Final Observation

This week is our last observation of our two-tiered terrarium. Overall, we have had significant growth and reproduction within both ecosystems.  in the top tier, we see the plants are very tall and the leaves of some are starting to stick to the inside, top and sides of the bottle. The cotton string that hangs down from the top tier into the bottom tier, is very dirty. In the bottom tier,  the water level went down a little bit causing the elodea to start to stick to the bottle.  The water level is pretty clear.  The side of the terrarium that was closest to the window has a lot of condensation.  We have spotted at least 7 snails, most of them were submerged underneath rocks except for one that was swimming around.

Most of the predictions we made over the weeks we observed our terrarium were correct. We think our 2-tier terrarium did well.  In the top tier, the seeds we planted sprouted into healthy plants and most grew all the way to the top of the bottle. In the bottom tier, the plant seemed to do well, even though the water level decreased a bit and a small section of it was above the water line. The tiny animals (daphnia and snails) that we added to the bottom tier of our terrarium, reproduced and swam around in the clear water.

How were the plants and animals in our terrarium able to thrive, grow and multiply, even though we did not feed them, or water them, or add anything at all to the enclosed space of the terrarium?

In this picture you can see how dirty the top of the string is.  

The string remains very dirty.

There was a lot of condensation around the top half of the bottle.  This was the side that was facing the window.  

These pictures are of all sides of our terrarium. In the top picture you can see one of the snails we found today.  In all of the pictures you can see how dirty the string is, the water level, condensation, and how the leafs are sticking to the sides of the bottle.