Ecosystem in a Bottle
I asked a small group of students to create an ecosystem in a bottle. I was surprised
Days
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Conclusions and Hypothesis
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Day 1- Today we built our ecosystem.
We put gravel on the bottom of the bottle. Then we added dirt. We then used plants like grass and weeds
from the yard and added some water. We
placed a worm and a cricket in our ecosystem.
We covered the ecosystem with plastic and a rubber band.
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We think the plants will die around four days
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Day2-Everything is fine.
Condensation is collecting around the bottle.
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Water is collecting in the bottle due to the water cycle.
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Day 3-Everything is fine. Plants and animals are still alive. Water is now starting to collect in the
gravel at the bottom of our ecosystem
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Water collecting a=in the gravel shows us how water collects
underground, like in aquifers. It
shows us how water can be retrieved underground through wells.
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Day 4- plants are leaning to one side of the bottle.
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After further investigation.
We found that the plants are seeking the light. This is called phototropism. We will move our bottle around tomorrow.
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Day 5-Everthing is fine.
Plants are starting to move in the opposite direction.
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Day 6-Plants, cricket and worms are still alive. Water is still cycling. Therefore, we conclude that oxygen and carbon
dioxide must be cycling also
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We conclude that we have built a mini self-thriving ecosystem. This ecosystem has allowed us to see first
had the water cycle, oxygen and carbon cycle
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What would happen if you had too many species in your
ecosystem?
We feel that if we
had too many species the animals would die due to lack of plants and food to
eat. Too many species would consume all
the vegetation and therefore decrease the oxygen resulting in extinction.
