Hey everyone!
We would like to introduce you to our ecosphere... The Ultimate Snail Pad! Other than our lovely snail, Gary, we have daphnia, plants, euglena, volvox, soil, gravel, and some hay. We chose water & minerals because with a pond water sample you don't know what kind of organisms are present and it would be hard to explain what may have contributed to each organism's outcome. Below is the photo of our ecosphere, the water is murky but cleared up for the most part. You can see Gary right beneath the waterline on the left.
Ecosphere Ecosystem
Here's what's happening in our ecosphere:
Light energy is captured by algae and plants which makes food and oxygen for the snail and daphnia. The daphnia and snail produce waste which is consumed by the bacteria. The waste is broken down into inorganic matter that may be utilized by algae and plants as nutrients. The bacteria, snail, and daphnia produce carbon dioxide which are also used by the algae and plants. Also, utricularia plants consume daphnia for additional nutrients.
Ecosphere Fun Facts
- Utricularia are carnivorous plants. They have bladder-traps that suck in prey, such as daphnia, and dissolves the prey by digestive secretion.
- SPOILER ALERT!!! All of our daphnia are now dead (X_X).
- Gary is a Ramshorn snail!!
- Ramshorn snails are one of the most common freshwater aquarium snails.
- Features: their shells have a coiled-rope appearance which varies between brown, reddish-brown, to black
- Personality: tranquil and non-aggressive
- Lifespan: up to 1-2 years
- Habitat: found in many freshwater aquatic habitats such as ponds, rivers, & lakes
- Nutrients: dead or decaying plant matter, soft algae, & dead animal friends
- Reproduction: they are hermaphroditic and can reproduce asexually
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utricularia
http://www.aquariumcarebasics.com/freshwater-snails/ramshorn-snail/
https://www.sargentwelch.com/assetsvc/asset/en_US/id/16920373/contents
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI think its great how you organized "fun facts" about the organisms you put in the ecosphere; its interesting how one of your plants (Utricularia) eats Daphnia and that your Daphnia are all dead...
Overall, really great post!
Oh heyyyy I made it in the video during the best part... the hair flip! I was wondering why all your daphnia died and then I saw that utricularia plants eat them, definitely something I did not know. I wonder if both our groups snails would have survived if we did not put them in the first day, that way there would be more dead or decaying plant matter, soft algae and other dead organisms. We had 2 baby snails appear out of no where so maybe thats how they are surviving now!
ReplyDeleteBut did you watch till the very end?
DeleteGreat video. It was interesting to know that the Utricularia eats Daphnia. I wish I had been able to see that in action. It sounds like it would be fascinating to witness.
ReplyDeleteYou guys had a really good system set up, starting with the the sunlight and down to CO2 being reused, seams like a perfect system, shame that the daphnia died. Maybe it has to do with the pond water that you guys used. If i remember, another groups daphnia died as well and they used pond water as well. Maybe its something in the pond water (bacteria) that is killing daphnia.
ReplyDelete