Day 8

Question I have: Why is the decompostion level above the water level? Is it because the water goes through the soil and drains into lakes, rivers, streams, and ditches and so the precipitation is running through the plant, soil, and compost into the make shift pond? The ecocolumn is still thriving. We saw our spider today, but did not see the frog. Renee did see the frog yesterday and he was still alive. We placed fruit fly larvae in the ecocolumn today and hopefully we will have fruit flies by Friday. Our frog needs some FOOD!

Day 8-Renee

The spider looks good, but we couldn't find the frog again. Hopefully they will be happier soon b/c we put our flies in today. At first when I looked in the aquatic chamber, the tadpole and leach seemed sluggish. I worried they may be running out of oxygen or there was too much of something else, but they perked up after we messed with the ecocolumn a bit. There is some sort of little plant growth in the soil that was new...I don't know what they are, but they showed up all over the place in my garden too. The condensation is all over the container in all sections, so I'm guessing it is able to maintain a balance of its own. Although I was a bit concerned that all living things in it would freeze to death given the temp around this place!

Day 8-Melissa

Today we looked at our ecocolumn. It was pretty much the same as Tuesday. I did not see our spider or the frog. Renee saw the frog on Monday. It was on top of the soil at the top of the system. The plants at the top of the system are really growing tall. The tadpole and the leech at bottom are still alive. They are in the water with the plant life. The leech is really getting large. The tadpole is not really growing much. We had a lot of condensation on the sides of the system. The water was all over the sides of the entire container. I really enjoy the ecocolumn. I want my students to bring in bottles and dirt from their homes so we can do this lab. It is amazing how fast the systems change.

Day 8

Our spider managed to get from our decomposition chamber to our plant and soil chamber. How did that happen? He is on the leaf of the plant. Can you see him? There is condensation throughout the ecocolumn, but I noticed that the ecocolumn next to me had actual precipitation occurring. We have not yet added anything to the ecocolumn and I'm not sure if we will ever have to. It seems to be self-sufficient.

Again you can see the condensation in the decomposition chamber. The moss is still alive and we have new plant growth occurring.

Say hello to my little friend! Our tadpole is looking at you. I the plants must be providing enough oxygen to survive.

Day 8-Renee

Our ecocolumn looks good today. I was really excited to find the frog today...he seems to be healthy. The spider was hanging out on one of the leaves. I hope there are enough bugs and stuff in the soil for the frog and the spider to eat. There is lots of condensation in each of the sections. The water part looks good...the tadpole was swimming around and the leach is very active. I guess the oxygen and carbon dioxide are balanced...I was concerned with that at first. The plants are much taller thatn they were last week.

Day 8- Melissa

Today we looked at our ecocolumn. We first saw the spider on the top of the system. The plants are growing very tall. We also have new plants inside the dirt. The bottom part of the system contains our leech and tadpole. I have really enjoyed watching the system grow. The only thing is that we can not find our little brown frog that we put in our ecocolumn. We think he is hiding under the dirt. It may be cold in the room and he is keeping warm by burring himself in the dirt. The other observation is that he escaped from our ecocolumn.

Day 7

This is Lisa. Melissa and I decided to switch identities today. Our ecocolumn is doing very well. Our spider is still alive, but we could not locate the frog. We are assuming he is buried in the soil pouting because he is confined to a small area. The leach and the tadpole are still alive and doing well. The plants have grown and we have not had to add water yet to the ecocolumn. The condensation seem to be enough to keep the ecocolumn going.

Day 7

This is Melissa's blog I am logged under Lisa's name.
This is our system. The plant life at the top is getting so big!!We saw the spider in the top. The frog was hiding. He may be under the dirt.
The water at the bottom is clearing up. The leach is at the bottom in the water growing. The tadpole is not looking so well. It is still moving not so fast. The plants in the water are growing tall. The middle of our system had a plant starting to grow and it is still growing. That is all the news about our ecocolumn.

Day 7

There is lots of condensation on the sides of each section...so I guess our ecocolumn is working. Everything else looks the same, but our frog is missing. On Thursday, I put a little frog and a spider in the top section. We found the spider, but the frog is MIA. We hope he was just hiding in the soil. I don't think he could get out...

