Eco-column Write-up Instructions

Inthis eco-column write-up, your job is to clearly present the information about your eco-column to your reader. Your report should include each of the sections below. The heart of your report should be your analysis and conclusions. Use this write-up as an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and ideas.

Title

Place a title at the top of the report. Include your lab group number and all the lab group members.

Purpose

State in two sentences why we did this lab and how it connects to the first unit (Chapter 3, 4, & 5).

Background

What is an eco-column and why is it a useful tool?These are just a few ideas to get you started on an introduction to eco-columns. Please reference one article or document you used for the background.

Materials

List all materials you selected for each habitat. Only list the materials you supplied from home.

Results (data)

  • Include a table with your eco-column’s data for the all testing sessions.
  • Include at least one graph that shows all water quality variables over time. Your graph should include a title (title should be specific to the experiment – independent vs. dependent variable), labeled axis, key, and units.
  • Did you discover any unexpected organisms (for example: fungus grew or new microorganisms appeared)? Did you not see any new organisms? Be specific on where you looked and what you found.
  • Summarize your observations of the three ecosystems by date for each of your major testing sessions.

Analysis and Discussion

  1. Discuss the data from your eco-column with regard to the materials used and the impact those materials had on your habitat(s). What does your data say about what has gone on in your eco-column?
  2. Compare your lab group’s somewhat “contrived” or “manufactured” ecosystems with ecosystems found outside the classroom. Describe (i) three similarities and (ii) three differences.
  3. Identify and briefly discuss the components/compounds of the biogeochemicalcyclesin the 3 habitats of your eco-column. Statehow you think cyclingoccurred inthe column. Be careful not to include aspects cycles that wouldn’t occur in your eco-column (i.e. emissions of CO2 due to burning coal).
  4. Propose 3 possible reasons why there are such large differences between the eco-columns in the class.
  5. Discuss five limiting factors in your habitats, clearly stating which chamber(s) you are referring to.
  6. Discuss the stability and sustainability of the ecosystem columns in the lab including your own.

Conclusions

  1. Discuss three trends or patterns which stand out as youlook at the data (nitrogen, phosphorus, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, temperature and pH) you have been recording for 6 weeks. These trends or patterns should apply to the water quality tests or other observations which you have made over this multi-week time period. Briefly discuss these trends or patterns, providing possible explanations based on environmental science principals. Try to make sense of the changes you observed and logically deduce why your column behaved as it did.
  1. Compare your water quality data to known standards. Was your water within the range of tolerance for typical aquatic species?It is recommended that you research mosquito fish to determine what conditions they require to survive.
  1. Address any sources of error in this lab in a cause and effect manner. If you had it to do over, how would you change the way you set up your eco-column?