Reflection on the Term's Work

1. Yes, we all believe that our Eco-Column was a good success. Despite our plant dying, everything else seemed to be working very nicely. Maggots were formed, decomposing away everything in our Decomposition Zone. Our earthworms lasted for a good while, until eventually they died, allowing more dead matter to decompose. In the end, our Eco-Column even managed to become self-sustaining, as its own plant life began to form! I really believe that it was a true success, as we had a great time building it, observing it, blogging about it, and just learning about Ecology in the process. It really was a true success.

2. Redwald- I learned an unbelievable amount about Ecology in the past term. I've learned how abiotic, and biotic factors interact with one another, and ways to make an Eco-System self-sustaining. Just blogging about our findings taught me a lot about how and why things happened in our Eco-Column. I really have increased my understanding of Ecology. 
Calven- I really was interested in Ecology from the start, and my understand of the topic has grown every time we wrote a new blog post. I've now begun to grasp the concept of all the biotic, and abiotic factors working together in an Eco-System. I think the reason why I've learned and understood so much about Ecology, because it was a fun and interesting way to learn. 
Daniel- At the start of the first term, when we were introduced to this 'project', I really did struggle to understand the whole 'Ecology' thing. I'll be honest, it sure did take a while, but eventually I managed to take hold of the information I needed to know when blogging. Red and Calven really helped me along the way, teaching me, and helping me understand how, and why things happen in the Eco-System, and our Eco-Column. So, after a hard term's work, I can really say that my understand of Ecology has really been improved. 

3. Redwald- I really believe that our group worked really well together. Everybody contributed an even amount, and whenever one of us struggled to understand a task, the other two members would help him get the knowledge he required. We worked hard, and efficiently, sticking to our tasks until they were done. 
Calven- I believe our blog does show what we've learned about Ecology, and about our very own Eco-Column. It is a rather accurate reflection of what we have learned, we believe our Blog was well made, and almost all the information about our Eco-Column was put up on there. Just working on the posts taught me so very much, increasing my fascination for the subject.
Daniel- To start off, we all worked together in building the Eco-Column. Building it together during Open Periods, and on weekends. We eventually finished this, and filled it together one afternoon after our cricket practice. We then began posts on our blog, which we all worked well on. Redwald was our blog master, who did all the posting. However, Calven and I did write many posts, we just ran them through Red as his English is quite strong, and we believed that it would be rather nice should our English be grammatically correct! Calven was our Photographer, he took the pictures of our Eco-Column and sent them on to whoever needed them for a post. We all took our work up with a smile on our face, and got it done. Together as a team, we worked superbly, and I hope that all our great teamwork results in a nice overall mark. 

Changes in our Eco-Column Over 3 Weeks

1. Our Predictions
Before the holidays, we were asked to make various predictions about our Eco-Column. Considering our Eco-Columns state before the holidays, we really didn't think there could be much change. The plant was all but dead, and the only visible lifeforms were some fruit fly maggots, and fruit flies themselves. However, the the task was to make predictions- and so, we did:

• In our Terra Zone, our plant was barely alive, but there were some remnants of green in it- showing that there was some life. We predicted that after the holidays, our plant would be dead. There would be no colour in it's leaves, and it would be dried up. 
• The water, in our Aqua Zone, was almost as stagnant as possible, so we didn't believe there would be any change in there. To add, we realized that the water levels would not rise, due to our pipe that releases water, and by the fact that there would be extremely limited watering (if any!) during the holidays. Therefore, our prediction was that after the holidays, there would be no visible change to the Aqua Zone in our Eco-Column. 
• In the decomposition zone, we noticed maggots along the rims of the Coke bottles. And everything inside it had already been decomposed. Therefore, we predicted that their would be no change in the content of our Decomposition Zone, as we believed everything decomposable, has already been decomposed. Due to this, we also predicted that all our maggots would die. 

