Ecology Lab Report: Creating an Ecosystem in a Bottle Essay -- essays

Objective: To create an ecosystem contained in a bottle with both terrestrial and aquatic environments sealed to the outside world. Hypothesis/Predictions: I predict the fish will last for 3 days. I predict the crickets will last for a week. Materials: 1. fish 2. Water 3. 2 plants 4. Soil 5. Rag 6. Graphite 7. 2 Liter Bottle (2) 8. Tape 9. 2 Snails 10. 3 crickets Procedure: Cut top off 2 liter bottle and bottom off another. Fill the one without a top with water and put a plant, 1 fish, and 2 snails in water. Put a rag through the top of other bottle and pile with graphite (rocks). Put dirt, plants, and anything else that is required or put in optionally in container. Data: Water Level 1- 10 Â ½ cm Plant height 1- 9 Â ½ cm 2- 10 Â ½ cm 2- 9 Â ½ cm 3- 10 Â ¼ cm 3- 9 Â ¾ cm 4- 10 cm 4- 10 cm 5- 10 cm 5- 10 Â ¼ cm 6- 10 cm 6- 10 cm 7- 10 cm 7- 10 cm 8- 10 cm 8- 10 cm 9- 98 mm 9- 10 cm Logs Day 1 5/22/07 The water has turned into a very light and transparent yellow. Everything in tank seems in order. Crickets and fish seem lively. Not much change. Day 2 5/25/07 The water is a medium shade of yellow. The fish and crickets s... ... yes the ecology project of course! Through the exciting endeavors of my experimentation I have discovered over time that my environment has changed dramatically! The mighty creatures of before have fallen to their graves. Only 50% of all life from the beginning of my project still lives. During the experiments I have discovered that both my early predictions came true. The crickets did live for a week and my fish lived for more then 3 days. My predictions came as true as Edward Cayce?s. During this experiment I learned that a tiny environment within a 2 liter bottle was possible and it could very easy be capable of life. It seems in the end this experiment has made me wiser and stronger in a sense and gave me strength to keep on marching toward a bright future in which the old days shall return and everyone shall be just as it once was many years ago?..