EcocolumnLab

WenLu

Mrs.Horner
APEnvironmentalScience
Period1
November8,2014

I.

Purpose
Wehadtocreateamodelofanecosystem.Thislabrepresentedwhatareallife

environmentwouldlooklikeandhowitwouldthriveinasmallcontrolledenvironment
wherewewereabletocontrolfactorslikesunlightandfood.Eachhabitathadits
purposeandwewereabletocloselyobservetheeachhabitathelpedoneanotherout.
Wetrytomakeourecosystemascloselyrelatedtotherealoneaswecould.Thislab
wastoreallyhelpusunderstandthedifferentwayseachhabitatworksbutalsohowall
ofthemworktogethertocreateanecosysteminwhichallthespeciescanthrivewith
helpfromoneanother.

II.

Materials
6clear2litersodabottles
Conditionedwater(Aquatic)
Aquariumgravel(Aquatic)
Sticks(Predator)
Bettafish(Aquatic)
Soil(Terrestrial)
Terrestrialplants(Terrestrial)
Duckweed(Aquatic)
WaterPlants(Aquatic)
Fruitpeels(Decomposition)
Differentinsects(TerrestrialandPredatory)
Worms(Terrestrial)

III.

Procedure
Ourgrouphastoobtain6empty2literbottles.Weweregiveninstructionson

howtoconstructtheecosystem.Followingtheinstructionsgiventous,wefirstcutall
thebottlesaccordingly.Wehadtocutthebottomsoffoftwoofthebottles,justthetop
offofonebottle,thetopandthebottomofanothertwobottles,andthenwehadto
leaveonebottleuncut.
Afterdoingallthenecessarycutting,webegantoputtheshellofourecosystem
together.Weplacedthefirstbottle,whichwasthebottlewiththetopcutoff,onthe
table.Thenwestackedabottlewithboththetopandthebottomcutoff.Nextweplaced
thebottlewithjustthebottomcutoffontopwiththespoutfacingdown.Afterthat,we
placedanotherbottlewithboththetopandandbottomcutoffontop.Thenweputa
bottlewithjustthebottomcutontop(againwiththespoutfacingdown).Thebottlethat
wasuncutwasplacedattheverytop.Afterallofthat,wepokedholesaboutthesizeof
astrawinto3ofthebottlecaps.Thenweputastrawthroughoneofthebottlecaps.
Thatwasthecapfortheverytopchamber.
Oncethatwasassembled,webegantoputinorganismsintoourecosystem.We
startedwiththebottombottle,whichwastheaquaticchamber.Wefilleditwithsome
aquaticgravel,thenweputthewaterplantsin,thenwepouredinourconditionedwater
(aboutthreequartersofthewayfull),andthenfinally,weputoutbettafishinhisnew
home.Thethirdbottleupwastheterrestrialhabitat.Wefilledthischamberwithamixof
differentsoilsandthenplantedtheterrestrialplantsinthesoil.Next,wethrewinsome
wormsandcrickets.Itwasreallydifficulttryingtogetthecricketsintherebecausethe

keptjumpingeverywhere.Wesetupthepredatorhabitatbeforethedecompositionone.
Weputourprayingmantisinthetopwithsomesticksinittokeephimcompany.We
alsonamedtheprayingmantisHubert,butHubertdied.Soweendedupputtinga
spiderinthepredatorchambertoreplacehim.Finallywecompletedourecosystemby
fillingthedecompositionchamberwithfruitpeels,leaves,andpillbugs.
Weobservedourecosystemovertheperiodof6weeks.Wewouldmeasurethe
dissolvedoxygen,temperature,pH,turbidity,nitrate,nitrite,CO2,planthealth,andthe
odoreveryweektoensurethatourecosystemwasgoingsmoothly.Therewere
differentkitsthattestedallthesethings,butsomethingsliketheplanthealthandodor
hadtobetestedbyourselves.Wejustobservedtheplantsandcritiquedtheirhealth
andwesmelledourecosystemtoobservethesmell.Aftercollectingallofthedata,we
recordedtheminourtableandourlabnotebook.

IV.

