Research On Eco-Columns

Research:

Life Sciences.com - As one of the most encompassing levels of organization in the living world, an ecosystem is defined as a community of organisms along with their physical environment. The Eco-Column is designed to model an ecosystem on a small scale. Its components include a terrestrial habitat with a compost unit, and an aquatic habitat.

Link: http://www.learner.org/courses/essential/life/bottlebio/ecocol/

Life Sciences.com - What you stock your Eco-Column with involves your goals for study, the sources of your specimens — local or purchased — and your own creativity. To apply concepts from the videos, it will help you to think about including producers, consumers, and decomposers. The simplest way to stock your Eco-Column is to collect from your local environment so that you can model the ecosystem in which you live. To provide a breadth of examples, we combined local collections with purchased specimens to make our system particularly diverse.

Link: http://www.learner.org/courses/essential/life/bottlebio/ecocol/build.html

Why Our Eco-Column Will Be Self-Sustaining

Our Eco-Column will be self sustaining due to these reasons:

Abiotic (non-living):

> The water which has overflowed from the aqua zone will be recycled by putting it back into the Terra Zone.

> The rich nutrients in the soil will help the plant grow and provide food for the earthworms.

Biotic (living):

> The earth worms in the Terra and Decomp Zone will recycle the nutrients back into the soil.

> The plants in the Terra Zone will create their own oxygen by photosynthesizing.

> The Sun will be the only light source. No artificial light will be used.

> Insects will feed off other insects.

The Construction Of Our Eco-Column

The Construction Of Our Eco-Column:

(1) - Cut the bottles to the correct size and shape.

(2) - Place the cut bottles on top of each other on the stand.

(3) - Place small stones at the bottom of the aqua zone.

(4) - Make a hole at the top of the Aqua Zone for the overflow of the natural water.

(5) - Cut a straw to the right length for the overflow of the Aqua Zone into a separate container.

(6) - Build the filtration systems in the bottom of the Terra and Decomp Zone.

(7) - Insert the moist soil into the Terra Zone and Decomp Zone.

(8) - Place rotten apple and bark into the Decomp Zone.

 (9) - Plant germinating basil plants into the Terra Zone.

(10) - Our finished product (Basil has not grown yet).

Our Original Drawing Idea Of The Eco-Column

Our Original Drawing Idea Of The Eco-Column

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We have kept to our original plan except for the fact that we are using earth worms instead of snails and that we are using radishes in the Terra-Zone instead of a bean plant.

Terra Zone (By A.Gordon) – In this sector of the Eco-Column, we have a radish, earth worms and a rock. A filtration system allows water to filter through into the sector below know as the Decomp zone.

Decomp Zone (By D.Rowell) - In the Decomp Zone we have apples and bark which will hopefully decompose and attract fruit flies. We will also have earthworms which will help recycle the nutrients back into the soil. Water flows into it from the filtration system in the Terra zone. The Decomp Zone uses the same filtration system into the aqua zone.

Aqua Zone (By D.Dell) - In the Aqua zone there is a filtration system leading down from the Decomp zone above. There is water in this zone from a pond and some small stones; a practical habitat for any water insects.

Idea adapted from: http://www.ehow.com/how_7527146_make-eco-columns.html

Parents

We have sent our parents this link:

http://ecocolumn9-2.blogspot.com/

Our parents will now be able to access their son's blog!

Group Members

All of our group members have joined our blog! Enjoy!

Welcome!

The Life Of The Eco-column has begun!