Portfolio: City High School's Ecobottle Investigations Portfolio

Investigation

Rollingthunder Group Ecobottle Investigation

Rollingthunder1 and Rollingthunder3

Introduction 

We completed our ecobottles so we could find out what the keys to an ecosystem chain are, and so that we could see what things are needed in this chain. For instance, in order to keep clean water, we had to put in a coffee filter with sand to filter. In the terrestrial chamber, we had to put dirt and sand for the worms and crickets.

Procedure

We built our Ecobottle according to the worksheet of instructions that we had.

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Materials and Plans© 2005

The first thing we built was the Aquatic section.

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The aquatic section © 2005

The second section we built was the Decomposition chamber.

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The decomposition section © 2005

The final chamber we built was the Terrestrial section.

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The terrestrial section with worms and crickets © 2005

The last thing we did to the ecobottle after we sealed it up was put a hole in the side of the aquatic section to take water samples. We put tape over this hole and only opened it when taking out water.

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Our completed ecobottle © 2005

Hypotheses 

Environment: Aquatic

Organism : Aquarium plant
Each day we will test this hypothesis by: If it is green, it is alive. If not, it is dead.

Environment: Decomposition

Organism: Fungus

Each day we will test this hypothesis by: Look for a low-to-the-orange fuzz.

Environment: Terrestrial

Organism: Worms, Crickets

We will test this hypothesis by: See if they move.

Organism: Basil

We will test this hypothesis by: Look for a green plant.

Observations:

Scientific Observation Procedures:

Specific Observations:

9/30/05

The water is clean enough to see. The plants in the water are alive and well. Today we put orange peels in the decomposition chamber. Both the worms and the crickets seem to be doing well. We put grass seeds in to feed them.

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© 2005 Rollingthunder1

10/03/05 - From what I have seen, most of the worms have died. Some are still squirming around. Both of the crickets are alive. And the water is dirty enough to kill a fish.

10/04/05 - Our worms and crickets are still alive. We have discovered three spots of green where grass is trying to grow. Besides that, everything is the same.

10/6/05 - The worms are still alive as are the crickets. We have some grass growing in the decomposition. The aquatic is dirty, but it hasn't gotten any worse. It smells bad.

10/7/05 - The water is REALLY dirty. The worms are mostly dead. The crickets are staying alive. Decomposition hasn't changed. We've got a lot of white dots in the terrestrial chamber.

10/11/05 - The water is looking more and more like Rootbeer. Our Ecobottle is leaking. All of our worms have died. One cricket is left.

10/14/05: Group Observation:

Observation of a specific organism 

The organism that I chose to observe was the big cricket that survived a while after the others died. This cricket managed to stay alive through everything. I think that there might have been some grass seeds growing and he ate them before they could get bigger. Not only did it surprise me to see the cricket living when the other animals had died, but it shocked me to see him getting bigger. Another way it could've grown was eating the dead worms. This is what Darwin called evolution. The cricket survived the floods we put upon him for the plants two chambers below.

Analysis:

R.I.P. Timeline

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© 2005

Graphs

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© 2005 Rollingthunder3

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© 2005 Rollingthunder1

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This is a Venn diagram that one of us did to compare our ecobottle to the ecobottle of another group, the Generics © 2005 Rollingthunder3Rollingthunder3

Conclusion:

From this ecobottle we learned in what order certain objects should be put into the bottle. We also learned how much time everything takes to grow. Before you start your ecobottle, you have to know about the tree of life and what everything needs to survive, and include that "everything" in your ecobottle. Many things will die, but that's how it works. Do research on what plants to get and make a full habitat for that organism. For our next project we  will make sure the water is cleaner so we can study fish and other aquatic creatures. We need to know how many layers of filter paper we need to put in to make sure to water is clear. Next time we do this project, we will research what types of worms work best in the soil, and make sure everything connects.

Information on the Internet

  • Annenberg Media: Bottle Biology  The Bottle Biology site is a great place to learn about how to make ecocolumns.
  • Wisconsin Fast Plants  The Fast Plants site provides a wealth of information on how to use special types of plants for ecobottle investigations.

Learning Information

Page Learning Information

Portfolio Learning Information

About This Page

Author: Rollingthunder1 and Rollingthunder3
Classroom Project: SMO Ecobottle
City High School
Tucson, Arizona U.S.A.

License: Tree of Life & Partners uses only - Version 1.0

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to , City High School

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About This Portfolio
Many thanks to:

Jeff Hartman
City High School

Lisa Schwartz
University of Arizona


University of Arizona

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Jeff Hartman at , Lisa Schwartz at , and Kathryn Orzech at

All Rights Reserved.

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