Eco-Column Lab: What You'll Need To Build The Eco-Columns

Eco-Column Lab
Eco-columns are one of the most fun labs for AP Environmental Science. Once set up, the eco-columns may be kept
going for many weeks and provide data for several different topics of the APES course – aquatic ecosystems,
decomposition, general ecology, food webs and chains, water quality, inter-specific competition, etc. Data should be
recorded from the eco-columns on a regular basis, maybe once a week, as well as for specific insights.
For this ‘project’ you should work in groups of two or three students but, of course, everyone must maintain a full
account of the ‘project’, from beginning to end, including all data records, analysis and interpretation.
You should create a Google Slide presentation, which you add to as you go along.
What you’ll need to build the eco-columns:

1. 5 x 2-liter soda bottles (for each group)
2. Box cutting knives
3. 3 x 2-liter bottle caps (for each group)
4. Dissecting needle and Bunsen burner or a hammer and a nail (for making holes in caps) (John)
5. Growing soil – ie healthy!
6. Clear packing tape
7. Straw (about 1 inch long – one for each group)
8. Small rocks or gravel – the sort for a fish tank (John)
9. Sticks, leaves, grass clippings, banana peel, etc. (for decomposition chamber)
10. Seeds (John)
11. Aquatic plant such as anacharis or elodea from an aquarium. (John can provide lemna duckweed.)
12. Earthworms
13. Small fish (1 per group) (John?)
14. Snail (1 per group)
15. Fish food (John)
Building the Eco-columns:
 Start collecting the bottles early!! Each group or student needs 5 bottles. 2 litre soda bottles are best and the
bottles should all be the same shape, in order to fit together. Have extra bottles ready – something is bound to
go wrong!
 Use the example column as a guide and also carefully study the images.
 Make sure the eco-columns are set up straight! If they are not straight, then they will have drainage issues.
 For the decomposition layer, you can use fruit/vegetable peels, but not any citrus.
Assembling the Eco-Columns:

1. Cut the bottles according to the diagram and fit them together with the correct caps. DO NOT TAPE YET!!
2. Terrestrial Layer – first place a handful of small rocks, then a handful of soil and then a few seeds.
3. Decomposition layer – first place a handful of small rocks, a little bit of soil, and then sticks/leaves/grass
clippings/banana peel, etc.
4. Put all the parts of the eco-column together and pour water in through the top. Let the water run all the way
through the column. Do this several times and watch for any clogged areas so they can be fixed.
5. Dump out the water from the bottom layer that you just ran through the column.
6. Put the parts back together and run water through it again until it fill up about half of the Aquatic Layer.
7. Put aquatic plant, fish and snail in the Aquatic Layer. Feed the fish through the small hole in the aquatic layer.
8. Tape the column.
9. The eco-columns are prone to leaking! Take care! If you have an old washing-up bowl or similar, it is a good
idea to set up the eco-column in a bowl.
You will need to feed your fish every other day for the first week. After that, you shouldn’t have to feed it anymore.
Google Slides:
Create a presentation in Google Slides, to which you add as you go along. Set up A4 pages in vertical (portrait) mode.
This presentation should be a full record of the entire project, from construction to destruction after maybe 3 or 4
months! Include photos, images, notes, dates, data records – everything!
Data Recording:
Do your first round of data recording the day after the eco-column is set up and then once every week. Observations
are the most important. Take photo records. Try to record temperature and pH (Later we may also try to record
dissolved oxygen, phosphates, nitrates, and carbon dioxide.) Each time you do tests on the water; make sure that you
replace the water afterwards. This has to be from the top of the column!
Data Table:
Make a table in which to record your data before you record any data at all. I suggest that you make one single slide in
Google Slides as a template for the Data Table and then copy this template whenever you record a new set of data. In
your group, decide what your data table should look like.

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What you’ll need to build the eco-columns:

Assembling the Eco-Columns:

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