a. Explain what the setup and procedures for “control” ecocolumn will consist of. What is
its purpose?
b. Write a hypothesis for your ecocolumn. It must be quantitative (measurable). For
example, “my terrestrial plant will grow better than the control” is not a good
quantitative hypothesis. “My terrestrial plant will increase in mass by at least 10% more
than the control” is a much better hypothesis.
c. Write comparison hypotheses between yours and three other ecocolumns.
d. What difference do you think we will see between the “decomposition chamber below
the terrestrial” and the control? What about the “no decomp” one? What impact do
you think the decomposition chamber will have on the terrestrial chamber? The aquatic
one?
e. Calculate how much to water your ecocolumn twice per week (how much water per
week does your biome get on average? Divide that by two). This is the depth of the
water, but you need a volume. What is the surface area of your ecocolumn? Surface
area x depth is volume. You should show all work (no calculator) and answer in
mL/watering.
i. Rainforest: 300cm/yr
ii. Prairie: 90 cm/yr
iii. Desert: 20 cm/yr