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Ecocolumn Lab

Elaine Qian

Horner, M.
Environmental Science AP
Period 5
The purpose behind creating an eco column is to study the real world in a smaller scale.
Just like how architectures make a model of their design before they actually build it, it is to
assure the success and show others a basic idea of what it would look like. It is a great way to
learn the ecosystem up close because it simplifies things to only certain species and controlled

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conditions that represents the majority of ecosystems. It is a much more creative and memorable
way to learn about the ecosystem then through a textbook. The conveyance of a man-made
ecosystem has its setbacks for learning purposes, because it is man-made many elements seen in
nature are controlled and can not occur naturally. It is a closed ecosystem that has no interaction
with the outside world. It is completely sealed off with duct tape that restricts any faunas and
floras to absorb and give to what is outside of the ecocolumn.
To create the ecocolumns many materials had to be collected for each chamber both
biotic and abiotic. For the aquatic chamber that required biotic materials such as: a fish which we
chose a beta, water plants which included duckweed and other water flora, dirt and soil to plant
the water plant, and as well as purified water. For the terrestrial chamber the biotic material
required were, worms, plants, soil, rolly pollies, and water. For our last chamber the
decomposition chamber it was a collection of an array of things. In the chamber it included, a
cricket, some worms, twigs, apple peels, and dead leaves.The only abiotic materials required for
the ecocolumns are materials used to create it such as, duct tape and a pair of scissors as well as
the bottles that contains the miniature ecosystem.
To put together the miniature ecosystem was not an easy task at hand, it required
dedication, teamwork, and bravery. The team were split into groups of two; one group was in
charge of putting the ecocolumn together which would be cutting off certain tops and bottoms of
a soda bottle and duct taping them together as one. After assembling the columns it was time to
observe and collect data from it, to do so we had to make sure the organisms within the
ecocolumns were alive and healthy. The most important and hardest chamber to maintain would
be the aquatic chamber which we had to do multiple tests to make sure the fish and the plants in
the chamber was healthy. There were seven categories that had to be done each week; test the

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DO level, check the temperature, check the turbidity, check the nitrate and nitrite, and maintain
CO2 levels. To check and maintain a balanced oxygen level first someone has to test the water
with the DO kit. The DO kit comes with a tube which has to be filled to 25 mg afterwards snap a
glass of chlorine into the sample of water. Determining by the color of the water it may need
more oxygen, if so than with a DO meter the water must
get to a safe level for the fish to survive, which would be
most favorable around six or seven. For the temperature
all that is needed is to stick a thermometer into the
aquatic chamber and to make sure it stays at room
temperature, around 23-26 celsius is preferable. For pH
levels and nitrate and nitrite it was much simpler. The
only required materials were strip testers and on the side
of the bottle that contained the strips informed whether
the water was in the safe zone or the dangerous zone. A
decent number to get for pH level is around 7 and for nitrate and nitrite it is below 25 ppm. Now,
for turbidity there is a more advanced equipment to test the level for TSS (total suspended solid)
level where a sample of the water is inserted into a machine that reads the turbidity level and the
murkier the water the higher the turbidity level. Lastly and the trickiest is the the CO2 kit that is
used to check the carbon dioxide level. The kit requires a steady hand and thorough cleaning of
the equipments, especially the needle used to extract the carbon dioxide B which is very easily
contaminated. Droplets of the content is then dropped into a sample of the water until the sample
water turns pink. The average drops it took to turn pink was around 11.
Data collect from the six week experiment relating to the water condition.

