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