Wednesday, July 18-Ruth

I am concerned that the predator, spider Albert E, is no longer living. The ecocolumn is very humid and the interior walls are covered with condensation so it is difficult to observe clearly, but it appears that Albert E may have departed. Is this due to a lack of food source? Too much humidity?

Although sluggish, the three fish are still alive and swimming. What kind of nutrients are entering the aquatic chamber? Is more water needed to drain through the decomposition chamber to add nutrients to the bottom chamber.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - Catherine

Today we placed banana mush into the decomposition chamber. Fruit flies should develop soon. I wonder if the fruit flies will make it into the predator chamber.
I wonder how long the ecocolumn will sustain itself. Will the fruit flies continue to reproduce? Should we add another predator to the system? More observation is needed.
Catherine

Tuesday, July 17, 2007 - Catherine

Condensation

Student Blog Site

www.think.com

This is a student friendly blog that my friend used last year with her students. It will even block any bad language or remarks, and you can control it by only allowing your students to use it.

July 17, 2007-Bridgett

I was a little concerned today when I looked at the Eco-column. It seems that our leech may have gone to a better place because he did not look like he was moving much. The fish also seemed to be moving at a slower pace and continued to swim towards the surface. I am wondering if they are trying to get more oxygen, and Ruth suggested that we may need to make more holes in the aquatic chamber. After much consideration, we decided that this may not make a lot of difference. The apples in the decomposition chamber continued to break down and rot. There used to be a fly in this chamber, but he was nowhere to be found. I wonder if he had time to lay eggs in the apple before he was most likely caught by Albert E. in one of his beautiful webs. Speaking of Albert E., he was nowhere to be found, but his webs were still present, and it seemed that there were creatures inside the webs. I am not sure where these creatures may have come from, but I do think the fly met his end when he flew up into the predator chamber. "Rain" water continued to drip from the precipitation chamber. I do not know if our fish will still be alive by tomorrow. I am hoping that the rain will help bring new nutrients to the aquatic chamber.

July 16-Bridgett

Here is a picture of the ecocolumn on Monday, July 16th. It has not changed much. Albert E. has started creating webs where he is catching flies. We are not sure where these insects are coming from, but there was a fly in the decomposition chamber on last Wednesday. There is an increase in condensation, and we did add a little "rain" to the ecocolumn.

I am hoping that there will be more change before the end of the class.

APES - EcoColumn Purpose
Purpose: The purpose of the ecocolumn lab is to provide an opportunity to explore several types of ecosystems, the components of these systems, the conditions required for sustainability for each, and the interconnections between the various ecosystem column chambers.

Materials:
Provided 5 Two-liter plastic soda bottles - clear, labels removed, rinsed 3 Bottle caps with holes drilled Rock for aquatic chamber - to hold plant and for stability 1 Plastic straw Clear mailing tape - to secure column Soil and sand Utility or exacto knives
You provide Leaves, grass clippings, pieces of fruit 46 seeds - for terrestrial chamber Aquatic plant (anacharis, hornwort, green hedge, ludwigia, etc.) Fuana - Aquatic chamber (snails, fish, crayfish, frog, etc.) Water - for Aquatic Chamber: Purified water Fuana - Terrestrial chamber (worms, rolly-pollys, ladybugs, etc.)

Procedures outlined in schematic below:
Monitoring: Over the Next 10 -12 weeks, possibly longer, you will monitor the factors found on the data sheet, plus several others. These levels will be recorded and analyzed throughout the experiment.
Water Analysis
Date
Odor
Turbidity
Color
Nitrate -N
Phosphate
D.O.
Hardness
Carbon Dioxide
Chloride
Alkalinity
Ammonia -N
Silica
Sulfide
pH
Other
Biome Observations
Date
Aquatic Habitat
Decomposition Habitat
Terrestrial Habitat

Scientific method you should follow during your lab.

Step one: Identify what you are trying to discover through the creation of your ecocolumn. Just what is that you are trying to learn or find out.

Step two: Identify your sources of background information on ecosystems such as specific textbook chapters and lecture notes.

Step three: Write an hypothesis for each of the three habitats: aquatic, decomposition, and terrestrial.

Step four: Write an explanation and diagram of your experimental set-up. Be sure to identify all of the abiotic and biotic factors in each of your three habitats. Make sure to include all your weekly observations as raw data. All such observations must be properly dated. Also, make sure to include the date when you set up your ecocolumn, and the dates and descriptions when changes were made. Identify the number of days your ecocolumn has been in operation. Identify the pH, temperature, and dissolved oxygen content of your aquatic habitat and the point during the experiment when these measurements were taken. Make comparisons with data from other ecocolumns in the classroom. Look for such things as plant growth, decomposition rate, and water turbidity.

