Bottle an Itty Bitty Ecosystem Introduction and Information:

As one of the most inclusive levels of organization in the living world, an ecosystem is defined as a community of organisms along with their physical environment (biotic and abiotic factors). Our Itty Bitty Bottle Biome (see building instructions) is designed to model an ecosystem on a small scale. Build an Itty-Bitty Bottle Biome We will create a small aquatic/land ecosystem that will allow you to maintain an aquatic/terrestrial ecosystem for 6 weeks. You will be responsible for daily observations, data collection, and the completion of a student journal, culminating in a CEP/lab report on your findings. You may work with your group, but each of you will maintain your own record. YOUR RECORD will include (1) research about the food web and chain for your ecosystem – detailing the trophic levels and energy amount used at each level for consumers, producers and decomposers (of which your ecosystem must contain at least one; 2) creation of a scientific journal using both qualitative and quantitative observations and data collection techniques to (3) write a lab report/CER.

Journal Data Collection – a test grade --

- must include Qualitative (words) and Quantitative (measurements) ---- QQD A. Qualitative Data Examples Draw a picture of your ecosystem and label the following (cm): • Height of gravel (label) • Measure down 3 cm from the top and mark with black sharpie • Height of the water column • Length of fish, plant, clam and snail • Color picture or your ecosystem Notice anything new in your aquarium: eggs, insects, etc. • Date and Include any changes or additions to your aquarium • Water clarity – water is clear (brown, cloudy, green, etc) • Fish – fish is alive and swimming on the bottom of the bottle. • It appears to be searching for food. It is constantly touching the bottom with its mouth • Snail – climbing on side of bottle 6 cm from the top. Clear jelly like substance on bottle wall – snail eggs? • Clam – clam has buried itself in the bottom, just the siphon is sticking out of the shell as it feeds • Plants – plant is doing well, small bubbles of oxygen are forming on the leaves • Added two tadpoles to aquarium – 3 cm in length

B. Quantitative Data: (20 points) Collect measurements of the water quality, abiotic and biotic characteristics and include digital pictures of your ecosystem, including at least one before and one after picture. These pictures will show how your aquarium has changed over time. Example Chart A: Use AquaCheck test strips Date Free Chlorine Total Total (ppm) Chlorine Hardness (ppm) (ppm)

Today Alkalinity (ppm)

Example Chart B: Water Quality Date Nitrate Color

Ammonia

pH

pH

0C

Temperature 0F

Lab Report or CER – a test grade This will be a technical lab report using scientific methods, so you must establish a hypothesis and variables to test before you begin. This will help shape and guide your study and observations. What is a CER? You would first need to decide what your problem is. Then look at your evidence. Report the relationship between the problem, evidence and any conclusion.

Bottle It Up: Lab Report Standards Purpose: • To understand by observing the interdependency of biotic and abiotic factors within a given ecosystem. • To observe how a biome changes over time based on the limiting factors of the ecosystem. • To observe and understand the law of “Conservation of Matter.” Matter is neither created nor destroyed and this application to the Nitrogen, Carbon, Water, and Phosphorus cycles. • Make predictions about changes over time. Think about natural selection, adaptations, and symbiotic relationships. • Trace energy flow (food web) • draw conclusion Materials: Depending on Biome of Choice: • Clear, 2 Liter Soda Bottles • • Scissors • • Tape • • Gravel • Soil

Plants Animals of your choice: crickets, spiders, lady bugs, small frogs, earthworms, centipedes, snails, guppies Grass seed and small seed plants of your choice

1. Answer all pre- lab questions 2. Gather materials to make your own biome. 3. Use the biome bottle guide to construct your biome. 4. Take special care when handling live plants and animals. As always, never eat or drink in lab. Take caution when using scissors to open the door in the bottle. 5. Wash hands after ALL observations! 6. Make observations and answer all questions to complete lab. You will be making observations over the next six weeks and throughout the semester to see who's biome lasts the longest. 7. Release any organism that has no chance to survive—per teacher directions. Each lab partner MUST keep their own journal---a good lab partner is NOT always your best friend – this is 2 test grades Remember to include two pictures of your ecosystem in your report: • First picture – day of setup • Second picture – week before report is due