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Terrestrial Flora (Unknown Plant)

Aquatic Flora/Fauna (Flora Unknown,

fauna is a beta)

In the ecocolumn every species played an important

role in the miniature ecosystem. The producers of the ecocolumn
were the terrestrial flora and the aquatic flora. They produced the
food for

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Terrestrial Fauna (Cricket)

Decomposition (Red worms)

the primary consumers that dwelled

within the specific ecocolumn. The terrestrial flora was the producer for the rolly pollies and the
cricket. It was the main food source for all organisms that lived in there. In the aquatic flora the
producer for the beta fish and there were two types of floras maintaining the betas health,
duckweeds and an unknown aquatic flora. The decomposer of the ecocolumn were the red
worms and the earthworms, they gnawed at the earth burrowing holes in the soil so that water
and air can travel through the soil more freely, break down organic matters that are clumped
together and spread it evenly among the soil, as well as fertilizing the soil with the casting that is
left behind after they eat. The primary consumers such as the beta and the crickets main job was
to co-exist with the plants creating an mutalisk effect on both species. The beta and cricket
creates the carbon cycle by simply breathing and consumes oxygen while the plants produce
oxygen and needs carbon dioxide. Surprisingly, in our ecocolumn the oxygen level became
extremely high while the carbon dioxide level were extremely low that plants started to wither
away. The nitrogen cycle is also another important aspect that is needed to keep both plants and
animals alive in the ecocolumn. Because the ecocolumn has limited factors the nitrogen cycle is
mostly controlled by the fertilizer that was mixed into the soil prior. The nitrogen from the
terrestrial chamber is then spread out to the other chambers through the hole that was created in
the bottle caps that connects each column to the other. Phosphorus cycle unlike any of the other

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two cycles are not

impacted by the
atmosphere instead it is
more strictly related to the
solid material such as
rocks and minerals who
decay and is absorbed into
the soil for the plants and animals to use. Phosphorus was most likely only presumed in the
terrestrial chamber because it is a limited nutrient for aquatic life so most likely it did not travel
to the aquatic chamber.
Our ecocolumn had started out on a good note but as time progressed human made
disaster occurred. Our ecocolumn had been knocked over causing the aquatic chamber to be in
great disturbance which fogged up the water and ruined the quality of the water. The terrestrial
chamber had also been overwater in the very beginning making the plant unable to access air. It
is the same concept of a person who overeats and causes to have a food coma and feels sleepy
and unable to function properly, the reason behind it is the lack of air that is able to pumped
through. The terrestrial vegetation died by the second week of the experiment which also brought
discomfort to the terrestrial faunas. The death of the plant cut off the food resources that the
primary consumers needed and slowly died off. Now, with no primary consumers roaming
around in the terrestrial chamber the decomposers vanished as well. This had a direct impact to
the decomposition chamber that also supported primary consumers who needed the oxygen
produced by the terrestrial plant and soon died off as well. The only chamber that was not greatly
affected by the collapse of the terrestrial chamber was the aquatic chamber. The reason why it

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was not as greatly impacted was because it had all the necessity within the chamber to support
both the aquatic fauna and aquatic flora. The only issue presented in the chamber was the
overload of oxygen and not enough animals to process it into carbon dioxide. If the terrestrial
chamber had not died off then the oxygen could have been processed through that chamber.
many ecocolumns had flourished unlike ours and I presume the reason is because of their starting
point. The watering of the terrestrial flora was an important aspect of the after success of the
ecocolumn. If the terrestrial floras died then the faunas within the chamber would die with it as
well as the microorganisms within the decomposition chamber. Many ecocolumns also had an
algae bloom which resulted in murky green water. It is usually caused by over nutrient, high
phosphate and nitrogen level, maybe the fertilizer from the terrestrial chamber may have
traveled down to the aquatic chamber or the aquatic flora died.
This ecocolumn lab has been a great experience, being able to see occurrence on earth in
a close up aspect and understanding where things have gone wrong. I would never have
imagined the work and factors that go into each chamber, especially the aquatic chamber since
that was the one that needed weekly maintenance. It has made me realize how delicate the earth
is and with just a few changes human kind might adjust the earth would collapse. If this project
were to be extended it would be a great idea to add in new floras and floras and see if the
ecosystem is able to be recovered and how long it would take.