Name:______________________________________________________ Date:__________ Hour:________
Environmental Science: Eco-Column Project
“Building Your Own Biosphere!”
You will be selecting an aquatic and a terrestrial organism to put into your eco-column. We will be collecting
data from our eco-columns over the next month. This data will be due with your final lab write-up paper at the end
of this investigation. We will be testing the following each week: pH, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Temperature,
Nitrate Levels, Turbidity, Plant Growth, & Organism Observations. You will also need to include a sketch of your
eco-column set-up.
Throughout this lab investigation you will study the ecological interactions of a variety of organisms in an
aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem. The biosphere model will be completely self-contained. The model will be used
to introduce and reconfirm concepts used by environmentalists to determine a population’s properties, dynamics
and growth within an ecosystem. You will set-up your eco-column as follows:
Eco-Column Setup Instructions
Day #1:
Hydrosphere: Bottle #1
1. Rinse one of your 2-liter bottles.
2. Remove the top of the bottle by cutting about 3 cm above the label.
3. Remove the label.
4. Label your bottle with group members Name/Hr with masking tape at the
bottom of the bottle.
5. Place a handful of aquarium rocks in the bottom of the bottle.
6. Fill the bottle 2/3 full with tap water.
Lithosphere/Atmosphere: Bottle #2
1. Cut bottle about 3 cm below the label. Keep the bottom for later use.
2. Remove the label.
3. Run 30 cm of string/yarn under water.
4. Thread wet string through the hole of the bottle top.
5. Flip bottle upside down and fill ¼ full with 1 cup soil, covering the wet string.
6. Add the grass seed, and sprinkle a small amount of dirt over the grass seed.
7. Wet dirt thoroughly but not too much.
8. Place your lithosphere upside-down in the cardboard box marked “lithosphere.”
Day #2:
Hydrosphere: Bottle #1
1. Add Aquatic Plant to the bottle (make sure that this plant is well rooted in the aquarium rocks).
2. Add aquatic organism(s) to bottle.
3. Make initial aquatic plant & organism observations.
Lithosphere/Atmosphere: Bottle #2
1. If your grass seed is still visible, sprinkle 1 cm of potting soil on the top and add a small amount of water to
the bottle.
2. Add terrestrial organism to the bottle.
3. Seal the bottom of the bottle (your lid) onto the top of the bottle with packing tape.
4. Make initial terrestrial plant & organism observations.