Pre-Lab Questions:

Type the answers in a Google document and submit in Google Classroom for comments. Before you start the lab you need to plan ahead---complete these questions by combining them in a paragraph or two (plus illustrations) before you start. 1.What makes a sustainable ecosystem? (How will your ecosystem stay alive?) Be VERY specific and detailed. 2. What materials are you bringing in to help your group set up? 3. What type of abiotic and biotic factors are needed for your closed ecosystem to survive? List all of the abiotic and biotic factors you will include in your biome. Predict the condition of and relationship between your abiotic and biotic factors throughout the experimental project. 5. Draw the food web you will have set up in your biome. How will energy initially ‘get into the food chain? Predict the signs of symbiosis in your biome. Describe the condition of each niche (how will organisms get food? Water? Will they reproduce? What will organisms use for shelter?) 6. Sketch and label the parts of your biome including all abiotic and biotic factors. Upload a digital picture of your sketch and include it in your document. Vocabulary / Ideas to be mastered and included in lab report and research: ecosystem, habitat, niche, producer, consumer, decomposer, food chain and web, symbiosis, biotic and abiotic, predator and prey, mutualism, parasitism, commensalism, sustainable or stable environment, water cycle, nitrogen cycle, carbon cycle, natural selection, homeostasis, limiting factor Learn and understand the trophic level of 5 aquatic organisms and 3 aquatic plants --what is the relationship between aquatic and land organisms and ecosystems? Explain 3 new biological understandings from this experiment (ie. Plants and animals exchange O2 and CO2---photosynthesis, Plants and animals share many of the same physiological processes---reproducing.) Provide three examples of limiting factors pertinent to our self-sustaining ecosystem. A limiting factor is one that can limit the survival of an organism. For our experiment, these include pH, O2, CO2, Carbon, Nitrogen, Chlorine, water, temperature, light, humidity

During the Experiment: (6 weeks for a test grade) Record your QQD observations in your science journal

Record what you put in each chamber and how much (measured or weighed) while assembling your ecosystem. Also, take notes on how you assembled your ecosystem so you can write instructions for others who want to duplicate your work in order to compare results. • Terrestrial chamber must include soil (e.g., potting soil or soil you brought in) and seeds or plants. You may add other organisms and abiotic factors. • Decomposition chamber must include leaf/grass material, potting soil, animals (especially known decomposers like worms), a piece of fruit, fungus, or potato. • Aquatic chamber must include substrate material (e.g., sand/gravel/aquarium

rock), at least one fish and one aquatic plant. Remember to record exactly what you put in– including appropriate quantities when applicable! Add precipitation to the bottle ecosystem once it is assembled. Record the volume of water you put in. Throughout the data collection and observation period, you may add precipitation, but again be sure to record the dates and volume of water added. • Look for changes in each chamber and collect data at intervals specified in class. Record your data. o You will be given a fixed time period to collect your data. If you need more time, come in briefly during free time, lunch, etc. to finish collecting data. It shouldn’t take that long.... o Create a data collection table to record your results After the experiment, you will write a CER/lab report discussing your original hypothesis and results and this will be submitted as a TYPED final report, including dates, quantitative and qualitative data

Conclusion/ CER (a test grade)

Cover sheet for your report will include o o o o o

Title Your Name Teacher Name Aquatic Science Digital Picture of you and your ecosystem

Must include your earlier research and at minimum: • What changes have you observed in your ecosystem over time? Be specific. This is the most important question in the conclusion. • Are these changes different that you predicted in the beginning? • List the types of water quality test you performed and then explain the purpose of each test. What does it tell you about your water? • How did your water quality change over time? Looking at your data, explain why some data changed and others didn’t. • What was the most difficult part of this project? • What was the most interesting thing that happened during your project? • What was your favorite part of this project? • What did you learn from this project? • How would you change this project for next year?