Step five Conclusion and analysis: This is the most important part of the report.

1. Identify food chains and food webs in each of the habitats.

2. Identify any biogeochemical cycles that are present.

3. Determine the affects of each habitat on the others.

4. Determine why there are differences in the ecocolumns in the classroom.

5. Identify the roles of various biotic factors such as decomposers, producers, consumers, etc.

6. Identify changes that occurred in ecocolumn, such as the water going from murky to clear in the aquatic habitat. explain why you think such changes occurred and their implications as far as the health of the ecosystem is concerned.

7. Compare your artificial ecosystem to real ones. How are they different?

8. Was the ecosystem a open or closed system or something in-between - how does this affect your column?

9. What kinds of niches were available to the various organisms and was there any competition? 10. Was the law of tolerance in action? If so, what where the limiting factors in the habitat?

11. Was there any form of succession in yours or anyone else's ecocolumn?

12. Did the plant life seemed to have a difficult time in the terrestrial habitat? if so, why?

13. Was there a change in color in any of the habitats? Was there any fuzzies present? What caused these changes?

14. Comment on the stability and sustainabilty of various ecocolumns in the classroom. Why do some of the columns appear to be more stable than others?

15. Explore any analogies that can be made between your mini worlds (ecocolumns) and the real world. Do the ecocolumns teach us anything about real world ecosystems.

Step six: The sixth step of the scientific method is to disseminate what you have learned.

July 16-Ruth

The ecocolumn is continuing to support life. Condensation is collecting on the sides and the top of the column. Enough condensation accumulated at the top to simulate rain drops following into the predator chamber. Albert E. is currently hiding out in his chamber, nowhere to be found. There is, however, evidence of his presence. Three of the leaves have small, caccoon-like webs with the dark specs of what appears to be the ants or smaller insects inside. We will continue to watch for changes with the webs. The aquatic chamber is still supporting the three fish, but we could not find the leech. The turbidity of the water is the same as when the ecocolumn was constructed. Hopefully the addition of the fruit flies will help the ecocolumn to continue as a life supporting system.

Ecocolumn Day 7-16-07 Catherine

7-16-07

Observations of Ecocolumn - Albert E. (a.k.a. the spider) seems to have created three prey restrainment devices - webs! The fly is missing. Bridget, Ruth and I wondered "Did Albert capture the fly in his web? Has the fly turned into dinner for the predator? We will continue to observe. Catherine

July 11, 2007-Catherine

Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Albert E. (a.k.a. the spider) was nowhere to be found in the predator chamber. Bridgett and I speculated if he was under the soil against the plastic wall. We later determined this object to be a small pebble. Did he burro into the soil of the predator chamber? Did he succumb to an unknown predator? We will continue to search for him tomorrow. Bridgett and I also noted that a fly was flying around in the decomposition chamber. Will the fly make his way from his decomposition chamber into the predator chamber? Is Albert E. hungry? Will the fly survive?
Bridgett and I also noted that the water cycle was evident in our ecocolumn. Condensation was noted in the ecocolumn. Catherine

July 11, 2007-Bridgett

This is a picture of the condensation that Catherine spoke about in her blog. It was not as much as some people's ecocolumns, but it was at least there! Hopefully, tomorrow there will be more after we poured water into the column today.

How Albert E.'s World was Made July 11, 2007-Bridgett

Albert E.'s world was constructed using five 2 liter coke bottles. Each bottle was cut to fit into the next. The first chamber is the aquarium which hold fish, a leech, and some plants. The second chamber is the decomposition chamber, and it is where the fruit flies will lay their eggs. We think there may even be a worm in this chamber! The decomposition chamber has a porthole in it to put fruit flies and food into the area. The third chamber is our predator chamber. There are plants in soil and many creatures including ants and the infamous Albert E. There is a hole in the cap of the bottle so that the fruit flies from the decomposition can fly up through it. The fruit flies will serve as Albert E.'s food supply. The final chamber is the precipitation funnel. Water will fall through this funnel and provide water for our animals and plants.

How Ruth, Catherine, and Bridgett created a tiny world in one day...-Bridgett, Ruth, and Catherine

It all began one hot and sultry Tuesday morning. Catherine, Ruth, and Bridgett headed into the laboratory with a mere five, two liter bottles, a bag of compost, and a live spider known as Albert E. Little did Albert E. know that his world was about to change. He watched as these three humans haplessly cut, taped, and formed a new world. When he thought it could not get any worse, he was siphoned, sucked, poked, and thrown into the predator chamber. His new life had just begun.