The Don Juan Pond In Antarctica
Introduction
Fun Fact: The Don Juan Pond in Antarctica is the saltiest place on Earth. Does that have anything to do with an Ecocolumn? No. What is an Ecocolumn? An Ecocolumn is essentially a tiny ecosystem in a bottle. A few bottles. And it's not an ecosystem. It has three chambers: Terrestrial, Decomposition, and Aquatic. The Terrestrial Chamber has the soil, the sun, and is the entrance into the Ecocolumn. The Decomposition Chamber is where decomposers break down the dead organic matter. The Aquatic Chamber has the water, the fish, and some aquatic plants. An Ecocolumn is useful for making a model of an ecosystem to be studied in a controlled environment. An Ecocolumn and an ecosystem both have biotic and abiotic factors that …show more content…
The abiotic factors were soil, sunlight (or light), water, and gravel. The biotic factors were the plants and other organisms. Independent variables were the levels of water and coffee grounds added. Dependent variables included the acidity, even though it wasn't measured at all, and the well-beings of the …show more content…
A secondary question for this "study" is: With coffee grounds added, how will it affect the Ecocolumn and the organisms within it? Along with the hypothesis, a prediction made prior to completing the construction of the Ecocolumn was that everything will die. As it turned out, everything died a week later. The joys of being pessimistic.
Page Break
Model
In theory, an Ecocolumn functions as a model of an ecosystem. But in reality, the Carbon Cycle and other biogeochemical cycles were extremely limited in the ecocolumn. Because the ecocolumn is only a model of an ecosystem, not a real one. There was not great flow, as water goes down to the Aquatic Chamber and then stays there.
The model drawn above looks much better than its real-life counterpart. It shows life in the ecocolumn. There was difficulty in visualizing observable patterns of biogeochemical cycles because there are few variables and too little energy flow.
Can you smell the regretful failure? It probably smells like dirt.
Materials
The materials used for this "study"
Fun Fact: The Don Juan Pond in Antarctica is the saltiest place on Earth. Does that have anything to do with an Ecocolumn? No. What is an Ecocolumn? An Ecocolumn is essentially a tiny ecosystem in a bottle. A few bottles. And it's not an ecosystem. It has three chambers: Terrestrial, Decomposition, and Aquatic. The Terrestrial Chamber has the soil, the sun, and is the entrance into the Ecocolumn. The Decomposition Chamber is where decomposers break down the dead organic matter. The Aquatic Chamber has the water, the fish, and some aquatic plants. An Ecocolumn is useful for making a model of an ecosystem to be studied in a controlled environment. An Ecocolumn and an ecosystem both have biotic and abiotic factors that …show more content…
The abiotic factors were soil, sunlight (or light), water, and gravel. The biotic factors were the plants and other organisms. Independent variables were the levels of water and coffee grounds added. Dependent variables included the acidity, even though it wasn't measured at all, and the well-beings of the …show more content…
A secondary question for this "study" is: With coffee grounds added, how will it affect the Ecocolumn and the organisms within it? Along with the hypothesis, a prediction made prior to completing the construction of the Ecocolumn was that everything will die. As it turned out, everything died a week later. The joys of being pessimistic.
Page Break
Model
In theory, an Ecocolumn functions as a model of an ecosystem. But in reality, the Carbon Cycle and other biogeochemical cycles were extremely limited in the ecocolumn. Because the ecocolumn is only a model of an ecosystem, not a real one. There was not great flow, as water goes down to the Aquatic Chamber and then stays there.
The model drawn above looks much better than its real-life counterpart. It shows life in the ecocolumn. There was difficulty in visualizing observable patterns of biogeochemical cycles because there are few variables and too little energy flow.
Can you smell the regretful failure? It probably smells like dirt.
Materials
The materials used for this "study"