Give your Biome a Home Your biome needs a very sunny place, but without too much direct sunlight. In direct sunlight, your biome will become hotter than the air temperature around it. Microorganisms like Hyalella and copepods tolerate a wide range of temperatures, but are happiest from 68°F to 82°F. At 90°F your shrimp will start to die from heat, and it can take only a few hours of your biome being above 90°F to kill all your shrimp. Hyalella and copepods can survive low temperatures, but don’t let your biome freeze, and try to keep it above 40°F. A good rule of thumb is that your biome should be cool to the touch, but not cold. Given time, your biome will come into its own balance of plants and animals. You may partial see die-offs or population blooms: don’t worry and give it some time to stabilize. Tiny aquatic organisms like Hyalella have a breeding cycle around 33 days, and copepods around 10 days, but many of the creatures you catch may already be carrying eggs. Hyalella carry orange eggs in a brood pouch on their body. Copepods carry eggs in two egg sacks at the back end of their body. When you see a copepod that looks like it has two fins on its tail, these are actually eggs. These breeding cycle times are why you should give your biome around a month for your populations to stabilize. Pay attention to your plants and animals to see what conditions your biome is happiest in. If your plants start to look unhealthy, try more sunlight. If you start to get algae, or your shrimp die on hot days, try less sunlight. If you notice your water getting cloudy or noticeably discolored, try a different spot for your biome (probably more sun). Each biome is an experiment, so if something isn’t going right after you’ve given it time to stabilize, you can open it up and try something else. It is most important to pay attention during your first few weeks: after you have found a good spot, your biome should need little intervention (just make sure to pay attention during seasonal changes to ensure the spot is still ideal). Signs of a failed biome: • bad or sulphurous (rotten egg) smell • strands of whiteish-clear bacterial growth • very few or no live shrimp • most plants dead What happens if your biome fails? It’s okay to feel sad; part of this experiment is to bring you closer to nature and make you care about it This experiment is also about giving you a greater understanding of how ecosystems work: disasters and environmental change are part of the world around us, and dangers are part of the daily lives of the plants and animals you collected. As long as you treated your biome with respect, there is nothing to regret. I suggest returning the contents of your biome to your collection location, so the remains can become part of new plants and animals in the home ecosystem. If you want to salvage and start over, change the sediment and water, and rinse in natural water any healthy plants that you want to reuse. If your container has algal or bacterial film on the sides you can clean it with soap and tap water, just make sure to rinse very well before refilling.

NAME:_______________________

Class:____ Date:______

Partner (s) Name:_________________________________________

First Build an Itty Bitty Bottle Ecosystem CATEGORY Pre-lab Work Completed

4

3

2

Extra Materials Gathered

Requested Materials Gathered

All questions answered well and excellent sketches provided

All questions answered 80- Some questions answered 90% correctly and sketches correctly and partial or provided incomplete sketches provided

General overview of Nitrogen, Carbon cycles ---why important

Some materials gathered

1 No materials brought to class Questions not answered or done incorrectly and no or incomplete sketches provided

Food chain/web --carrying capacity/ limiting factors, habitat, producer, consumer, decomposer, symbiosis, biotic and abiotic factors, sustainable environment ---Explanation about how these concepts work together to regulate population trophic levels (5 aquatic organisms and 3 plants) 3 biological understandings Ownership of Design

All steps in the procedure were Most steps in the procedure Few steps in the procedure followed accurately and the design were accurately followed were followed and the is neat and clean and the design is neat and design is less than neat clean

Steps in the procedure were not followed

Journal Entries and Data Observations Qualitative Quantitative

Q and Q Data included above standards (5+ examples of each per entry and there are no missing entries

Very little or no QQD provided and very few entries

2 pictures provided

Q and Q Data included to standards (4-5 examples of each per entry) and 90% of entries are complete

Some QQD provided and multiple missing entries

No pictures provided.

Only one picture provided

Data was collected over the entire two weeks on a daily or every other day basis. Observations are clearly described. Metric system used for measurements

Data was collected for more than one week. Observations are clearly described. Metric system used for measurements

Data was collected for less Data was not collected than a week. Observations were not clear and/or incomplete. Metric system is not used for measurements

Student provided detailed observations clearly related to all areas that were to be covered.

Student provided detailed observations clearly related to the areas to be covered

Student provided observations with some reference to areas covered.

Important details were overlooked.