In Ecological Engineering, the potential for floating aquatic plants to treat dairy manure wastewater was investigated. For one part of the study, 16 treated wastewater samples were randomly divided into two groups- a control algal was cultured in half the samples and the water hyacinth was cultured in the other half. The rate of increase in the amount of total phosphorus was measured in each water sample. The control algal had a sample mean of 0.036 with a standard deviation of 0.008 while the water hyacinth had a sample mean of 0.026 with a standard deviation of 0.006. Conduct a test to determine if there is a difference in mean rates of increase of total phosphorus for the two aquatic plants. Use alpha = 0.05.

What type of test should be conducted?

One-sample t-test

Independent t-test

Dependent t-test

One-tailed test

State the null hypothesis in equation format.

State the alternative hypothesis in equation format.

What is the calculated t-value (to 3 decimal digits)?

What is the critical t-value (to 3 decimal digits)? Use alpha = 0.05.

Is the null hypothesis accepted or rejected? Use alpha = 0.05.

Accepted

Rejected

Is there sufficient evidence to conclude that there is a difference between the mean rate of increase of total phosphorus of the control algal and the water hyacinth? Use alpha = 0.05. Explain in one sentence.