2. What we Thought about our Predictions

Now that the holidays (the three week period) are completed, the next task is to comment on the accuracy of our predictions, and explain some reasons for why this could have happened. My overall all impression on my predictions was that they were fairly accurate. However, we all noticed some things that we hadn't predicted.

• We predicted the happenings to our Terra Zone almost perfectly. Our plant, if it wasn't before the three week period, was now truly dead. The leaves were dry, crumbling to the touch, and had no signs of green colour on them, and the leaves had actually begun to decompose and become part of our soil. Reasons for this, could be due to the lack of lighting in the classroom during the period, and by the fact that no water was given to our plant for those three weeks. I would like to also add to the list of reasons, the fact that the plant was more or less dead before the holidays. 
• Once again, we found our predictions (for our Aqua Zone) were fairly accurate. The water level stayed constant, due to our pipe releasing water, and due to it not being watered once during the three week period. The water itself didn't change too much, however, the water became a lighter brown over the three weeks, with the bottom of the water turning a tad green. This would be due to the lack of water motion over the holidays, creating a green 'scum' at the bottom of the liquid. Another thing I never stated in our predictions was, that fact that our water would stink horrifically! Which it did...
• Our prediction for the Decomposition Zone was fairly inaccurate, we noticed that our content remaining hadn't changed dramatically. However, we found the maggots were still alive and were even bigger than before. We found this rather peculiar, and realized that our initial observation was incorrect- there were in fact decomposable things in our Decomposition Zone for the maggots to feed.  Contrary to what we believed. We also never predicted an almost blatantly obvious thing- mould growth. In our Decomposition Zone, we observed moss forming at the base of our cotton. This, would occur due to the fact that water had made its way through the cotton, leaving it damp and dark (due to the lack of lighting in the room), which are both ideal for growing mould. 

3. Before and Afters:

As a back up for the previous answer- here are our 'before and after' photos for each group.

Terra Zone:

'Before' Shot of Terra Zone

'After' Shot of Terra Zone

 Aqua Zone

'Before' Shot of Aqua Zone

'After' Shot of Aqua Zone

Decomposition Zone:

'Before' Shot of Decomposition Zone

'After' Shot of our Decomposition Zone

Whole Eco-Column

'Before' Shot of Whole Eco-Column

'After' Shot of Whole Eco-Column

Observations of Biotic Components under Light and Dissecting Microscopes

Hello everybody!

We went ahead and looked at our Water and our Soil under a microscope!

In our water, we were unable to identify any organisms, but were able to identify small pieces of dirt. This was clarified after three different observations. Below, I only post our take 1 and 2, as the trend is obvious!

Take 1- Only dirt

Take 2- Again, only dirt

When observing our Soil, we were able to identify small insect type creatures moving around the soil particles. However, after inspection, we identified these creatures to be some of the ants we placed in the soil about one week ago. So other than that, nothing (other than a few twigs really was identified).

As you can see, nothing in our soil!

In this part of the project, Daniel was the one who observed the soil and the water, whilst cell scoping them, and Redwald and Calven were the ones who attempted to identify any organisms in the water in soil. This was really difficult, as they weren't able to identify much other than lifeless matter. 

Over and Out

RDC

The Current State of our Aqua Zone

Data Collection of Abiotic Components of our Eco-Column

Hi all!

We have been asked to record three sets of data for the following Abiotic Factors, and so will show you our exact recordings:

• The temperature of our Aqua Zone, which was recorded at: 27°C; 25°C; and 26°C.
• The temperature of the room, recorded at: 24°C; 27°C;and 25°C

All these things would affect our Eco-Column's Biotic components, and one could relate all the Biotic Changes to the above Abiotic components. 

The Aqua Zone really hasn't changed too much over the past few weeks, other than the temperature increasing- thanks to the outside temperature. There have been no organisms identified, and it has become a lot dirtier than it has been previously.