Day 2

Today our ecocolumn looked a lot like it did yesterday, but the plants seemed to have perked up and established themselves. I was happy to see that the tadpole and leach were still alive and actively swimming around. I tried to find some of the bugs that were in the compost layer, but I guess they all went down in the leaves.

Lisa brought in a banana and a spider to give us some extra wildlife, but we couldn't find the spider when we tried to put him in. Michael took our banana to put in the fly traps, so hopefully we will have some flies soon.

Day 2

Today we observed our ecocolumns. We observed condensation on the entire system. The layer with the plants were growing very well. We also saw new growth in our system. At the bottom above the water we saw a new plant starting to grow. Lisa brought a banana to feed the system. She also had a spider to add to the ecocolumn but we could not find it in the insect carrier. I like seeing the changes in the system. I think the kids will enjoy looking at all the different changes that occur over night. I could not believe that a plant started to grow so quick after we made our system. I think that will keep the students interested in the systems and eager to see what happens next.

Day 2

Our ecocolumn is thriving. Our plants are perky and healthy looking. There is condensation in all sections of the ecocolumn. It did not appear that we needed any precipitation at this time. Our tadpole and leech were happily swimming around. I did see our bug in the compost section. He seemed to be relaxing and enjoying his new home. I brought in a banana in order to catch fruit flies to feed the system. I caught a spider last night and put him in the bug catcher, but he either escaped last night or this morning in my car. I hope it was in the kitchen!
It appears that the energy from the sun is keeping our ecocolumn alive.

Day 1

Today we built our EcoColumns. The group members brought items from home to create the EcoColumns. We had a tappole at the bottom of our system. I also picked up a leach with tools to place in the bottom of our system. We gathered the humus and placed it in the second level. The third level we had dirt and plants. We placed holes in the bottles for air to flow through the system. At the top of the system we placed water to flow down to all the levels of the system. Our group left a hole to add more compost to the system. When we were doing another activity using dirt we found an insect to use in our system. I noticed other groups that added food to their compost pile. We are going to add food on Wednesday. The food will help the flies survive.

Day 1

Today we made our ecocolumns with all sorts of stuff in it. The bottom is the aquatic layer with a leach and tadpole along with some aquatic plant. Above that is the decomposition layer where we have several bugs. The next layer up is soil and some plant life. We need to bring in a predator to put in the plant layer so that the ecosystem is not thrown off by too many flys.

In the decomposition layer, there is a millipede from my backyard. I know they eat a lot of plant material so I hope it helps to decompose that layer. I got this material from a pile of leaves that is in the woods at the edge of my yard. We just dumped the leaves there about 2 1/2 months ago, so I was surprised to dee that it was already pretty decomposed underneath the top layer. I was also not expecting to find as many living things in it as I did. There were several little bugs that I noticed after I put it into the ecocolumn. The millipede just happened to be underneath where I grabbed and there were a lot of doodle bugs.

Day 1

Today we finished assembling our ecocolumn. My one and only assignment last night was to bring a predator for our ecocolumn. I volunteered for this job because I have two 8 year old sons who love to catch bugs, frogs, spiders, etc. I instructed them on what to catch and helped for 5 minutes, but my goodness it was hot! I left the bug catching up to them. We ended up with two frogs and a cricket. By the time we ready to put them into the cage, we had somehow smushed the cricket - but I'm still good - I still have two frogs I thought. This morning when I awoke and checked on the frogs, they were both dead. My children insisted they were sleeping so we shook the cage. No movement was apparent. My cute little frogs had croaked! I'm a frog killer!!!

Anyway, we put our ecocolumn together without a predator. (I'm suppose to catch a spider tonight and add him tomorrow) Our ecocolumn is constructed out of five 2-liter plastic bottles. Our bottom level is a pond with a leech and a tadpole. The second level is a compost layer that consists of dead leaves, pine needles, and other things that have died on the forest floor. The third level is soil with plants. We will observe this ecocolumn over the next two weeks and document the changes that occur. Talk to you tomorrow!