EcoTower Observation number 1 3/25/11

On 3/25/11, we were told that we were going to get to see our groups Ecotower and see what all has happened over the week. So Conner went to go and get ours and he came back and sat it down on the desk and we looked at it. All of our worms(12) had died except for one. Their is this one worm that has started to decompose. It has turned blue green and a white color and looks stuck to the side of the bottle. It is kind of nasty looking but neat at the same time. The bean plants(5) have started to grow a lot but not growing straight up and didn't help nothing else in our EcoTower live. The plants were a pretty good size for how short of time it took for all of our animals to die. All of our fish(guppies)(5) have died and started floating belly up laying on their backs. They have started to turn a white color and stared the decomposing phase. Thier eyes have turned a white color and started falling out and floating to the bottom. The water the fish are laying and falling apart in has turned really cloudy and doesn't look good at all. All of our crickets(6) have died and turned a dark brown color. We had algae(5 pieces) that we thought woulod help out our fish, worms, and crickets a lot but it didnt look like it did.

This is our EcoTower, you cant really see all of the dead animals but they are there. Wonder whar were going to see next time wee take an observation???

Ecotower Sealing Day

Early last week, Ms. R pasted out a packet and told us that we're going to be building an Ecotower with three other people as we make a group. So Conner, Riley, Marcus and I got together and started drawing what our Ecotower was going to look like. Conner and I started drawing the bottles and Marcus and Riley pitched in so ideas on how it should look like. After the detailed drawing of our Ecotower, we made a list of what we needed. Conner got the duct tape,  Marcus got the rocks, Riley got the two bottles, Conner and I went and got the soil and the warms, and I got the electrical tape. We borrowed the fish, snails, crickets. Our whole group got the algae and the grass together from the pond. After we gathered all of our materials, we started to build the Ecotower. Riley and Marcus were on their senior trip on Friday so Conner and I got most of the tower built that day. When Monday came around, Riley was at home sick for a few days. We added the fish, snails rocks, water and algae to the bottom bottle and started to tap the top bottle to the bottom one. Conner and I got some onion netting and taped it to the bottom of the top bottle so the soil and other stuff would not fall into the water. We got everything tapped up and added the crickets, soil, worms and the grass in the top bottle. After all that was finished we put the top back on the bottle where the worms, crickets, and grass would live and taped it up with duct tape and electrical tape.  The next day while everyone was finishing up their Ecotowers our fish had babies ALOT OF BABIES!! We did this project because, to show our three cycles working together and also to show a well working ecosystem with Biotic and Abiotic factors. The three cycles that were used are: Nitrogen, Carbon, and Water. No i did not get a look at our Ecotower yesterday. Friday will be the day we get to look at our Ecotower and see how its doing.

Abiotic Factors of LCHS

Yesterday, we went outside and got in groups of two and had a ruler and a thermometer, are first stop was the black top behind the school near the commons and we all laid down our thermometer and waited two minutes to see what the temperture was of the back top. Tangie and I had a reading 20 digrees celcius. After we got our reading on thr thermometer, we started walking down the baseball batting cage. Ms. r told us that we need to find a spot of bare soil and lay the thermometer down and let it set their for two minutes we got our reading and it was 25 digrees celius.  I was standing around talking to conner about the fire calls that came in the night before while waiting for everyone to finish writting down their reading. Ms. r told "come on were moving to the next site". So, we walked to the fence behind the softball feild and had to find a patch of grass so Tangie and I went to the top close to the fence and found a pice of grass that we had to mesure. The grass was 19cm tall. We laid the thermometer down to get a reading of the grass temperture. We waited for 2 minutes like we have been doing and after the 2 minutes were down the temperature was 16 digrees celius. I wrote down my reading and was talking to conner about the fire calls again. So we started walking down to the practice football field and as we were walking down the hill it was feeling warm as the sun was beating down on us and it made being outside yesterday feel great. We were told to find a shrub and messure and take the tempurature. So tangie and I walked to find an shurb and found one so we messured it and it came out to be 9 cm and the temperature was 15 digrees celius. As we were standing waiting for the rest of the class to get done and for Ms.r to tell use where the next site where we were going to messure and take the tempurature of the base of a tree. About a few minutes later Ms.r told us "okay lets go". So we started walking near the garden behind the school and wnt back down the trail close to the garden and Ms.r told us to spread out. We found the smallest tree close by that wouldnt be so hard to messure and get the tempurature. We sat the thermometer down and messure the tree while the thermometer was getting the reading and the tree was 48cm and then after the reading, the tempurature was 16 digrees celius. I think the relationship between succession site and tempurature is that the tempurature is what was messured from each sites. Biotic factors influences the surfaces tempurature at each site?expalin. Well i think that the Boitic factors influences the surfaces tempurature because every time somethin walks on the sureface of any of the sites we were at yesterday it warms up the surface under us as we walk