DataCollection

DO

Temp
(C)

pH

Turbidit
y

Nitrate

Nitrite

CO2

Plant
Health

Odor

Week1

25C

7.5

36.9
NTU

1ppm

great

garden/
manure

Week2

24C

6.5

45.1
NTU

16

25ppm

dead

manure

Week3

24C

8.0

158.3
NTU

5ppm

dead

manure

Week4

4/
7.24

25C

8.0

38.2
NTU

5ppm

dead

manure

Week5

23C

8.0

66.4
NTU

11ppm

dead

fish
tank

Week6

3/
8.16

24C

7.5

43.5
NTU

6ppm

dead

fish
tank

V.Analysis
Inthefirstweekofourlab,everythingwasgoinggreat.Ourplantswerehealthy
anditseemedthatourecosystemwasdoingwell.Whenthesecondweekcame
around,weweresurprisedtofindthatourplantshaddied.OurCO2,nitrate,andnitrite
levelswerealsoalothigherthanthefirstweeksoweconcludedthatthedeathofour
plantsmostlikelyhadsomethingtodowiththelevelsofCO2andthenitrateandnitrite.
Therehadtobesometypeofcorrelation.Afterseeingoutplantsdie,weexpectedour
ecosystemtostartdeclininganddying,buttooursurprise,everythingwasdoingfineon
weekthree.Ourdissolvedoxygenlevelsdidgetbelowafiveinweeksfourandsix.
Becauseofthis,wehadtooxygenatetheaquaticchambertoensurethatoutbettafish
survives.Thedecompositionchamberwasdecomposinganditlookeddisgusting.It
begantoliquifyandevenleakedintotheterrestrialchamberwhereourdeadplants
were.Wewerentabletoemptyoutourdecompositionchamberduetothefactthat
anothergroupwasemptieditoutforus.Sowewerentsureiftherewereany
microorganismsinthedecompositionchamberbutwedidnotseeanywhenwe
observedthechamber.Intheterrestrialchamber,itseemedthateverythinghaddied,
wewerenotabletofindanyofthecrickets.Thewormswedidfindseemedtobedead
andalsoseemedlargerthanwhenweputtheminthechamber.
Thetemperatureandnitrogenlevelsstayedprettymuchthesametowardsthe
endofourexperiment.Outtestresultswereprettysimilarthroughouttheexperiment
exceptforafewtimeswhenthelevelswerecompletelydifferentthantheprevious
week.

Iconcludethatthisexperimentwentwellbutthereweresomeerrorsthatcaused
unsuccessfulsurvivalinsomeofourchambers.Ibelievethattheholesinthebottomof
ourchamberscouldntgetenoughairflowingthroughthechamberssoitcausedalack
ofoxygen.Althoughtherewascondensationintheterrestrialchamber,probablyfrom
waterevaporatingfromtheaquaticchamber,therewasntenoughresourcesforthe
plantstosurvive,evenwiththedecompositionchamberleaking.Ithinktherewasan
issueofspacebecausewekeptalltheorganismsinsuchenclosedandsmallspaces.
Thatmighthavebeenanotherfactortothefailureofsurvivalinsomeofthechambers.
Theorganismsthatsurvivedweretheonesthatwereabletoadapttothechangesthat
theywereputinquickly.

V.

Conclusion

Overall,thisprojectwashelpfulinlearningaboutecosystems.Itwasahandson
experienceandourgroupwasabletomakeconclusionsaboutthechangesinthe
ecosystemonourown,justlikehowscientistswouldifitwerearealecosystemin
crisis.Therewerealotofnewequipmentthatwehadtofamiliarizeourselveswithandit
reallyhelpedusgetapeekathowrealscientistsobserveecosystems.Ilikeddoingthis
wasbetterthanwatchingavideoordemonstration.Itwasbetterbecausewewereable
toactuallyexperiencefirsthandhowthingsworkedandhowthedifferenthabitatsand
speciesworked.Ithinkthatthislabhelpedmebetterunderstandtherelationshipthat
eachhabitathaswitheachotherandhowtheyworktogethertocreateanecosystem

VI.

SourcesofError

Iwouldsaythattherewerequiteafewerrorwhilewewereperformingour
experiments.Mostofithadtodowiththefactthatwewereunfamiliarwithequipment
thatweweregiven.Sincewedidntknowhowtousemostofthethingsthatwewere
given,wemayhavetestedsomeofthethingswrong.Withalotoftests,youhadto
wait.Sowehadaproblemwiththeamountofwaittime.Wedidntknowhowlongto
leavethingsinfororhowlongwetookthemoutfor,soitbecamesortofatrialanderror
process.AnothererrorIthinkwehadwasthatwedidntmakesurethatairwasableto
flowthroughtheecosystem.Butoverall,Ithinkitwasagoodattemptatafirsttime
experiment.