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Miniecosystem Mini Ponds Lab

1. Students created mini-pond ecosystems in jars by adding pond soil, water, and plants. They then observed the ecosystems under a microscope and identified producers and consumers. 2. Most students found more producers than consumers in their ecosystems. This is likely because producers like algae and plants are needed to support the consumer population through photosynthesis. 3. A key relationship in any ecosystem is between producers, which harness energy from the sun through photosynthesis, and consumers, which rely on producers and each other as a food source.

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226 views

Miniecosystem Mini Ponds Lab

1. Students created mini-pond ecosystems in jars by adding pond soil, water, and plants. They then observed the ecosystems under a microscope and identified producers and consumers. 2. Most students found more producers than consumers in their ecosystems. This is likely because producers like algae and plants are needed to support the consumer population through photosynthesis. 3. A key relationship in any ecosystem is between producers, which harness energy from the sun through photosynthesis, and consumers, which rely on producers and each other as a food source.

Uploaded by

api-247355363
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Mini-ecosystems 1

Name________________________________

Mini Ponds
Problem: To investigate diversity in a pond water ecosystem.
Background Information: Ecosystems are sets of living organisms (plants, animals and
microorganisms) all interacting among themselves and with the environment in which they
live (soil, climate, water and light). They vary in size. They can be as small as a puddle or as
large as the Earth itself. Any group of living and nonliving things interacting with each other
can be considered as an ecosystem.
A pond is one type of ecosystem. It is a body of water shallow enough to support rooted
plants. Many times plants grow all the way across a shallow pond. Water temperature in a
pond is pretty much the same from top to bottom and changes when the air temperature
changes. There is little wave action and the bottom is usually covered with mud. Plants can
grow along the pond edge.
The living parts of an ecosystem can be divided into three categories:
1. Producers: Plants have chlorophyll and can produce their own energy in the
form of carbohydrates (simple sugars) through photosynthesis.
2. Consumers: Animals must consume something else, either plants or other
animals, to get their energy.
3. Decomposers: Many insects, microscopic animals, fungi, and bacteria get
their energy by decomposing dead organic matter enriching the soil with
nutrients.
Energy comes from the sun in the form of sunlight. Plants can take the sunlight and turn it
into food in the form of glucose. When animals produce waste and eventually die, other,
mostly microscopic, organisms may use the energy in the waste and dead bodies. This
matter is reduced by decomposers and returned to the soil, where it may be used again by
plants.
Energy is lost as it flows through an ecosystem. For example, not all the sun-light energy a
plant receives is converted to chemical energy (i.e., carbohydrates). Some of it is wasted.
Likewise, when mammals digest food they convert some of it to heat, which is lost to the air
around the animal.

M. Poarch 2004
http://science-class.net

Mini-ecosystems 2

Materials:
Wide mouth jar with lid
Mud from the bottom of a
pond

Pond water
Microscope & slides

Pond plants
Eye dropper

Procedure:

Day 1 --1. Build a mini-pond ecosystem in a wide mouth jar:


a. Put one or two spoonfuls of soil from the bottom of the pond in the jar
b. Add enough water to fill the jar near the top.
c. Add enough plant life to cover the surface of the water.
d. Put the lid on the jar and tighten.
2. Put your mini-ecosystem on your team tray by the window.

Day 2 --3. Use the eye dropper to put one drop of water from your jar in the well of the slide. If
you do not see anything, keep trying until you do.
4. Observe the sample on low and high power.
5. Draw your observations in the data section.
6. Use the Pond Water Microorganisms sheet to identify what you see in the water.
7. Classify the organisms you observe as consumers or producers.

Data:

________________________________________________________________
M. Poarch 2004
http://science-class.net

Mini-ecosystems 3

Producers

Consumers

Conclusion:
1. Define BIODIVERSITY:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. How much biodiversity was in your ecosystem? Explain your answer.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. Did you have more consumers or more producers in your ecosystem?
________________________________________________________________________
4. What is a possible reason for this?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. In any ecosystem, what is the relationship between:
a. Producers and consumers?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

M. Poarch 2004
http://science-class.net

Mini-ecosystems 4

b. Photosynthesis and consumers?


__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
6. What is a possible food chain in the pond ecosystem?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
7. List 2 abiotic factors in the pond ecosystem:
a. __________________________________________________________________
b. __________________________________________________________________
8. Describe each of the following in terms of your mini-ecosystem:
a. Population __________________________________________________________________
b. Community __________________________________________________________________
c. Habitat __________________________________________________________________

M. Poarch 2004
http://science-class.net

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