Signs Of Spring

Yesterday, we went outside again and had a good time. We were looking for Signs Of Spring as you can see that's what our tittle post is. We walked down to the practice football field, and started to look for signs of spring. Ms. r told us to spread out and look around. That's where my first sign of spring came along and it was named The "Edge Of The Field". I walked up on this bush that had briar bushes all around and seen this:

I seen that the grass has gotten greener than last time we were outside, there was a medium sized birds nest nearby. You could hear the leaves and treetops blowing as the wind blew an medium breeze against my chest and all around me. the sun was pretty warm and made it feel warmer than it was outside. the breeze made it cool but the sun made it warmer. After ms. r and the rest of the class came over to where Conner and i were standing, ms. r told us to all be quiet and listen to see what we could hear in the background. We all heard a crow in the distance that flew over head.  After that we moved on with our walk and headed down to the pond. As i as sitting on the bank with Conner and a few others, we found Alder catkins witch made the start of my next observations and the tittle was "Down By The Pond". Alder catkins are the little brown tail looking things that hold pollen and can always be found near a pond or lake. They are very interesting to look at but we got up and started making our observations and i came across some blueberries.

So that's where i started to make my observations. As i was walking over to where the blueberries our, i seen the water rippling across the pond as the wind blows, their was some gravel rocks under my feet. Their was still a breeze blowing but it was warmer than it was when we were all on the football field and could still hear the wind blowing the treetops and leaves crackling. When i was sitting on the ground it was warm a little but not to cold. There was some blueberries on the bush but not as much because its still a little cold not all the way warm yet and still isnt spring. As Conner and i found the blueberries on the bush we got caught back up with the class and was on our way to the next sign of spring. We walked down this small trail and stopped to listen and we herd the frogs trying to mate in the distance by the noise the frogs made. This is what started my next set of observations. The tittle ws "Out In The Woods On The Small Trail". There was a butterfly on a tree but by the time i got up there to where the butterfly was at it was gone. So i continued to walk on through the woods with the class and we all stopped ina bottom and spread out again to try and find more signs of life. i seen a few nats out that were crawing on my jacket sleeve, there was some patches of green under a few trees. There was no breeze that blew theough where we were sll standing at. After a few minutes later, we all started to head back up to the school and on the way Conner ms. r and i were all talking about the fires that happened a few weekends ago and about how bad they were. We got up to the front of the school and ms. r said "Here is sign four". The next tittle i named sign four was "Out In Front Of  the  School". The class spread out and Conner and i found:

These are some red bud blooming red flowers on the trees out infront of the school. The grass was greener than the grass on the practice football field. We didnt have to much time because the bell was getting read to ring to move on to our next class. Their was no breeze blowing but the sun was made it feel like it has warmed up outside. I wish we could have spent the rest of the school day outside because the sun making it warmer and no breeze blowing yes it made it feel really good outside. i heard a crow making a sound in a distance behind me. Their was no othersounds i heard besides the crow in the back ground. I hope we go out next week and have a good time like we did yesterday...