaluating the work.
Participants in the event also attended a lecture and went on a tour of the famed institution. “Brookhaven National Laboratory is a multipurpose research institution funded primarily by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science,” states the organization’s website. “It brings world-class facilities and expertise to the most exciting and important questions in basic and applied science; from the birth of our universe to the sustainable energy technology of tomorrow. We operate cutting-edge large-scale facilities for studies in physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, applied science, and a wide range of advanced technologies. The Laboratory’s almost 3,000 scientists, engineers, and support staff are joined each year by more than 4,000 visiting researchers from around the world. Our award-winning history stretches back to 1947, and we continue to unravel mysteries from the nanoscale to the cosmic scale, and everything in between.
The following is an abstract of Mr. Magerle’s research project:
“The Red Eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) has certain aspects of their behavior that could be affected by different terrain. It was contemplated that if the turtles were given several options for basking platforms, they would choose the platform that gave off the most thermal energy. Two sliders were split up and put in different areas containing several types of substrates. These substrates include concrete, garden dirt, garden mulch, and pet store reptile dirt.
“The Trachemys scripta elegans were looked at over a period of three week, with each trial lasting five minutes. For every trial, it was measured how much time each slider spent on the different substrates. After the experiment concluded, it was seen that the sliders spent 27% of their average basking time on the garden dirt substrate. Over all, a total average of 81.24 seconds were spent on the garden dirt while the sliders only spent on average 58.25 seconds on the concrete, store bought reptile dirt had 49.1 seconds, and garden mulch had an average of 78.48 seconds. These results may vary between other types of turtles depending on the amount of energy they need from the sun.
“Most turtles have determined energy requirement depending on their role in the ecosystem. In the end, the total amount each experimental group spends of the different substrates proves the hypothesis incorrect. The amount of thermal energy given off by a substrate does not determine if the Trachemys scripta elegans will spend more or less time basking of the terrain.”