Freshwater Ecology

Freshwater Ecology is basically the study of freshwater organisms and how they react with each other and their environment. This can help students study population, communities, and interactions using a smaller body of freshwater. Freshwater ecosystems are essential to our society because it's where we get most of our drinking, bathing, and household water from. A pond is a standing body of water where light reaches the bottom. A river is a moving body of water. 

Water Issue Presentations

For the most part, the groups did a good job on their presentations. Here are five things I learned from watching the presentations

1. The bathrooms at Kid's Kastle are sprayed down with chemicals that are washed into the neighboring pond.
2. The Three Gorges Dam moves so much water that it can slow the rotation of the Earth.
3. Global warming is causing more rainfall in many regions.
4. Global warming is causing intensified evaporation in South Africa and the Mediterranean.
5. There is a lot of sludge in the Kid's Kastle pond

I think the people who did the presentation on Kid's Kastle did the best job. They really covered their point and they took the time to go there and video the bathrooms and the bleaching in the grass. They interviewed one of the moms that was watching her kid. They really went for it and did everything they could to make a great presentation. I think what I could have done was made my partner do some of the work. I did the power point and I should have worked with him even if he was going against everything I thought would make a good presentation.

Tank Update 4/10

Our tank is doing alright. We haven't put a turtle in it yet because our water test wasn't the best it could be. Our ammonia was 1.5 and our nitrate was 10. The nitrate wasn't bad but the ammonia was, so we put some bacteria supplement in the water. We also added some AquaClear to make the water clearer and that seemed to help a lot with the turbidity of the water.

Ammonia and Nitrate Tests

Conducting regular ammonia and nitrate tests on your home aquariums is very important, especially before you add fish to the water. If the ammonia or nitrate levels are too high, the fish could be affected in a negative way, such as negative reproduction or death to adult fish.

To conduct an ammonia test you need ammonia bottles #1 and #2, a test tube, pipette, and your tank with water in it. First you rinse the tube out with water from your tank in order to conduct an accurate test. Then you fill it up with 5 ml of tank water. Next, you add 8 drops each of ammonia bottles #1 and #2. (Holding each bottle upside down ensures all the drop sizes to be the same.) Then you swirl the liquid and wait five minutes to determine the color from the card in your ammonia test kit.

Conducting a nitrate test is a little different. You'll need nitrate bottles #1 and #2, a test tube, water from your tank, and a pipette. You need to rinse your test tube and fill it to 5 ml just like you did for the ammonia test. Next you'll add ten drops of nitrate #1 and swirl it together. Next you'll shake nitrate #2 for 30 seconds then add ten drops of that into your tube. Swirl the tube for one minute then wait five minutes to see the color on the card.

Observations

A good observation consists of information that isn't something a two-year-old could figure out. It's something that helps you better understand the working of the tank and the fishes inside it. An inference is something that you can guess from looking at the tank.


I can make several observations from just looking at a picture of this tank in my aquatic science classroom. The orange fishes love to group together and the big black fish just swims around on it's own, as well as the silver fish. The back of the tank is dirty and the water is clear. The rocks and the plastic plant are placed together so the fish can hide and play around them. Judging by the size the dark fish is we can infer that the fish are well fed.

Water Issues Project

My water issues project was on the benefits and consequences of dams. I chose this topic because I knew a little about it but I wanted to know more about what the purpose of dams were and how they impact our environment. I learned that dams can be both a good and a bad thing. Our society needs to understand that although dams can have a positive influence on our lives, we can go overboard. The Three Gorges Dam (pictured above) is the largest dam in the world. Studies show that because it can shift enormous amounts of water, it has the potential to actually slow the rotation of the Earth.

Water Property Demo

I did a demonstration on pH in water. What I did was I set up four clear plastic cups and filled one cup each with plain yogurt, water, apple juice, and vinegar. The point I was making was that you can see if something is acidic according to how much it bubbles when you put a small spoonful of baking soda in the substance. It went really well and I think it was a good way to show how to measure acidity. 

I learned a few different things from watching the demos. I learned that oil sits on top of water because it's less dense. I learned that salt water is a solution. Salt water is more dense than regular water and is more conductive of electricity. And I also learned that a balloon filled with water has a higher specific heat than a balloon filled with air.

Tank Set Up

It's time to actually set up our tank. We washed our gravel and the tank with water and put it in the tank. We then filled it up halfway with water. The next day we put in a few plastic plants and a rock with a hole in it so when we get minnows for our turtle to chase, they have a place to hide so they can "play hide-and-seek". After that we tested the ammonia and nitrate levels in our tank. The nitrate was fine but the ammonia was pretty high so we added some bacteria in the water to bring it down. We also added some Aqua Clear to the water to make it clearer.

Aquarium Plans

For mine and my partner's aquarium we are planning on keeping a turtle. We will catch one in a pond and transfer it to our aquarium in the classroom, along with about five minnows for him to chase around. We already have a few plastic plants and gravel in the aquarium and we are going to find a rock type thing to stick to the side of the aquarium for him to lay on when he doesn't want to be in the water. 

Round Robin

The round robin activity was a great way to introduce the freshwater unit to our class. One topic we had was negatives and positives of living near any body of water. Some of the positives were transportation, swimming, being able to learn about the underwater life, and the sounds of the waves actually calms the mind. Some negatives were storms, water damage to homes, and erosion of the coast.

Ways to conserve our freshwater resources is by turning off the sink when you brush your teeth, taking shorter showers, and avoiding baths. These are all simple things that anyone can do no matter your age.

Some uses of freshwater are irrigation, hydroelectric power, drinking, bathing, and recreation. Water is a very versatile resource and it will always be around in some form or fashion.