Change of biotic components in our eco-column

Our fern has grown 4mm since we planted it and our mint has grown 2mm since we planted it. Most of our animals are still alive but unfortunately one earthworm has died and a couple of wood lice have also died. Our two earthworms are situated deep around the side of our Eco-column, we have 6 wood lice left and lots of termites, we can't count them because there are too many.

Data collection of our abiotic components in our Eco-column

On the 9/03/2013 we measured the temperature and got a reading of 23 degrees C and the temperature of the room was 18 degrees C. We also measured the pH of the water for the first time, when we put the drops in our water it turned a dark green colour which indicates that the pH of the water was 7.

On the 10/03/2013 we measured the temperature of our aqua zone as 22 degrees C and we took the pH of the water and it turned the same dark green which tells us that the pH was 7 again.

On the 12/03/2013 we took our final readings, the temperature of the aqua zone was 20 degrees C and the water turned a very dark green colour showing that the pH of the water was 9.

Our abiotic factors observed under a microscope

Today we retrieved some water from our Eco-column and put it under a microscope. We noticed that there was lots of plant fragments in our water, we also noticed that there were small black creatures in our water, unfortunately we could not identify them.

On he 12/03/2013 we were going to observe a sample of soil from our terra zone under a dissecting microscope, unfortunately we did not have the microscope so we did it without it. We observed it and noted that there were many bugs, we could not identify them, and the roots from the fern and mint had grown a lot.

  

A photo of our Eco-column

 Hi everyone here is a photo of our completed Eco-column so all of you can see it. We haven't put our stand on just for the purpose of this photo thanks :)

How a self-sustaining Eco-column should work

A self sustaining Eco-column must be able to survive for some time with out being watered by myself or my group members. We can do this by making the Eco-column a tropical environment we do this by putting a removable lid on the top of the Terra zone.

We water the plant for the first couple of weeks to make the soil constantly damp, so the earthworms don't die then we put the lid on and leave. The water will evaporate from the Aqua zone because of the warm environment. the evaporated water will rise up through the Eco-column until it hits the cooler lid on the Terra zone. It condenses on the lid and falls, making it "rain" constantly like tropical weather.

This forms a cycle in our Eco-column of constant watering itself therefore making it self-sustaining.   

What each of us did for the project

Alex's job was to build the Aqua zone, this includes getting pond water, a water plant that floats in the water and small water insects.

Leo's Job was to build the Decomposition zone and to bring the dell sticks and base for a stand. In the Decomposition zone we put a very small amount of soil for earthworms and fruit for fruit flies.

Keagan's job was to build the Terra zone and the stand, in the Terra zone we put lots of fertile soil, some compost two tropical plants, earthworms, wood lice and termites.    

how we stocked our Eco-column

We put rich fertile soil, we also put some compost in our Eco-column. We planted two tropical plants in our Eco-column a maidenhair fern and some mint. We picked these plants because they are suited for tropical weather, and we have made our Eco-column to be hot and wet by sealing the top with a removable lid. The climate will evaporate water and the removable lid will catch the evaporated water, the water will condense  and drop, causing it to get warm and very damp inside our Eco-column.

We also put a few flakes of wood and leaf litter for wood lice and termites, we also put a couple of earthworms to add nutrition to the soil.

A diagram for you

An Annotated Diagram of Our Eco Column

The Image above is basically a draining of what is in our diagram, I am very sorry if you are not able to see it but the camera was not able to pick up such small details with the light. 

Basically our top bottle is called the tera-zone and contains all living things. In our tera-zone we have two unknown plants a small mushroom a couple of worms and other bugs (to keep the soil fertile) and a lot of soil.

In the middle is the decomposition-zone. This contains all dead and decaying factors. In ours we have placed a few sweets, fruit peeling, a stick, a couple of dead flies, leaves and we even found a dead gecko.

And lastly we have our aqua-zone. This zone is rather simple and only contains water, some pond weed and two water snails. 

Hopefully you can see the diagram and this has given you an idea of exactly what is inside our eco-column.

Our self sustaining Eco-column

We plan on making our Eco-column self sustaining.We will do this by closing the top of the Terra zone with a removable lid. We then water our Eco-column for the first few days and hope that our Eco-column becomes self sustaining.

How we do this is that inside the the Eco-column it gets hot and the water starts to evaporate. The evaporating water hits the lid on the top of the Terra zone, the evaporated water condenses on the lid the water then falls from the lid hence watering the plant.

This forms a cycle hence making a self sustaining Eco-column



 

Our Eco-column so far

What The Different Zones Contain

Our Eco-column has three zones, Terra, Decomposition and Aquatic zone.

The Terra zone consist of loamy soil with germinating seeds, we also put animals such as snails, spiders and insects we also put earth worms in the soil because earth worms add nutrients to the soil.

The Decomposition zone has a small amount of soil in it for earth worms, we put pieces of fruit in the zone to attract flies we also put dry leaves and sticks for wood lice and other insects.

The Aquatic zone contains pond water with water plants and algae, we also put water beetles and other small water animals. We do not put any fish or lizards in the aqua zone.  

How it looks

The Eco-column is made out of coke bottles. There are three zones in our Eco-column, each zone will be in a different coke bottle. At the top of our Eco-column is our first zone, the Terra zone which needs to be watered every day, it has a whole at the bottom of the bottle fulled with stones to lets water but not soil pass out the Terra zone.

Beneath the Terra zone is the middle zone, the Decomposition zone where the water from the Terra zone escapes to. There are smaller wholes at the bottom of the bottle to let the water leave from the Decomposition zone.

Then at the base of our Eco-column is the Aquatic zone where the water from the Terra zone finally reaches it's destination, there is a pipe connected to the bottle to make sure that the water does not overflow from the zone.