In this unit I learned about the nitrogen cycle, hydrologic cycle, and the carbon cycle. In this unit we learned how to build an ecosystem using small organisms and household items to create the most suitable environment. We worked with partners and monitored the state of the organisms to make sure they were getting enough nutrients. After that we put in a change of nutrients in the ecosystem by putting in some phosphorus in the soil as well as some fish food in the area of the fish tank.
I figured out how to make the best fish tank because I watched a video with the class as well as watching our own video to brainstorm which idea was the most suitable. Then we used A3 paper to make a somewhat real life sketch of our planned ecosystem.
One of the major things that I learned when making this is, we have to incorporate every single aspect and not just the aesthetic. We have to think about the oxygen levels and the amount of moisture in the soil so you can make sure there is enough moisture for the worms to move around but you also have to be careful so that you don’t drown the worms.
The main things that I would change in our design if we could potentially do this assignment again is , I would change the amount of aquatic plant inside our water ecosystem. I think there was not enough oxygen in the bottle so the fish could not breathe and died. I would also change the material the mesh seperating the two different ecosystems because one of the snails bit into the mesh and it fell in the water and died.
