Ecosystem in a Bottle: Week 11

Week Eleven

November 18, 2013

 

Water: The water in our ecosystem is still clear. Even though we poked a hole in our ecosystem last week, the water level does not seem to have gone down any. We still have condensation in the top and bottom of the bottle.

Elodea: The elodea is still floating in the water and looks very healthy. In fact, it is really the only part of this ecosystem that seems to have survived in the environment.

Snails: The snails are both sitting on the gravel at the bottom. They are not stuck to the side of the bottle, which makes us think they may be deceased.

Daphnia: The daphnia are still not visible. The exoskeletons are not even apparent anymore. We believe they are long gone.

Seeds/Leaves: All of our leaves are completely dead. Our plant stalks have shriveled and are turning yellow/brown. The hole we poked in the bottle does not seem to have improved the health of our ecosystem.

Soil: There are still some roots that are visible, but we do not think there are any new roots. It seems our ecosystem has run its course.


Final note: Our ecosystem experiment was quite interesting. We can definitely see how these closed ecosystems could be beneficial in our classrooms. In a class of younger students, we would consider using one class ecosystem for observation rather than individual ecosystems; however, older students would likely benefit from making and observing their own/group ecosystems. We believe that if we had added more soil to the system and/or added fewer seeds, our plants would have fared much better because there would be a sufficient amount of nutrients to keep the bean plants healthy. The bottom of our ecosystem looks healthy, leading us to believe that the top half of the system was malnourished once the soil was depleted of nutrients. Next time around, we would add more soil, observe for a longer period of time post poking a hole in the ecosystem/poke the hole as soon as the plants started to take a turn for the worst, and added more daphnia. If we were working with a class of older students, they could further investigate their own questions pertaining to the completion of the ecosystem project (i.e., How does the amount of soil affect the growth of the plants, why does the elodea seem to be thriving, why did the daphnia disappear so quickly, what could be added to the ecosystem instead of the dapnia, etc.)

Ecosystem in a Bottle: Week 10

Week Ten
November 11, 2013

WATER: the water is still clear. There is still condensation present in the top and the bottom of the system. We drew a new line to mark the water level (since we poked a hole in our system and we want to see if it gets lower). Our water is currently 9.8 cm from the bottom of our system

ELODEA: The elodea is very large and seems to be the only thing in our ecosystem that is really thriving. In the fourth picture, the new line we marked (labeled 'hole') will help us see how much the water goes down.

SNAILS: both snails are in the gravel. we are not sure if they are still alive.

DAPHNIA: We believe the daphnia are long gone as we have not seen them since the first couple of weeks. The exoskeletons of the daphnia are no longer present, even when we swirl the water in the bottle around. This is interesting as usually we could at least see the REMNANTS.  

SEEDS/LEAVES: All of our leaves are highly see-through. They are stuck to the side of the bottle and they are very brown. The stalks themselves are still standing, but they are breaking and wilting. The top limbs of the stalk are browning, and very spindly. It is clear that our ecosystem is not very healthy anymore.

SOIL: THE ROOTS OF THE BEAN PLANTS ARE STILL VISIBLE IN THE SOIL. THERE ARE still ROOTS THAT ARE POKING OUT OF THE TOP OF THE SOIL. No real change is visible. 

UPDATE: We are opening our closed system by heating up a large nail to poke a hole into the top of our system. We are curious to see if this improves the health of our plants, as well as what other changes might occur.

Ecosystem in a Bottle: Week 9

Week Nine

November 4, 2013

Water: The water in our ecosystem is still clear, and there is lots of condensation in the bottle.

Elodea: The elodea is still floating in the water. The oldest section of the elodea is now yellowing.

Snails: One of our snails is floating in the elodea. We think that this snail is probably deceased. The other snail is still stuck to the bottle near the bottom and looks alive.

Daphnia: The daphnia are still not visible, although any time the ecosystem bottle is moved, you can see tons of daphnia exoskeletons swirling around. That said, we haven't seen live daphnia since the second week.

Seeds/Leaves: All of our plants are brown or on their way to being brown. One of our bean plants is covered in a white, caterpillar-esque mold. 

Soil: The soil level is really low. There are two roots protruding from a bean plant. Our soil seems to be thoroughly depleted. Overall, our ecosystem seems to have run its course.

Ecosystem in a Bottle: Week 8

Week Eight

October 28, 2013

Water: The water in our ecosystem is still clear. The water level is a little lower than last week. The condensation has also increased. As seen above. 

 

Elodea: The elodea is still floating in the water. It appears to have quadrupled in length at this point. The roots are continuing to grow towards the rocks.

Snails: The snails were hanging out in the gravel today. We think they are still alive because they're anchored to the rocks.

Daphnia: The daphnia are still not visible, although any time the ecosystem bottle is moved, you can see tons of daphnia exoskeletons swirling around. That said, we haven't seen live daphnia since the second week.

Seeds/Leaves: We have a green leaf! Just one, but there are some little green sprigs protruding from the stem of the plants, including those we thought were dead because of their sickly state. There are also new roots coming from all of the plant stems. We suspect the new roots are going to grow towards the soil, as they are searching for nutrients.

Soil: The roots of the bean plants are still visible in the soil. There are roots that are now poking out of the top of the soil.

Ecosystem in a Bottle: Week 7

Week Seven

October 22, 2013

*Note: This observation is one day later than usual because our class spent Monday at the Texas Memorial Museum for a field trip! 

Water: The water in our ecosystem is still clear. The water level seems a bit lower, but there is still quite a bit of condensation in the system, and that could explain why the level has gone down.

