Environmental Science

Eco Column Project Report

VII. Conclusions

a) In the aquatic chamber, the first week was a disaster. The plant life was sick, the snails were dying, and our fish died. As the project continued, it became healthier once we changed out the water. The first week the plant started flourishing, the snails and fish started to survive. In the decomposition chamber, it housed the entire time we started with leaves and some fruit which decomposed into the soil. When the project was over, it was nearly all decomposed. In the terrestrial chamber, the flora flourished the entire time. Our plants were always green. We planted a few mung bears, which by the end, had grown out of the tip. Overall, our eco-column was a success.

b) The water in the aquatic chamber changed drastically throughout the entire process. In the first week it turned brown and we believe, soapy. So we hanged it out and started fresh. In the beginning, it was always murky with low oxygen. We believe it is because our plant life was unhealthy and dying. So, therefore, it was not performing photosynthesis. We added new plant life and the water became clearer and the oxygen level started to gradually rise. The last week of the project, the water started to become cloudy again because the plants were dying. We think all of the changes have something to do with healthy plant life.

c) When we watered the terrestrial chamber, it worked its way through the decomposition chamber, down to the aquatic, dripping dirty, murky water into it. We believe this started to kill the plant life.

d) The other groups' eco-column did much better than ours through the overall process. Their flora in the terrestrial chamber was not as productive as ours, but they had a large amount of plant life. They had a less extreme decomposition chamber and we believe that it did not make the aquatic chamber dirty and murky. In their aquatic chamber, their water never turned brown or had any fish or plants die. We believe that their water was clean because the interaction between the columns was not as drastic as ours. We believe the most important factors are clean water and healthy plant life.

e) We would add more flora to the aquatic chamber and not as many decomposers in the decomposition column, making it so the fish and snails could have a better survival rate. And by making the decomposition column less extreme, making it so the column doesn't smell.

f) That all systems interacted at some point, if one becomes polluted, and then all will become polluted or will fail in some aspect.

VIII. Application of Knowledge

a) In the aquatic chamber, the bottom of the food web, the producer was the plant life and algae. The consumers were the fish and snails in the chamber. In the other two chambers, I don't believe there were food chains/webs.

b) The carbon cycle worked between all three chambers. In the aquatic chamber, it started with runoff water from the upper two columns, and then worked its way out of the water to the top. Carbon was transferred