Bio-Bottle Lab Project



APES Bio-bottle Column Lab Project

40 point lab

PURPOSE: The purpose of this project is to construct a functional micro-ecosystem that will support living organisms. The underlying principles of the structure and function of ecosystems will be studied and explored in class. The creation of micro-ecosystems will provide you with the opportunity to apply your understanding of these concepts. Ecosystems involve the interaction of biotic and abiotic factors plus the establishment of complex relationships between organisms and their environment over long periods of time.

Groups of two to three students will work on a single ecosystem. Each person will turn in their own final project report.

PROCEDURE:

- You will construct the bottle biology ecosystem with a minimum of two connecting ecosystems

- Reduce, reuse and recycle. Bring materials from your house. There is no need to buy anything, unless you want a fish or something cute.

- Put the names of each group member on your ecosystem and place it on the window sill

- You will be making observations, collecting data, and analyzing the data on specific days

- This project will run for about 2 weeks once construction is complete

- You will be responsible for cleaning up all bottles for better or for worse

DAILY OBSERVATIONS:

On the days we do observations, you will observe the following:

- Fish breathing rate

- Percent plant germination

- Plant growth

- Any changes in water color or level

- What is alive and what died

- Later you can make several graphs of the data collected

Assignment for grading

1. Title and date the project. 1 pt

2. Draw your bio-bottle. Label everything and write whether it is biotic or abiotic. 3 pts

3. Write an intro about the purpose of the bio-bottle, what it represents, and what you hope to learn. 3 pts

4. Write-up a materials and methods section showing how to make a bio-bottle so that anyone could follow your instructions to make on of their own. 3pts

5. Draw a food web including every population in your bio-bottle. If you do not have at least 5 populations in your ecosystem, choose as many as you need to make 5 (only include organisms that would be able to survive in your bio-bottle). Label each population as an autotroph, heterotroph, or decomposer. Label each type of consumer as a herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore. 4pts

6. Imagine your bio-bottle had 1000 bacteria on the day you made it and the population doubled every day for 10 days. Make a data table and draw a graph of the bacteria population (# of bacteria on the y-axis, time on the x-axis). Don’t forget the graph title and axis labels! Answer the following questions about the graph in complete sentences: 4pts

1. What is this type of growth called?

2. Will the population of bacteria continue to grow like this indefinitely? Why or why not?

3. What are the important limiting factors in your bio-bottle? Explain how each limiting factor will affect the carrying capacities of the populations in the ecosystem.

7. Draw the water cycle (use arrows to show movement of water) as it occurs in your bio-bottle. Be sure to include the vocabulary words evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, runoff, and infiltration/percolation. Explain how the water cycle is working in your bio-bottle. Describe the relationship between the terrestrial and aquatic portions of your bio-bottle. 4pts

8. Draw the carbon cycle (use arrows to show movement of carbon) as it occurs in your bio-bottle. Be sure to include the vocabulary words photosynthesis, respiration, autotroph, heterotroph, decomposers, carbon dioxide. Explain how the carbon cycle is sustained in your bio-bottle. 4pts

9. Draw the nitrogen cycle (use arrows to show movement of nitrogen) as it occurs in your bottle. Be sure to include the vocabulary words ammonification, nitrogen fixation, denitrifying bacteria, nitrates, nitrites, assimilation, decomposers, and nitrification. Explain how the nitrogen cycle is sustained in your bio-bottle (or in some cases how it not). 4pts

10. Complete an Observation Data Table. It should include any qualitative and quantitative data you collect organized in a table format. You should check your bottles daily. Graph a minimum of two quantitative results. 4 pts

11. Answer the following questions about biodiversity in your bio-bottle: 2pts

1. Explain the meaning and importance of biodiversity.

2. Describe the biodiversity of your bio-bottle and how it will help or prevent the survival of your bio-bottle.

12. Each group member will write a separate conclusion for your bio-bottle. Include the following: 4 pts

i. Identify any problems with your bio-bottle. Name at least 3 things you would do differently if you built another ecosystem.

ii. How do humans affect the quality of life on Earth? Include 3 positives and 3 negatives.

iii. What did you learn from this project? Explain what you found interesting.

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