The End 5-20-13

Today was the final day of our ecosystem in a bottle. Things were not looking to well for the ecosystem the past few days. The onions had shriveled up and they were drooped over. We cut the bottle open today were we had sealed it up before. There was a rush of air as the oxygen inside it escaped because of the pressure it had built up. The first thing we noticed was the horrible stench that came with it. It was the smell of rotten onions. Prodding the onions with a needle we discovered that they were really moist. They were in the process of decomposing. They leaves that we had in top of the dirt were really moist as well. Doing further research we dumped the rest of the contents out onto the ground. The gravel that we had on the bottom of the bottle was wet but there was no water in there. The soil was damp, we searched for the worms but they were nowhere to be found. We did find good root growth in one place, there was a root about 3 inches long. There was mold on the very top of the soil.

If we could do this again, the one thing that I would change is that it would need more carbon dioxide, which means more organism that give that off. I would also put less onions in the ecosystem. The 4 onions we had used up the entire amount of carbon dioxide and put out oxygen and because our worms died there was no carbon dioxide being made and if there was, it would not be enough for the onions to grow.

The End

05/20/13- Reflections

Conclusion- Our ecosystem failed. And it smelled like dead, rotting onions. During our autopsy we discovered that our onions had rotted from the inside out, and we did not find any of the three worms we put inside. The leaves were soggy, and slightly moldy. The corn was gone. There was also, at one point, a weed growing inside that had been brought in through the soil. It was gone as well.

Reasoning- My theory as to why our ecosystem failed is that it ran out of Carbon Dioxide. Elijah exhaled into it before we sealed it, to prolong the supply, but apparently that wasn't enough. Our ratio of oxygen producers to carbon dioxide producers was not balanced correctly.

What would I do differently?- I think, if anything, I would only put in two onions. I would try to find more worms to put inside too. I believe our ecosystem would have been more successful if there were more organisms producing carbon dioxide.

5/20 Opening Day

Today at 9:15 A.M. we opened the ecosystem. At one time our ecosystem was thriving, but last week things started to change. Our middle onion died last Monday, and all of the other onions followed. The corn stopped growing, mold grew, and the worms all died. We picked up a few other plants as well. I believe that there were two unknown plants that started to grow. The smell today was very, very horrible. The decaying onions and the mold was almost too much to handle. We believe that the only problem we had was that the Co2 levels began to lower as the worms died. And with four onions, some corn, and two unknowns the Co2 was unable to be equally shared. Mr. Korf said that we had the record for the worst smell. In total our ecosystem was sealed for 22 days. It survived for about 14 days, until it started to decline. This project was very fun, and a good learning experience. If I had the chance to do the project again we would do a better job at balancing the plants and organisms. 

5-13-13

The bottle has now been sealed for two weeks and one day. The kernel of corn has roots extending half way into the dirt and it has mold growing on it. The middle onion looks healthy but one of its steams has fallen over. Somehow it broke either because it is not getting the nutrients that it needs or that it is just growing. One of our worms is on the side of the bottle but it does not look to good. But we have seen the worms come and go, so we just hope it is just sleeping. The rest of the onions seem to be doing fine.

5/13- Observations

Here are some changes for today:

1. Our middle onion stalk that was growing into two broke and one fell to the side.

2. Mold is now thriving.

3. Our little worm appears to have passed on to the next life.. ); 

05/13/13

There have been some major changes over the weekend. The tallest onion that was growing strong in the center has had a leaf tip over and break, but the other three have gotten taller. (My guess is that the carbon dioxide is running out.) The kernel of corn that sprouted has molded over. The weed that sprouted has not changed.

5-6 Changes

There have been some major changes that has happened over the weekend. All of the onions have grown by almost an inch. The middle onion is now around 2 inches tall. The others are about one inch. The kernel of corn also has grown. There are three roots protruding from it. The roots look to be  an inch long. The dirt does look to be dry, but there is a lot of moister in the top of the bottle so I am not that worried. So all looks very well.

5/6- Day 8

Our ecosystem has been officially sealed for over a week!

There have been some changes, too. The onions are substantially taller, the corn has sprouted two more roots, and a weed has sprouted as well. The water has condensed much more than last week, and has run down the sides.