The Decomposition Zone's temperature was recorded at 30°C, proving that it is very humid inside, which is due to it being a concealed area. This is almost perfect for the Fruit Flies to reproduce and feed on the rotting matter. Therefore, due to the temperature, more Fruits Flies are present, and therefore more maggots are present!

In the Terra Zone, our plant has died, which can be linked to the temperature of the room. But, I do not believe the temperature of the room is the key factor for the plant's death, but it could have contributed to it. 

We were also asked to measure the pH of our Aqua Zone. To make things clear, the pH show how acidic or alkaline a solution is.

We tested this three times, but since our paper turned from purple to blue all three times, it was proven that our water is alkaline.

Our paper turned blue in the water- therefore it is Alkaline!

When determining the pH levels of the water, we didn't find to have too many difficulties. This is always a good thing!

Other factors are affecting our Eco-Column, including the lighting that it is receiving, and the simulated rain water it receives.

Our plant has died, which can be due to the temperature of the room, but it is more to do with the lighting of the room, and the water received. Due to the classroom only having light for around ten hours a day, the plant is unable to perform Photosynthesis to the extent it needs to survive. Also, it isn't receiving the water it needs to survive, which we all take full responsibility for, as it is our job to supply it with the adequate water supplies. 

In this part of the task, Calven was the one who collected all the data and Daniel and Redwald were the boys who decided what influences the Abiotic factors had on the Eco-Column.

Over and Out

RDC

Biotic Components of our Eco-Column

Hey everybody!

It's been around three weeks since we built and stocked our Eco-Column, and now have been given the task to update you on the various changes of the Biotic components of our Eco-System!

We would love to inform you of lots of Quantitative Data on our plant, the Peperomia Zulu Bean, but this isn't possible. This is due to the fact that our plant has died, which we will try to replace as soon as possible. We have identified various causes for the death of our plant, including:

• The lighting of the Biology Classroom was not sufficient, as our teacher (Mr. Kerbelker) only has the lights in his classroom on for around 10 hours a day.
• We haven't tendered to our plant as much as we would like, as we only have lessons in the class twice a week. So we would only water it on these days.

As I've said, we will try to replace our plant, with one that is more suited to the conditions of the classroom. And we should maybe find more time to look after it, by watering it during any spare time we can gain permission to use the class. 

The Depressing Sight of our Dead Plant, and the State of our Terra Zone

We have identified many new organisms that have almost magically appeared around and in our Eco-Column. Including Maggots, Fruit Flies and some Insect Larvae. Had we gone the unhygienic route, I am sure we could have found far more life forms.

We found dozens of Maggots, mainly in our Decomposition Zone, but we have also found some in the Terra Zone, as our plant is now being decomposed as well! They would have appeared as fruit flies would have found a way into our Eco-Column, and would have begun to feed on our Decomposition Zone. Whilst doing this, then would have laid Larvae, and so the maggots were formed. 

The Fruit Flies have come about in our Decomposition Zone, as we are leaving various fruits (and other matter) to basically rot. They feed on the fruits, and then often leave Larvae which will produce maggots. We must have noticed around 20 fruits flies circling and inhabiting our Eco-Column.
Two of our four Earthworms have actually remained alive! We noticed them 'squirming' around our soil, which I find to be extraordinary that they have made it this far. They are only in our Terra Zone, as the ones in the Decomposition Zone have died.

Our Current Decomposition Zone:

This was the best picture we could take, as it was difficult to show the actual 'tiny' organisms that now inhabit the zone.

Calven and Daniel were the ones who did the identifying and counting of the different organisms, and Redwald was taking care of researching the different reasons for the death of our plant.

Over and Out

RDC

Our Journey

Hey all

Here we have a clip of our journey to finishing our Eco-Column!

Hope you enjoy.

Over and out
RDC

Some pictures

Hi all

Here I attach two pictures, of us building our Eco-Column.
This show's how far we have come in the last few days, you could say it's been a journey!

Over and out
RDC

Daniel and Calven at the start of it all

Myself, Redwald at the half way point!