Terrarium Project:
Objective: to create a functioning terrarium that can excel and hold a small ecosystem for the set amount of time.
Hypothesis: Can we have a functioning ecosystem and a thriving terrarium.
Materials:
Glass fish bowl
Snail
Sagina
Lettuce(plant/seeds)
Soil
Rocks
broken Pot
Calcium bone
Worms
Glass fish bowl
Snail
Sagina
Lettuce(plant/seeds)
Soil
Rocks
broken Pot
Calcium bone
Worms
Method/Procedure:
1. Place the rocks at the bottom of the bowl
2.filled bowl with soil.
3.Plant lettuce seeds
4. Plant the sagina and lettuce plant
5. Put in the rocks and broken pot
6. put in snail
7. Cover top with mosquito netting
1. Place the rocks at the bottom of the bowl
2.filled bowl with soil.
3.Plant lettuce seeds
4. Plant the sagina and lettuce plant
5. Put in the rocks and broken pot
6. put in snail
7. Cover top with mosquito netting
Day 0: put in materials and started watering plants.
Day 1: watered plants, observations: plants need more water than we thought.
Day 6: watered plants, observations: very wet soil and plants are surviving. still no snail
Day 1: watered plants, observations: plants need more water than we thought.
Day 6: watered plants, observations: very wet soil and plants are surviving. still no snail
Week 2 Observations: We know have the snail in and he is liking his new habitat. The lettuce plant is working well.
Week 3 Observations: The snail ate through the first lettuce plant so we had to plant another one in. The snail is still fine and the sagina is still alive.
Week 4 Observations: The snail has eaten most of the lettuce plant and the sagina is not looking so good. The snail is still fine though.
Week 5 Observations: The snail has gone through another lettuce plant so know we just give him individual lettuce leaves know to eat. The sagina is dead know. The snail is still alive.
Analysis:
Some limiting factors that have effected our terrarium were the size of it, the amount of stuff we could put in their, and the amount of sunlight it got. Since the terrarium was a little small, the snail didn't have a lot of room to move around. We also put a lot of things in the terrarium, so the ground was packed with stuff. The snail spent most of the time on the wall because of this. Since our terrariums were inside they didn't get a lot of sunlight and as a result, they didn't grow as well as they could have. If we had put them outside the would have grown better. The nutrient cycle in the terrarium was that the water and sunlight was used by the lettuce plant and the sagina. The snail would then eat the lettuce plant and get its nutrients from the lettuce. The water cycle in the terrarium is that we put water in the soil and then the lettuce plant and the sagina would absorb it. The snail would then eat the lettuce and get the water from that. The carbon cycle in the terrarium is that the lettuce plant and the sagina get carbon through photosynthesis, and then the snail gets its carbon through eating the lettuce. Then as the snail breathes, it puts the carbon back into the atmosphere. The nitrogen cycle in our terrarium is that the lettuce plant and sagina get their nitrogen through the fertilizer in the soil. The snail then eats the lettuce and the nitrogen transfers to them. When the snail excretes, the nitrogen is put back in the soil and the cycle continues.
Week 3 Observations: The snail ate through the first lettuce plant so we had to plant another one in. The snail is still fine and the sagina is still alive.
Week 4 Observations: The snail has eaten most of the lettuce plant and the sagina is not looking so good. The snail is still fine though.
Week 5 Observations: The snail has gone through another lettuce plant so know we just give him individual lettuce leaves know to eat. The sagina is dead know. The snail is still alive.
Analysis:
Some limiting factors that have effected our terrarium were the size of it, the amount of stuff we could put in their, and the amount of sunlight it got. Since the terrarium was a little small, the snail didn't have a lot of room to move around. We also put a lot of things in the terrarium, so the ground was packed with stuff. The snail spent most of the time on the wall because of this. Since our terrariums were inside they didn't get a lot of sunlight and as a result, they didn't grow as well as they could have. If we had put them outside the would have grown better. The nutrient cycle in the terrarium was that the water and sunlight was used by the lettuce plant and the sagina. The snail would then eat the lettuce plant and get its nutrients from the lettuce. The water cycle in the terrarium is that we put water in the soil and then the lettuce plant and the sagina would absorb it. The snail would then eat the lettuce and get the water from that. The carbon cycle in the terrarium is that the lettuce plant and the sagina get carbon through photosynthesis, and then the snail gets its carbon through eating the lettuce. Then as the snail breathes, it puts the carbon back into the atmosphere. The nitrogen cycle in our terrarium is that the lettuce plant and sagina get their nitrogen through the fertilizer in the soil. The snail then eats the lettuce and the nitrogen transfers to them. When the snail excretes, the nitrogen is put back in the soil and the cycle continues.