Terrarium lab write-up
Introduction: In this project, myself and my partner, Jared Franklin, created a small terrarium. What is a terrarium? It is simply a small ecosystem that we can learn from about the nature of ecosystems. We decided to go with the theme of succulents.
Hypothesis: We believe that our organisms will be successful with regular watering in their custom environment, be it plants or animals. We also think that our terrarium will drain efficiently.
Materials:
1. Container
2. Cactus soil
3. Various succulent plants
4. Sand
5. Small rocks
6. Earthworms
7. Bugs living in the soil
Method\Procedure:
Analysis: The limiting factors for this terrarium were space and lack of resources. Of course by definition a terrarium only has a certain amount of space, so the plants and animals have no access to other resources and nutrients that would be found in nature, such as a natural amount of light, and being a part and reaping the benefits of being in a full trophic ecosystem. The space, of course, was the cause, therefore, of the lack of resources. We could not control light, we couldn't water it on many days, and we had no fertilizer or something of that sort. We had a variety of nutrient cycles in our terrarium. For our water cycle, we watered the plants, the plants took in the water, and then got eaten slightly. Not much more. For our carbon cycle, it went from the air, to the plant, to the animal eating the plant, to the dead bug in the ground. With regards to the nitrogen cycle, the nitrogen goes from the soil to the plant, to the animal, and back to the soil when the animal dies.
Pictures:
Hypothesis: We believe that our organisms will be successful with regular watering in their custom environment, be it plants or animals. We also think that our terrarium will drain efficiently.
Materials:
1. Container
2. Cactus soil
3. Various succulent plants
4. Sand
5. Small rocks
6. Earthworms
7. Bugs living in the soil
Method\Procedure:
- Pour sand into container
- Pour small rocks into the container
- Pour dirt into the container
- Put plants in the container
- Water the plants
Analysis: The limiting factors for this terrarium were space and lack of resources. Of course by definition a terrarium only has a certain amount of space, so the plants and animals have no access to other resources and nutrients that would be found in nature, such as a natural amount of light, and being a part and reaping the benefits of being in a full trophic ecosystem. The space, of course, was the cause, therefore, of the lack of resources. We could not control light, we couldn't water it on many days, and we had no fertilizer or something of that sort. We had a variety of nutrient cycles in our terrarium. For our water cycle, we watered the plants, the plants took in the water, and then got eaten slightly. Not much more. For our carbon cycle, it went from the air, to the plant, to the animal eating the plant, to the dead bug in the ground. With regards to the nitrogen cycle, the nitrogen goes from the soil to the plant, to the animal, and back to the soil when the animal dies.
Pictures: