Changes in our eco-column over 3 weeks

Predictions

We think that the chances of our Eco-column surviving over the holidays are very low due to us group members or anyone else being there to look after the Eco-column (adding water ect.).  

Terra Zone: The plants will die and be dried out on the ground.

Decomposition Zone: The level will lower and there will be less waste.

Aqua Zone: There will be more algae due to it growing.

Photos of Eco-column before the holidays (end of term 1):

Terra Zone

Decomposition Zone

Aqua Zone

Accuracy of predictions:

Terra Zone: We were right in saying that the plants will die because they received no water or sunlight during the holidays. We were wrong in saying that the plants will be dried out and on the ground because the plants decomposed very quickly and by the time we got back there were no plants left at all. The soil was also extremely dry and formed dry clumps because the Terra zone received no water during the holidays to keep it moist.

Decomposition Zone: We were wrong in saying that the level will lower because it stayed approximately the same as there was a lot of matter in the decomposition and will take more than 3 weeks to see a drastic difference in the level of the decomposition zone. We were right in saying that there will be less waste because the fruit pieces and the banana peel had decomposed completely due to the fruit flies and other organisms eating/decomposing the material. The decomposition zone also dried out drastically because no water was added to the Eco-column during the holidays. 

Aqua Zone: We were wrong in saying that there will be more algae because the amount of algae stayed the same. This was because the algae did not receive oxygen because the water was stagnant unlike a flowing river. The water level also lowered due to evaporation. 

Photos of all 3 zones before and after the holidays:

Terra Zone

End of term 1 (before the holidays):

After the holidays (start of term 2):

Decomposition Zone:

End of term 1 (before the holidays):

After the holidays (start of term 2):

Aqua Zone:

End of term 1 (before the holidays):

After the holidays (start of term 2):