Elodea: The elodea is still floating in the water. The newest elodea spring still looks very healthy. The leaves are long and the plant is a very vivid green. The roots that appeared last week have successfully anchored the plant down into the gravel.

Snails: Both snails are stuck to the bottle (which is good news since we thought one might be dead). We could actually see the snails' antennae moving for the first time. The snails are both suctioned on well and they appear healthy.

Daphnia: The daphnia are still not visible, although any time the ecosystem bottle is moved, you can see tons of daphnia exoskeletons swirling around. That said, we haven't seen live daphnia since the second week.

Seeds/Leaves: About 80% of our leaves have turned yellow. The plants themselves are very spindly looking and they appear frail. We suspect this is linked to a nitrogen deficiency as mentioned in an earlier post.

Soil: The roots of the bean plants are still visible in the soil. There are roots that are now poking out of the top of the soil.

Ecosystem in a Bottle: Week 6

Water: The water in our ecosystem is still clear. The water level seems a bit lower, but there is quite a bit of condensation in the top of the system that could explain why the level has gone down.

Elodea: The elodea is still floating in the water. The color of the elodea seems to have improved. It looked rejuvenated. The entire elodea plant has seven roots that are traveling down to the gravel at the bottom of the ecosystem which we assume is happening so that the plant can anchor itself down as it grows larger and longer.

Snails: Only one snail was stuck to the side of the bottle. The smaller snail was on the gravel at the bottom. We hope it's still alive.

Daphnia: The daphnia are still not visible, although any time the ecosystem bottle is moved, you can see tons of daphnia exoskeletons swirling around.

Seeds/Leaves: More leaves are turning yellow and some are actually turning completely brown. There are a couple of leaves stuck to the side of the ecosystem. Our bean plants are looking pretty sad. As we noted last week, we discovered that we didn't put enough soil so the plants are suffering from a nitrogen deficiency.

 
Soil: The roots of the bean plants are still visible in the soil. There are roots that are now poking out of the top of the soil.

Ecosystem in a Bottle: Week 5

Week Five

October 7, 2013

Water: The water in our ecosystem is still clear. The water level seems a bit lower, but there is quite a bit of condensation in the top of the system that could explain why the level has gone down.

Elodea: The elodea is still floating in the water. The original spring is still slightly brown on the edges. The new sprig, however, looks very healthy with longer, very green leaves. The entire elodea plant has roots that are traveling down to the gravel at the bottom of the ecosystem (as seen in the first picture) which we assume is happening so that the plant can anchor itself down as it grows larger and longer.

Snails: Only one snail was stuck to the side of the bottle. The smaller snail was on the gravel at the bottom. We hope it's still alive.

Daphnia: The daphnia are still not visible, although any time the ecosystem bottle is moved, you can see tons of daphnia exoskeletons swirling around.

Seeds/Leaves: We have about 5 leaves that are turning very yellow (see picture 2) and some are actually turning brown on the end. We observed our TA's ecosystem and found that she did not have any yellow leaves. She put more soil in her ecosystem, leading us to believe our leaves are yellowing due to a nitrogen deficiency that is keeping the plant from making enough chlorophyll. (Read the Wiki Page on Nitrogen Deficiency Here)

Soil: The roots of the bean plants are still visible in the soil. There are roots that are now poking out of the top of the soil.

Ecosystem in a Bottle: Week 4

Week Four

September 30, 2013

Water: water is still clear; water level does not seem to have gone down any since last week

Elodea: still floating; slightly brown on the edges; new sprig that appeared last week is about 3x longer than it was

Snails: both snails stuck to the bottle, in the water

Daphnia: still no sign of the daphnia

Seeds/ leaves: plants are still growing and "curving" along the top of the bottle; some of the leaves are yellowing

Soil: roots are still visible in the soil; the bean casings that fell off can still be seen on top of the soil

Ecosystem in a Bottle: Week 3

Week Three
September 23, 2013

Water: water is still clear; water level is a little lower than it was last week, leading us to believe we did not succeed in creating a truly closed system; condensation is found on both the top and the bottom half of the ecosystem

Elodea: still floating; slightly brown on the edges; a new sprig is growing!

Snails: both snails stuck to the top of the bottom bottle; possible a third (baby) snail

Daphnia: still not visible, although there are plenty of the exoskeletons in the water

Seeds: all 3 bean seeds have sprouted; they have grown upwards as much as possible and are now "curving" and growing along the top of the bottle

Soil: roots are still visible in the soil; the bean casings have fallen off and can be seen on top of the soil

Ecosystem in a Bottle: Week 2

Week Two
September 16, 2013

*A sketch of our Ecosystem in a Bottle

Water: water is still clear; we marked the water level to see if our system is really closed or if we are losing water

Elodea: still floating; slightly brown on the edges/tips 

Snails: only one snail is stuck to the side of the bottle; other snail is on the gravel

Daphnia: not visible, perhaps hiding near the bottom

Seeds: 2 beans fully sprouted (each about the length of a pencil); other seed is "hooked" and in the process of sprouting

Soil: roots are visible in the soil

Ecosystem in a Bottle, Day 1

Elementary Science Methods

Day One: Creating Our Ecosystem
September 9, 2013

Water: filled about half of the bottom bottle with spring water; water is clear

Elodea: healthy; 12 cm in length; floating near the top of the water

Snails: 2 healthy, small snails added; adjusting nicely, sticking to the side of the bottle

Daphnia: 5 daphnia added; active and visible

Seeds: 3 pole bean seeds planted shallowly in the organic soil