Conclusion

To make our eco-column self-sustaining while also simulating an actual pond environment, we included a primary producer (the anacharis plant), a primary consumer (the minnow), and a decomposer (the Mystery snail). These biotic factors interacted with the abiotic factors we measureddissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, nitrate, phosphate, volume, turbidity, and odor. We found that by our 2nd sampling, most of the factors we were testing remained fairly constantthe only factors that changed in our 3rd and 4th sampling were the dissolved oxygen level, temperature, and total volume. The organisms and plants within our eco-column appeared to be healthy during our entire experiment, and turbidity and odor remained at a level of 1 throughout our investigation. We inferred from the above observations that our aquatic ecosystem had perhaps reached a state of dynamic equilibrium. We had hypothesized that the organisms in our eco-column would survive if DO2 remained above 4.0 ppm, pH remained basic, and NO3- and PO43- levels remained low. Based on our investigation, we found that our aquatic life remained healthy despite the fact that NO3- levels rose to 39.6 ppm, likely due to the fact that DO2 , PO43-, and pH levels remained in the ranges we had specified in our hypothesis. DO2 levels likely remained the same because the anacharis plant was producing the same amount of oxygen, and additional phosphate stemming from decomposition (performed by the snails) and waste from the minnows was probably being absorbed into anacharis plant tissue. Additionally, the high NO3- levels were likely balanced out by the consistently low PO43- levels (which never rose above 0.6 ppm and remained at 0.3 ppm for the majority of the experiment), preventing eutrophication from occurring in our aquatic chamber. Ideally, pond water temperature should be around 20-25 C; the temperature range for our eco-column was 18.2-21.0 C, which would

probably not cause a significant problem to organism health. The final volume of pond water in our eco-column was 1220 mL, which is a 280 mL decrease from the original 1500 mL we put in our aquatic chamberthis loss of water was most likely due to evaporation, which would have sped up even more during the times when the water temperature was higher For example, we found that water temperature was 21 C during our 2nd sampling; during that period of time, water from the eco-column was most likely evaporating faster than during the time when the water temperature was at 18.2 C (water temperature for our 4th sampling). Overall, despite high nitrate levels, the other abiotic factors we tested for remained at levels which indicated healthy water quality, allowing our organisms to survive for the entirety of the experiment.