We carefully examined all of the zone of our eco-column for any forms of life, the only habitable zones in our eco-column are the Terra zone and partially the Decomposition zone.

In the Terra Zone we still have the worms which we original placed in the zone, but we sadly have no images of the actual worms.

In the decomposition zone there is a huge amount of fruit flies and some small forms of worms. The fruit flies have also laid small bead like eggs on the bottle lid in that zone.

Sadly our Aqua zone has become extremely smelly and it has an extremely high PH or acidity level. It is also staying still which stops any forms of oxygenation, killing all life forms.

In this image you can see small tunnels against the side of the bottle which have been made from the 4 worms which we placed in the eco-column when we constructed it.

here is the data which we have collected from our eco-column
(they were all conducted at least 2 days apart):

The PH level in the aqua zone (according to the PH level scale) :
Sample 1: 3
Sample 2: 3
Sample 3: 3

The Temperature of the aqua zone (Degrees Celsius) :
Test 1: 21
Test 2: 19
Test 3: 20

The height of the highest plant (centimeters) :
Test 1: 16
Test 2: 19
Test 3: 29


Here are 2 images showing the height difference in the plant

Here is a picture of eggs on the end of the bottle in the decomposition zone. We are not sure what type of animal this is but we think it might be the fruit flies.

This is a sample of water from our aqua Zone. As you can see there is a squiggly line where the pointer is pointing to. This is in fact a fragment of our river weed. This river weed is slightly rough and it is brown. Our water in our aqua zone is a light brown colour and it really stinks. This shows that the colour from our river weed is being dissolved into the water. Our water had also changed colour due to the melon rotting and all the juices have gone through to the aqua zone, this is also the reason why the the waster stinks so much.

Our soil is rich with lots of air holes and water. Our wheat grass seeds that we planted have grown extremely well due to the fact that they have the right nutrients and water from the soil. There are roots from the wheat grass and the small fern that we put in. We have seen some small insects crawling in the holes of the soil.We have not been able to identify them as they are small and we cannot see them clearly due to them being in the soil. 

We have seen some dead fruit flies on the top of the soil in the decomposition zone. Our fruit flies have also layed eggs on the bottle cap inside the decomposition zone.

This is a picture showing the initial growth in the terra zone in our Eco-column. This was taken a few days after planting the seeds. as you can see there has not been very much growth.

this picture was taken after about 2 and a half weeks of growth. as you can see, it is significantly higher than the previous picture and the highest plant measures 19cm.

This is an annotated diagram of how we planned to layout our eco-collumn

Is our Eco-column self-sustaining or not?

Here are some of the reasons why our eco-column is not self sustaining

• organisms in the aqua zone would not be able to survive because the water is not oxygenated.
• we have to keep on adding to the decomposition zone as it will eventual run out
• the environment is not large enough and does not have the right factors to sustain multiple life forms
• because it is unable to sustain multiple life forms we cannot have a sufficient food chain in the eco column

Here are some reasons why we fee our eco-column could be self-sustaining

• we use the water which overflows out of our aqua zone to water the terra zone, thus putting nutrients back into the eco-column and keeping the cycle of energy going.
• water which evaporates out of the soil in our eco-column condenses on the top of the bottles and falls back into it.

Here are some images of the construction of our eco-column

Here is a picture of our stacked eco-column and filtration system all stacked with the stand except we have not placed any abiotic or boitic factors in our eco-column.

Here is a picture of how we cut the bottle lids for our filtration system, the glue we used and the pipe we used for our drainage system in the aqua zone.

Here is the stacked eco-column with the filtration system and soil.

Here is a image of our aqua zone in our eco-column. we used river water so that it would already have sufficient nutrients to sustain life forms. we also place some simple pond weed in this zone but sadly it will not last very long as the water is not being oxygenated and this plant relies on oxygenated water. if we wanted to oxygenate the water we would either have to install a pump or find some way of keeping the water moving. we also have water snails in our aqua zone but they will also die due to the lack of oxygen in the water.

 

Here is a close up of our decomposition zone, in it we place bananas, banana peels, cut up pieces of melon skin, pieces of melon and old cut grass. to start off the decomposition process we placed already rotting fuit in the eco-column which already had flies and fruit flies and mould. 

This is another image of our decomposition zone, you can see all of the rotting elements which we have placed in our eco column. we have also got a gecko in the decomp. zone, but sadly it is not vissible in this image. it lives off of the insects and flies in that zone. sadly the environment is not big enough for it to sustain the geckoes life sufficiently so it will not live its full lifespan. There are also some very nice examples of mould growing in this zone.

 

here is a close-up image of our plants growing in terra zone. we used a mixture of fertilizer and garden soil to aid the growth of our plants. we also have 3 worms in this zone and you can see some of their tunnels allong the wall of the eco-collumn.

Here is another large image of our terra zone and you can see the sprouts very clearly and our fern which was the same level as the bottle when we started. due to the small amount of soil in the zone, sadly the fern will not be able to grow to its full capacity.