Week 4 10/20/15

This week our terrarium continued to show growth. In the top, soil tier, the roots from all of the deeds are continuing to grow through the dirt and are visible at the side of the bottle. The flowers sprouts have also continued to grow, but not as much as the bean sprouts. The plants growing in the top of our terrarium have started to sprout beans along with the leaves at the top of the plants.  The elodea plant is still submerged under water and green, the sprout on the side of it is still the only piece out of water.  There is condensation on the bottle on the side that was away from the window in the hallway where our ecosystem was stored.   The water looks pretty clear now, without a brownish tint. We can't tell what it is, but there is something hanging on one of the strings in the water, we think it could be a baby snail.  We have observed a daphnia swimming around, but not the other one.  This week we will have both pictures and individual drawings of our two-tier terrarium.

We predict that our ecosystem will continue to do well and the flora and fauna will continue to thrive.

Questions for thought:

Is there a difference in taking a photograph and drawing a picture with a pen or pencil? Does one way of providing a record require more noticing that the other? Why?

Here are our pictures for the week:

This is a hand-drawn picture of the top portion of the terrarium, the soil ecosystem.  

This is the few view of our two-tier terrarium for week 4. 

You can see the more-clear water and the green elodea.  

The leaves have started to sprout from the plants that are growing.

The roots continue to grow throughout the soil.  

We have a  drawing of our terrarium.  In the picture above the final drawing, you can clearly see the condensation.  

Week 3: 10/13/15

Our ecosystem this week has had a lot changes this week including some significant growth and probably a death.  5 out of our 6 seeds that were planted have sprouted and there are a lot of roots growing in throughout the dirt and top part of the ecosystem. One of the beans has attached itself to the wall of the upper bottle. The tallest plant is about 20 cm.  In the bottom tier, the water level is 10.4 cm and the water is clear with a slight brown tint.  Our elodea plant is still pretty green and there is one sprout off of it that is above the water but the rest of it is still submerged.  There are less particles floating around than there were last week.  We can see that one of the snails is underneath a rock. We can see one daphnia that we think has died.  There is still some condensation and it is on the side that was away from the window.  Pictures to follow!

We predict that the plants in the soil will continue to grow well. We predict that the other daphnia will also die. We predict that the water plant will continue to grow well.

Questions for thought:

Why do you think the water has a slightly brown tint? Do you think it will become even darker colored or do you think it will stay mostly clear? Why?

The plants that have sprouted in the top portion of the terrarium and the bean that has attached itself to the wall.  

This is the portion of the elodea that is no longer submerged under water. 

The water level and mostly clear water is visible in this picture. 

Here are the roots of the various plants that have been growing in our terrarium.

In these pictures, you can see how much our plants sprouted from week 2 to 3.  The roots very visibly started to sprout through the soil which you can see in picture second from the bottom.  In pictures 2 and 3 you can clearly see how green our elodea plant is! 

Week 2: 10/6/2015

We observed our terrarium for the second time today.  We saw a lot of similarities with the first week  but there are some noticeable differences as well.  To start off, we have four sprouts in the top tier that have grown out of the soil, two flower sprouts and two bean sprouts.  While the water is still clear for the most part, there are some particles floating around that we observed.  There is also some condensation in both the top and bottom tier.  Plants release water vapor into the air (transpiration) when there is light and heat present. Since the terrarium is an enclosed environment, when the water vapor leaves the plant (evaporation) and comes in contact with the side of the container, it forms droplets of water on the side of the container (condensation).  Once enough water accumulates or the temperature decreases, the condensation will then fall back (precipitation) down the sides of the container into the soil.  The water gathers on the ground whether in the soil, a body of water or elsewhere (collection), until it evaporates and the water cycle continues.  If the daphnia are moving, they are moving significantly slower than they were last week and one of them is potentially not alive anymore.  Our elodea is still very green although the tips of it are starting to become brown, but the majority is still green.  There are some strings growing off of the elodea that are growing down towards the rocks at the bottom.  The elodea is still submerged in the water.  We have found and spotted all three snails, one of them is moving more than the other.  The strings that are connecting the two terrariums have become somewhat dirty and have black specs on them.  The black specs are of unknown material.  The water is at 10.1 cm.  Here are some pictures of our second observation.

We predict that the plants in the top tier will continue to grow well, since they have sunshine, soil and water. We predict that the plant in the bottom, water tier may grow some type of roots and continue to do well. We think that the daphnia and snails might not make it because there is no food that we can see, for them to eat.

Questions for thought: 

This is a close up version of our two-tier terrarium.

The sprouts are starting to grow out of the soil (the top portion of the terrarium).  

The water portion of our terrarium, here you can see the mostly green elodea plant and the string.  

You can get a clearer view of the condensation and the strings connecting the top and bottom tiers.  

In this bottom picture, you can see our snail submerged by the rocks.  In all of the pictures, the strings are still very white and clean as well as the water.  We had some slight plant growth that you can see in the first two pictures.