5/6- Changes

Today two changes I noticed were:

1. Our ecosystem is thriving! There is condensation on the bottle wall, and the onions and corn are growing like crazy.
2. There is also an unknown plant that is growing. We still don't know what it is but we will be excited to see.

I have included a picture of the corn kernel that is growing.

5/2- Day 4

Today we noticed a lot of changes, they include:
-The onions are growing.
-There is a lot of water condensed on the sides.
-The corn seed we planted is growing really well.
-The Dirt has settled some more.

The two I will explain are the onions growing and the corn growing.

- The onions we planted were already sprouted. But they have grown much, much more. They are growing taller and filling out.
- We only planted one kernel of corn, we put a few others in but they were just dropped in. The kernel we planted is was not growing at all but it has started growing roots.

Here is a picture of the corn kernel.

Early Growth: 5-2

We were pleased to pull the bottle down from its snowy vacation to find that all the onions have sprouted. There stems are splitting into multiple leaves. We also have some corn inside that has a root growing down to get its grasp in the fresh dirt to start growing. The dirt seems a little dryer, but we think that the moister has gone to the middle of the dirt, and into the "clouds" and on the side of the bottle. There seems to be a lot more moister on the side of the bottle that could be because it had more sun that normal. Other than that, everything looks to be doing very good!

Observations- Day #4

Our teacher assigned us this: Give four observed changes in your ecosystem, and infer why those changes took place.

-Observation 1: Channels in the soil along the side of the bottle.
-Our worms are alive! (Except for one. He hasn't moved since we put him in.)

-Observation 2: The kernel of corn we pushed into the soil on the edge of the bottle has sprouted a root.
-Contact with water has caused it to sprout.

-Observation 3: The water reservoir in the gravel is empty.
-The water has evaporated, condensed, precipitated, and been absorbed by the soil.

-Observation 4: The onion tops are greening up and have gotten taller.
-Contact with sunlight and water has caused the onions to begin photosynthesis.

05/01/13- Day #3

The onions are beginning to leaf out, otherwise nothing overly obvious has changed. I think the plants and worms appreciate being inside on a day like today...

4/30- Day 2

Today the bottle has been sealed for approximately 24 hours. Some observations we saw were the dirt settling, and water condensing on the side. I have included a picture were you can see these things. We plan to give our ecosystem equal sunlight on each side. So each day we will rotate it by a third.

Good Signs: Day 2

Today is the second day that the onions and worms and everything else has been in our bottle sealed in its own world. We brought it down from its place to observe it. We were glad to see that the water has condensated on the side. That tells us that the water inside is successfully going thought the water cycle so far. The dirt is still very moist which is very good. The leaves still look dry though. So the biggest change is that the water has condensated on the sides.

Life in a Bottle: Day #2 (4/30/2013)

So far the organisms look unchanged. Water has condensed along the inner wall of the side of the bottle that was facing the window. One of the worms has burrowed down to the gravel. All the dirt appears to be moist, but the leaves look dry. The onion leaves are just a green as they were yesterday. So far so good...

The Journey Begins

As of 9:20 today the journey of are ecosystem began. We entered the classroom at 9:00 a.m. to start the construction of our ecosystem. We first cut open the top so that we could access the insides of the bottle. We started off by poring an inch or so of gravel into the bottom. It would act as our reservoir of water, like the ogallala aquifer. So we then pored water into the gravel so that there would be water in our ecosystem. We followed up with some dirt filled with two worms. The dirt was moist for the worms to live in. Then we dumped in some good field dirt for the onions to grow in. We planted 4 onions in the ground. Three around the edges so we can watch them grow and one in the middle. We also placed some dead leaves on top so deteriorate into the ground. Now that we had everything in place, we sealed the top back on with some good packing tape, that is see through. We placed the ecosystem in the south windows of the room hoping to get the best sun. And thus begins our journey.

4/29- Seal Day

Today we sealed our ecosystem. It was very fun. We are predicting that our ecosystem will stay alive until the end of the school year. We made our design simple, so that it has more chance of survival. I have included pictures of other people's designs. I am excited to see whether or not those designs will work.

Sealed!!

Today we sealed our ecosystem, and rather that try to explain our steps, I will give you a story in images. (You know what they say... A picture's worth a thousand words.)

Model

We found this article while researching ways to grow an ecosystem in a bottle. This man has had this plant sealed a bottle for over 60 years.