ECOSPHERE BLOG POST
By Group REJ
Group Members: Jaena Ristel Bautista, Robert Barker, Nhung Nguyen
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| Figure 1: The photograph of our ecosphere taken on Monday, May 2nd, 2016 at 3:50 pm |
Our group had to attempt making our ecosphere twice due to too much soil. We had a hard time planting the plants because the soil made the ecosystem too dark to see. But luckily, throughout the weeks, the soil deposited for a clearer view of the whole ecosphere.
ECOSPHERE LIST
- Pond Water (2.92 L)
- Gravel (446.85 g)
- Soil (65.57 g)
- Sand (283.86 g)
AUTOTROPHS
- Anabaena (3 mL)
- Volvox (2 squirts)
- Plants - Ceratopteris and Bacopa Caroliniana
HETEROTROPHS
- Snail (1)
- Daphnia (17)
CHANGES AND OBSERVATIONS
Figure 2 and 3: The Bacopa Caroliniana plant of our ecosphere.
- Our daphnia were so tiny to be clearly shown on the pictures, but they reproduced a lot! From a number of 17 daphnias, it grew to almost filling all the jar. - There are numerous unidentified organisms in the ecosystem that captured our attention, one of which was a tiny reddish worm-like organism swimming in circular pattern. The organism swam pretty fast but we were lucky enough to photograph it. Below was the best photo we got of this organism, even though it was still a bit blurry.
Figure 4: The unknown worm-like organism that confused us a while (red circle).
After doing some research, we think this organism could be an aquatic worms. It must have had been in the pond water before we made the ecosphere and until today it still lives very well by eating mud.
Figure 5: An aquatic worm. We found it look close enough to our unknown organism.
Figure 6: The snail in our ecosphere.
- Above is a picture of our snail that eventually got larger in size. We assumed that this is because of the nutrients coming from the pond water. The snail has easily adapted to the ecosystem we made.
Figures 7 and 8: The unhealthy Ceratopteris.
- As you can see from Figures 7 and 8, the stems of our Ceratopteris mostly turned brown and looked very weak. If only we could know what caused this plant to be sick :(
EXPECTATIONS
In the following weeks, we expect to see more tiny living organisms. Also daphnia will reproduce more and get bigger in size. The snail will gain more nutrients and be healthier. As for the plants, the Bacopa Caroliniana will keep growing normally while the Ceratopteris might get worse and eventually die.
Source:
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/aquatic_worm.htm
I think it's cool that your snail actually grew and got bigger. I know a group that had REALLY fat daphnia and another group with baby snail, but our snail kind of looks dried out and turned orange for whatever reason. About the Ceratopteris, maybe it's not getting along with your new worm?
ReplyDeleteNice! Do you have any ideas of why the Ceratopteris isn't adapting to this environment very well? I think it's odd how it's dying, i thought they can grow in about everything. But that's interesting. Like what Eunice said your snail actually grew in size and we have no idea why our snail turned orange, maybe the nutrients it consumed that was produced in our biosphere? Do you have any idea that may have caused that?
ReplyDeleteFrom looking at your ecosphere in class, I saw that you guys have a lot of tiny Daphnia. Compare to my ecosphere, we might have the same population of Daphnia; however, my group's Daphnia is very huge. Based on your ecosphere list, you guys only have pond water, but my group have both pond water and tap water, so I am wondering it could affect to the growth of Daphnia. Therefore, my group decided to do the Ecology project on the water conditions affect to the growth of Daphnia. Overall, good work on your ecosphere.
ReplyDeleteVery good photos and explanations! The number of growth of Daphnia from 17 to many seems to show that Daphnia are having fun in the ecosphere. The growth of snail is also very interesting. Since both Daphnia and snail eat primary producers such as green algae, it may have resulted in the increase number of Daphnia and in the growth of Snail.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I am intrigued by the fact that the stems of Ceratopteris have turned brown and week. We can hypothesize what have caused that, but I think it would be nice to wait and observe these plants over the next few weeks to see how they react.