We characterize the influence of the presence of suspended particles on a fluid undergoing convection and find that it leads to deviations in both the fluid speed and temperature. The spatio-temporal deviations of the profiles for both fields are persistent in several well-defined regions of the fluid. We find these variations to be robust and to be exhibited by different temperature profiles, although the strength of the deviations depends on the amount of time required by the suspension to reach a steady state. The primary effect of the presence of the particles is to weaken the fluid convective strength and heat flux, as well as to change the convection's spatial characteristics. The results quantify the degree to which the physical presence and motion of particles in a suspension affect its flow dynamics, a case that is typically neglected in most modeling protocols.